Hey Jerry....Busse coating toughness issue

geekswithguns

geekswithguns

Joined
May 24, 2005
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Ok...here's my question- are the handle and coatings autoclaveable? I have ready access to a number of autoclaves- a good friend is a tatoo artist and my brothers girlfriend is a nurse...
 
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Why would you want to autoclave it? A wipe down with rubbing alcholhol will do the same thing. If you are going to autoclave it, you're only real concern would be with the heat. Heat it up too much, and you'll screw up the heat treatment.
BTW, an autoclave really will do nothing to your knife. It's basically just a big pressure cooker.
 
An autoclave won't get anywhere near the heat required to mess up with the heat treatment.

They are designed for scalples and other surgical equipment.

Where you might run into trouble is with the handles, but I think they would come out fine.
 
i got some minor warpage with canvas micarta when exceding 250 degrees, no problem up to that temp. what temp does a autoclave start smoking at and will it give you a good buzz :confused:
 
I've been away and I'm wading into this late, but I seem to remember that Cliff once posted that Micarta was good up to 475 degrees F.

Rick - not a materials guy

Apparently, my memory also sucks. I did some searching and the only thing I could find doesn't mention temperatures:

I have soaked several Micarta handles in gas and lit them on fire. The gas burns out in a flash and does nothing to the Micarta except make it warm. I would not do this to the Busse as there is metal exposed in the tang, but I don't think the flame would last long enough to heat it up if you did, especially considering the very high temper used.
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get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for blood and a bottle of alcohol for germs. that's all you need.
 
geekswithguns said:
Ok...I am on the verge of being a big city detective. (number 28 out of about 3,000) and want to carry a Busse on duty on my weak side...if I have to use it, it will be covered in what is technically referred to as "gunk"... so here's my question- are the handle and coatings autoclaveable? I have ready access to a number of autoclaves- a good friend is a tatoo artist and my brothers girlfriend is a nurse... I know if I have to use it I may not even get it back, but if I do...
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I don't know the temps that autoclaves run at but I do know that 151 rum and a match will pretty much sterilize ANYTHING!!!!. .. including me!!!! :eek:
 
Micarta was originally developed by Westinghouse as insulation used in electrical transformers and motors. When I was a substation engineer we permitted power transformers with windings insulated with paper micarta to operate up to 110 degrees C continuous. That is over 212 degrees F.
Micarta should be able to handle the temperature of boiling water fine. I don't know much about autoclaves, but if they used superheated steam then I would start to be concerned.
 
hmmm...a quick check says (at least the model discussed) autoclaves go to about 250 degrees F...should hold up...hopefully I'll never need to do this- but its nice to know that I could...
 
...and actually walking man and doorkicker you're probably right- in fact the guys in the crime lab just use a 10% bleach solution on everything...I guess I'd only need to autoclave it if I was going to perform surgery with a busse...hmmmm.... :D
 
I'd be a little concerned about corrosion over time due to the autoclave, superheated steaming water and air??? I hear that the only reason that medical instruments are good for this is because they're all made of one of the nearly-carbon free stainless steels.
 
i applied a special finish to one of my users that called for 1 hour at 275...
it expanded enough that i saw gaps between the steel and micarta. it did not all go away, but almost, i sold it to chuck head.
next one i did i held it at 250 and all went ok. that knife is still in use by the airforce.
i do not think you would have a melt down at 350 but i would have to be drunk as a skunk or with jerry or both to be holding it at that temp.
micarta is still tops in my book (i can't read o type)
 
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