Is soap and water for cleaning + 3-in-One oil for polishing, enough for any knife?

[Viper2]

Is soap (dish-washing liquid) and water for cleaning + 3-in-One oil for polishing, all that is really needed for any knife?

Any responses will be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Tsujigiri]

Where did you hear that? Knives are generally low maintenance; you can usually get away with just blowing the lint out and adding a little oil to the joint once in a while. Unless, of course, you manage to fill it with mud or sand or something like that.

 

[Viper2]

Where did you hear that? Knives are generally low maintenance; you can usually get away with just blowing the lint out and adding a little oil to the joint once in a while. Unless, of course, you manage to fill it with mud or sand or something like that.

Oh, I meant the soap and water only in case the knife gets so dirty that it needs deep cleaning. But as for the oil (for polishing and preventing rust), is there really any need to use an oil that is more expensive or "specialized" than 3-in-One oil?

 

[Tsujigiri]

My personal favorite is Shooter's Choice FP-10. It's really good because it doesn't evaporate, gunk up, or smell bad, and it makes pivots reeeeally fast. It's a very slight difference in performance, but it wasn't too expensive and the bottle should last a long time. Household oil will work fine, though, if you don't need the knife to open as fast as it possibly can. And it certainly won't damage the knife to use something like 3 in 1. Some people even use mineral oil because they use their knives to work with food often.

 

[jackknife]

3 in one is fine. I've been using it for about 50 years now.

 

[Komitadjie]

Unless you're in very corrosive conditions, it'll do just fine. For more aggressive environments (salt water, constant high humidity, etc) it might be worth considering one of the more advanced corrosion inhibitors, but for almost all conditions aside from those, it will serve very well. I don't think I ever saw my grandpa use anything but 3-in-1 on his folder, and it is STILL in good shape. (I own it now).

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Dish soap & water (hot) is how I clean mine. Works great for cleaning out knives with old, gummy oil (WD-40 before the 'bath' helps too). On knives with a lot of grit in the joints, exercising the pivot while under the soapy water works well to flush it out. After drying the knife, a little bit of WD-40 in the joints helps to flush out any remaining moisture.

As for oil, pretty much anything works, so long as the knife is kept clean.