How do you treat bone?

With new GEC knives, which can come tight with manufacturing gunk, I wash them out with warm water and a toothbrush with soap. Then after drying I spray through with a small amount of WD40 to displace any remaining water (rust is knife death) and carefully wipe off. It too helps free up tight joints or springs. Can't say I've seen ANY evidence of change to bone or stag using this method in 7 years. I have witnessed damage to bone and stag by mineral oil soaking over a day or two and would never do that again.

Thanks, Will
 
For what it is worth, I soaked both bone and antler in mineral oil for more than a year straight, with no discolouration or any appreciable softening, even three years later. I couldn't believe the softening aspect, especially with my studies in Anthropology and Biology (bone lasts!!!) so had to check it out for myself.

As far as care of use- if it's on a knife it should be tough enough. Other than a bit of mineral oil it gets treated like a knife- put in pocket and used to cut!
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
the light solvents in WD-40 (which, BTW, will evaporate in seconds, leaving only light mineral oil behind)
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I dont like the smell of WD-40, and it does not go away in seconds. The smell is mineral spirits, which is poisonous. I wonder if the people that use WD-40 are also people who use their knives to work on cars, and dont use their knives for food.

I agree WD-40 will displace water, but so will any oil or turpentine product. When I want to displace water though, I prefer to use alcohol, which does evaporate without leaving an odor. Followed by mineral oil. I also like Olive oil very much, but it is thicker than mineral oil, and it can go rancid, which smells bad to me.

Here is a knife that I submerged into a bottle of Mineral Oil, before reading Levine's objections to it. You can see how the bone is unevenly wetted by the oil. I imagine to Levine's trained eye, he would read the knife and say, thats not original, somebody soaked it in oil! I personally like the look of oil soaked bone, but you just need to be aware it can look oil soaked, and it soaks the covers unevenly.

IMG_9381.JPG
 
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Wow. No WD-40 for me, and i will not be soaking my knives at all.....just to be safe. I know a knife is a knife, but after reading all this, it is apparent that the way I treat my all metal bali knives, is indeed different than care should be on a knife with bone or antler. I guess that should just be common sense. I guess I come from that old school way of thinking...just spray some WD40 on it! Ok, a few drops of oil, then wipe off. Sounds good to me. But, I will continue to use WD40 on all other stuff, like my tools, car parts, etc.

Thanks again guys, like I said, I keep learning something everyday here.
 
Those 'poisonous' mineral spirits in WD-40 have been all over my hands in the last couple decades I've used it on my knives (all of which have been used for food, and anything else a knife may be used for). If one is foolish enough to ingest the stuff in quantity, i.e. drinking it, there could be some issues. Beyond that, skin irritation (itching, dryness, etc.) may occur for some who use it. For others, including myself, no such issues. My hands actually get drier in just using soap & water. In terms of skin absorption, one would incur a greater hazard in changing oil & transmission fluid in a car, or handling a pump handle at the gas station; all things everybody does regularly, without giving it a second thought.

Immersing a bone/natural handle material in it for an extended time can do damage, as mentioned. But there's no reason to do that anyway. Just flush it out, let it drip/flow away, and wipe it down. The solvents evaporate, and the very light coat of oil left isn't going to harm a thing.

There are those who don't like the smell of it; that's OK, to each his own. But beyond that, a lot of the fear-mongering hype surrounding the 'danger' of it is just that. Over the span of decades of the product's existence, little factual basis exists at all, in terms of health hazards incurred in normal & common-sense use of it.


David
 
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For what it's worth, unless you are talking ethanol, "alcohol" is as poisonous as mineral spirits. Most alcohols do evaporate faster than most mineral spirits . You could use lighter fluid (like for a Zippo, not for charcoal). Lighter fluid or hexane or heptane evaporates really really fast.

I occasionally use WD-40 to flush crud out of a knife. But I normally use mineral oil for lubricant.

If a knife is really gunky, I will wash in soap and water, then rinse with rubbing alcohol to remove most of the water, then rinse with WD-40, then lubricate with mineral oil.

Solvents. They work good. Ask any really old paint chemist.
 
