High quality steel maintenance?

[smcjoecohen@yahoo]

A lot of my knives have high quality blade steel and titanium frames. (S30V, S35VN, CPM154, Elmax, 154CM etc...) I wondering what products are best for maintaining and cleaning of my expensive knife collection. Is wd40 ok for cleaning blades?

 

[Cait_Sith]

Well the good feature of those stainless steels is that they won't need that much maintenance to be taken care of. Even just a simple wipedown with a rag would be suffice. If I use WD-40 at all, it's to remove some gunk on the blade, but I would not use it as a preservative. Lots of people tend to enjoy dry film oils such as Sentry Solutions Tuff-Glide or Eezox as it doesn't leave an oily finish. If it's something really long term safe queen status then maybe Renaissance Wax is a possible choice. But if you're conscious about using your knives for food prep, then something like store bought mineral oil is a great option.

Essentially I wouldn't worry about maintenance for those steels. Just a nice scrub with hot water and soap and a quick wipedown with a rag would be my way of doing things.

 

[yoda4561]

Find a good quality gun oil that you like the smell of. That's about all there is to it for preserving stainless steel that's not being exposed to harsh conditions. I happen to prefer the cinnamon scent of Weaponshield CLP. There's a product called INOX that I also like the smell of, some folks say it has no odor but I pick up a definate sharp almond like scent. What you shouldn't use is Militec-1, great lubricant, not a rust preventative. This is first hand experience, I know Militec says it's a great rust preventer, I happen to disagree. It can accelerate corrosion under humid conditions. It's been 10 years since I've bought any and maybe the stuff they're selling now is better, but I wouldn't bet on it.