How do you clean the traditional knife?

meako said:
Seriously good advice abovementioned....Or you like me never ever get them dirty...😄
I think the antique shop knives are the worst...they sit in a case for years having been placed there by the antique dealer who got them in well used condition....the gunk in the blade well and pivots solidifies with age...then I buy it and using the toothbrush, and matchstick method remove half a dead moose pelt worth of grunge...give it the washing up water treatment...papertowel dry and a bit of oil. Good to go.
The other thing Ive found are those nasty little spots of rust that appear on unused virgin blades in my collection...I use autosol for them...0000 steelwool for the particularly bad ones.
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sounds like experience I purchased a used knife in antique shop in a coast city in Canada
 
dsutton24 said:
If you're squeamish about using a pocketknife that hasn't been sanitized into oblivion, then you shouldn't be cutting food with it. Even if you did sanitize it perfectly five seconds in your pocket is going to turn your knife into a biohazard. Nothing has to be completely sterile to be safe enough, knowing when that line is crossed is difficult.

I don't use my pocketknife to cut food unless it's the only sensible option. No particular reason, my pocketknife is for outside world stuff, kitchen knives are for the kitchen. I wouldn't gut a squirrel with a chef's knife, I wouldn't chiffonade arugula with a Muskrat.

As far as maintenance goes, wipe it off after use, wash it in soap and water when it gets grody, oil it every once and a while, and sharpen it occasionally. Simple.
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Another Shepherd said:
I would carry a second knife for that.
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Sounds good. I plan to purchase a liner lock Le Thiers as real EDC, cut Salami, fruit, cheese, etc. and use abovementioned ways to clean it.
Keep Laguiole and Le Thiers in the show box
 
Same way I wash myself, hot water, soap, throughly dry, and a few drops of oil to keep things moving. 😁
 
Toothbrush, soap, sponge as needed.

I wash kitchen knives and cutlery in the dishwasher but not the traditional, or any other, folding knives.
I have washed some Victorinox knives in the past, in the dishwasher but their aluminium liners got a bit corroded, so not even those go in the dishwasher.

Ultrasonic cleaner, if the handles/covers are suitable.

If you have a fully stainless knife, with plastic or stainless handles, maybe it can be washed there. possibly something like a spyderco salt type, but traditional, knife.
 
Dextar said:
how about if cutting fruit is something need to do everyday? 🤣
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I've favored stainless-bladed knives which at least have metal liners (brass, nickel or stainless) for such uses, and preferably with synthetic or bone handle covers that can be washed easily with dish soap & water as I mentioned earlier. The only exception, which can be difficult to keep clean of fruit juices & other food juices, is a linerless folder of wood. If the wood absorbs those sticky juices in the pivot area, it can create issues there, making it difficult to open or close or possibly contributing to corrosion of the blade tangs, if they're not stainless steel.

I arrived at this conclusion some years ago, after using an Opinel to slice some fruit. The juices which seeped into the pivot area and soaked into the wood were trickier to clean up without a full-immersion wash in dish soap & water. So, for a while afterward, the knife's gummed-up pivot made opening & closing the blade more stiff & sticky. Such a knife won't likely be seriously harmed by it. But it can interfere with functionality a bit, at least for awhile.
 
Another Shepherd said:
I get the impression that nobody here ever had a knife knocked out of their hand into a mixture of sand, mud, and **** and then stepped on by an irritated sheep or cow or whatever.
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so, you're saying you give it a good "on the hoof" stropping followed by a wool and lanolin buff? 🤣
 
birdsbeaks said:
so, you're saying you give it a good "on the hoof" stropping followed by a wool and lanolin buff? 🤣
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I take it apart and clean all the sand and mud and **** out from the pivot and washers and whatever else they've gotten into, then dry and lube and adjust.

Once upon a time, at the request of a friend of a friend, I did clean a really filthy traditional with fancy scales that I did not want to risk disassembling. I do not do that anymore.

It took over an hour with alcohol and Goo Gone and CLS and Q-tips and sandpaper and needle files and dental floss and whatnot.
 
If I field dressed or skinned something I just used hot water, soap and a toothbrush when I got home. Sprayed the joints with WD-40, wiped it down and put it back in my pocket.
 
When I used a traditional, like a Case Trapper, for wild game, I try to avoid getting blood in the pivot, and then soap and warm water the whole thing afterwards. I generally only use a knife like that in a pinch for those type of jobs. My daily carry traditional I'll use for fruit or something and then just wipe off the blade.

Edit: I forgot to say that I use an air compressor after the soap and water. Sometimes I'll also put some rem-oil in the pivot, open and close the action several times and then use an air compressor to blow the excess out, I think a little ends up staying there to lube the pivot.

Don't overthink it, but don't do things that are blatantly gross and you will be fine.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
I've favored stainless-bladed knives which at least have metal liners (brass, nickel or stainless) for such uses, and preferably with synthetic or bone handle covers that can be washed easily with dish soap & water as I mentioned earlier. The only exception, which can be difficult to keep clean of fruit juices & other food juices, is a linerless folder of wood. If the wood absorbs those sticky juices in the pivot area, it can create issues there, making it difficult to open or close or possibly contributing to corrosion of the blade tangs, if they're not stainless steel.

I arrived at this conclusion some years ago, after using an Opinel to slice some fruit. The juices which seeped into the pivot area and soaked into the wood were trickier to clean up without a full-immersion wash in dish soap & water. So, for a while afterward, the knife's gummed-up pivot made opening & closing the blade more stiff & sticky. Such a knife won't likely be seriously harmed by it. But it can interfere with functionality a bit, at least for awhile.
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though this is out of "Traditional Knife", but it seems a good option to cut fruit, is to use Spyderco's The Mule and just use it, no blade installed after get on hand.
 
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