I personally have never soaked a knife in my life. Especially a new knife. If you will go buy some Birchwood Casey gun scrubber, I think Acadamy Sports has it, You will thank me later for it's miracle working properties. All you need to clean a knife's joints is this and some compressed air. I'm telling ya, you won't believe the outcome. It removes all the rust out of everywhere it could be hiding and then apply oil and you're set for life! I can't tell you how many knives I've brought the snap back on and removed rust out of, with this process.
 
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singin50 said:
I personally have never soaked a knife in my life. Especially a new knife. If you will go buy some Birchwood Casey gun scrubber, I think Acadamy Sports has it, You will thank me later for it's miracle working properties. All you need to clean a knife's joints is this and some compressed air. I'm telling ya, you won't believe the outcome. It removes all the rust out of everywhere it could be hiding and then apply oil and you're set for life! I can't tell you how many knives I've brought the snap back on and removed rust out of, with this process.
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This I may give a try next time i need to loosen a gummed up knife. Thanks for that, didn't even think of it...I have used some BC gun blue on a couple blades in the past though, with decent outcomes.
 
I think you'll be amazed at the little effort needed. Talkin 5 minutes clean and ready for oil. Spray gun scrubber, compressed air and oil,,,,DONE!
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
fear-mongering hype
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guilty as charged, I retract my hyperbole, onwards with your regularly scheduled program

knarfeng said:
For what it's worth, unless you are talking ethanol, "alcohol" is as poisonous as mineral spirits.

...rinse with WD-40, then lubricate with mineral oil.
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I see you agree with Obsessed, that WD-40 is fine to use. thank you

this web page says soaking a stag or bone the handle in oil for days will rehydrate it...
http://www.knifecollectors.org/care/stag-handles.html

this one has people arguing opposite sides of the mineral oiled handle
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...pros-and-cons-of-mineral-oil-for-bone-handles

Bernard Levine, an author of books about knives, linked in a previous post, and Bill DeShivs, linked above, a cutler, agree that soaking bone or stag in oil is not recommended

Bernard Levine is against using WD-40, Bill DeShivs is in favor of using WD-40

I look forward to any supporting evidence from old paint chemists and other credible witnesses
whether or not to use WD-40, and
whether or not to soak bone and stag in mineral oil

Levines advice is not to use WD-40 and not to soak stag and bone in mineral oil, others disagree. Im inclined to err on the side of caution until further review of the evidence. To each their own.

singin50 said:
...buy some Birchwood Casey gun scrubber..., You will thank me later...
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Thank You!:-)
 
I use renaissance wax on all my handle materials, including celluloids, and it's fantastic stuff. A little goes a very long way. You can also get a gallon of food grade mineral oil online (or whatever amount you wish) to last a very long time.
 
Jon,

The easiest way to get acquainted with WD-40's effect on bone-handled knives would be to just pick a common and inexpensive 'user' knife in bone (Case, etc.), and designate it as a test subject just for the purpose. Proceed as many others here have done in sprucing up an old, dirty knife, and give it a 'bath' in a manner similar to that outlined by Frank (knarfeng) earlier. Along those lines, this is how I've done mine, each time I've acquired pre-owned traditionals from the 'Bay or wherever, and I'll repeat it on my frequently-used knives maybe a couple or three times a year, and/or as needed:

Douse the entire knife by spraying WD-40 into the the joints, between liners and springs, etc. Don't be shy with it; spray it liberally and let it run through everything and drip away. Exercise the joints to work dirt out of them while it's wet. When you see the liquid coming out clean, and can discern no more issues with grit or stickiness in the joints, then let the liquid drip away and wipe it all down with a clean rag or paper towel. Set the knife out on a paper towel to dry (for as long as you want; I've found it seldom needs more than a few minutes). You will notice some oily film on it for a while; that's just the oil left after the solvents evaporate away. And even after a day or so, most of that will essentially disappear. The tiny bit of it that's left sort of fills pores in the metal, and this is what will afford a little bit of lubrication and rust protection later on.

