How careful are you to keep the joints clean when cutting w/ your traditional knife?

I dont pay it much attention. I work in a stone shop and my hands are either dusty, wet or sticky (from epoxy) when I grab my kmife. I used to oil them every time I sharpened them with a little mineral oil. Now days I just oil them when I feel like it. Usually once every month or two or three lol. If they feel slugish or gritty ill flush and oil them. When I cut up some fruit I just rinse the blade and throw it back in my pocket.
 
David Lowry said:
I don't worry about it and they do just fine. I oil mine once or twice a week (just one small drop on each pivot) and that's about it. I rarely give them a bath in any kind of water other than just the blade. The blade often gets rinsed with hot water or warm water and dried off.
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Pretty much the way I do it however, most knives are lucky to see oil in a couple months. I give them a thorough cleaning when the pocket lint builds up and I feel the need to clean things out.

Dried off? Oh..., you mean wipe it on your pants. :D

But I understand the OP's thoughts with the slight acidity of fruit that is involved and the potential of rust developing. I say... do what works for you.
 
I've got two GEC 23L liner locks (carbon steel) that I keep in my kitchen cutlery drawer as an experiment. I have been using them like any other food prep knife, peeling veggies, cutting up squash, cutting meat both raw and cooked. After use I wash them with soapy water and a sponge, rinse, and dry. Part of drying them for me is to blow a couple puffs of air at the joint with my mouth to expel excess water, then back into the drawer they go. After several months of this type usage there is no detrimental effects that I can see, other than a solid patina formed on both blades, and a couple of pepper spots on the inside of the springs.
 
I'm not obsessive about it. I try not to drive the blade right up to the bolster with cutting fruit and other food, I try to stop at the tang, but I don't worry about it much. After usage of food I'll wipe the blade down for sure, wash it off with water if able, water and soap if it was something that really sticks or really greasy (maybe I will, anyways, not always) but that's just the blade I'll clean. The insides I don't bother cleaning every time I cut up food. A knife that gets daily use will be periodically, say every two or three weeks, given a full service. Not quite a full service as I won't necessarily wash out the insides, but a good oiling all over. I don't use much oil but try to get the blades and the joints. Been moving away from oiling the blades recently and just oiling the joints and the scales (I oil my knives almost exclusively with food grade mineral oil, only using other stuff like WD40 when flushing out the knife needs a lil extra kick). No reason for doing this every 2-3 weeks, that's just about how often I remember, and I don't see the need to do it more often. Well, weekly might be alright, but that at the most. I'll blow down inside the liners and poke around with a toothpick or th elike to remove lint/debris as needed (when I remember to check for said debris anyways).

That's the extent of it. Mostly I just wipe the blade down from time to time, rinse off the blade with water after cutting food, a lil soap if really needed. That's the bulk of my maintenance (aside from stropping/sharpening obviously).

Oh, and now that I oil less frequently/thoroughly and apply much less oil each time than I used to I find my knives keep a crisper snap much better. They used to get sluggish frequently enough to make me wonder what was going on, I think the less frequent oiling and applying less each time is what's making the difference. You really don't need much to do the job, and too much just got lint and dust and grit stuck in there.
 
Just use it for anything needed. Clean it at the end of the day with hot water (and soap, if available). Blow it out. A drop of neutral oil. Blow out again. Another drop of oil. You're set for a week.
 
Really the guiding policy should be just pay attention to what the knife is telling you - is it rusting? Getting sluggish? If not then keep doing what you're doing.

If it's exposed to lots of moisture or chemicals, sticky stuff or extreme dirt/dust then yes I'd be washing/flushing it with hot soapy water as needed.

I use a needle oiler for the pivot. Works great and puts a tiny drop of oil exactly where you need it. Maybe every six months coat the scales with mineral oil to prevent shrinkage. That's it.
 
I pretty much just use the full edge and that usual keeps anything out. If anything gets in it usualy works itself out. I avoid washing unless really necessary.
 
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