If you wish to do so, you can give the knife a bath in warm/hot soapy water (using dish detergent like Dawn, etc). For the sake of this 'experiment' though, don't worry if you just leave the knife as is, without the soapy bath. Even doing that, you'll notice (if anything) the only lasting effect of all the above will just be that oily film left on it. And that's just light mineral oil, the same stuff that everyone seems to agree is 'safe' on these anyway.


I recommend actually doing the above, because it's all too easy to read too much into other people's 'warnings' about the so-called 'hazards' of WD-40, usually coming from those who've never actually used it, or have read uncorroborated horror stories about it, or have had one odd experience with it, under less-than-normal circumstances. Those of us who've actually used it for just these purposes (for a very long time) have already figured out it's no big deal at all. If there was a consistent pattern of knives being ruined by it, it would've come to light in a huge, public way a long time ago; this stuff has been in use a very long time. In a nutshell, the best way to 'know' is to 'do', and don't worry so much about what you read on the web.

Repeating what I said earlier about BRL's advice (specifically), I'm sure he's approaching it from the standpoint of most true 'collectors' of vintage knives, in that they generally try to avoid any of these 'cleaning' activities altogether, for the sake of protecting all the 'old character' in them. In other words, since true 'antiques' typically lose collector value ($$$) in doing so, collectors and the people who appraise them for value are always going to discourage it. From BRL's standpoint, he is justified in doing so; but it's got nothing to do with harming the appearance or functionality of everyday knives that people actually use (and I bet he knows this, too; but in his particular forum, use of any solvent-based cleaners is not the advice one gives to collectors of true vintage antiques).


David
 
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Thank you, well said; Bernards perspective is about preserving antiques unaltered. For a knife that is not being preserved as an antique, WD-40 sounds like it works very well, that makes sense. I think youre right that Im misapplying something I read out of context.
 
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I look forward to any supporting evidence from old paint chemists and other credible witnesses
whether or not to use WD-40, and
whether or not to soak bone and stag in mineral oil
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Among other things I am an old paint chemist. Formulated everything from barn paint to paint for advanced aircraft. My time as a paint chemist extends back to when solvent based paint was common and we used all kinds of solvents in copious quantities as components of it. They are all toxic to one degree or another. That doesn't mean you can't use them. It just means you have to use them correctly.

I don't like WD-40 as a lubricant. I do sometimes use it as a cleaner to clean gunked up knives. I do not use it to treat bone, but I have used it on newish bone handled knives and have not noticed any issues. I don't use anything specifically to treat the bone, and I certainly don't soak bone in anything.
 
I hear ya Frank..Im off to do a couple of months of industrial fibreglassing (which i hate)...The chemicals we use are the best there are available and i call it more Alchemy than Chemistry....We experiment with all sorts of stuff,and the Bog we made is famous,you need diamond tip grinders to remove it..We call it EYE bog, if you get in your eye,we reckon youll be dead before the ambulance turns up,,,its good stuff.....the generic lubricant we have in the workshop is a 50/50 mix of auto trans fluid and acetone.....it works very well........FES
 
I clean folders under hot water with Dawn and a stiff plastic bristle brush.Let the Dawn run right in the pivot and work the blade under a stream of HOT water.Wipe dry and my lube of choice now is Aerosol Canola oil.It works amazingly well for me.
 
festerfromnzed said:
the generic lubricant we have in the workshop is a 50/50 mix of auto trans fluid and acetone.....it works very well........FES
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Now Im wondering about whether Brake Cleaner is useful for knives. It has acetone too, and is supposed to leave no residue. It might even be useful for removing mineral oil that has soaked into bone. What are your old Alchemist's opinions?

here is the MSDS for brake cleaner
http://www.crcindustries.com/faxdocs/msds/5088.pdf
 
I don't like WD-40 as a lubricant. I do sometimes use it as a cleaner to clean gunked up knives. I do not use it to treat bone, but I have used it on newish bone handled knives and have not noticed any issues. I don't use anything specifically to treat the bone, and I certainly don't soak bone in anything.

I agree with Frank as well. Don't use a thing on the bone handles. They really don't need anything.
 
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