Jimping/Choil cleaning

L

LondonBridges

Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Messages
198
It seems many of the knives I've bought recently have alot of crud in the jimping/choil areas and I was wondering what you guys do to clean them.
 
My knives don't have crap in the jimping, but I would imagine that a toothbrush would do the trick.
 
The jimping on my knives gets cleaned the same as the rest of the knife: A good hose-down with Simple Green and a scrub with a tooth brush, then rinse in HOT water and let dry. Light coat of protective agent (either mineral oil for my food-knives or eezox for my non-food ones) and they go back into my pocket.
 
I've done about 99.9% of my knife-cleaning with a WD-40 flush, followed by a HOT bath in dish soap & water, then rinse in HOT water. Dry completely, then re-apply just a little WD-40 to the joints to displace any residual moisture. I haven't seen much dirt or crud that can hide from that treatment. A toothbrush ought to work well in the jimped areas, too.
 
I've just always kind of winced about using WD40 in areas that I can not reach to clean later, mostly because of what I've seen it do in gun actions when neglected for a long time. I know it works, there's just kind of a mental block there. I've actually used Gun Scrubber / carb cleaner a few times, THAT gets the crap RIGHT out (not for delicate scale materials!). Also strips every drop of oil, so use with care!
 
Komitadjie said:
I've just always kind of winced about using WD40 in areas that I can not reach to clean later, mostly because of what I've seen it do in gun actions when neglected for a long time. I know it works, there's just kind of a mental block there. I've actually used Gun Scrubber / carb cleaner a few times, THAT gets the crap RIGHT out (not for delicate scale materials!). Also strips every drop of oil, so use with care!
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That's why I recommend the HOT bath with dish soap & water, after the WD-40 flush. It does a good job in cleaning out everything, including the excess WD-40. When used in moderation after cleaning, the WD-40 will leave a tiny bit of what amounts to light mineral oil behind. That presents no issues, gunk-wise, that wouldn't also be present if another oil-based lube was used. And the WD-40's solvent is mild enough, it won't harm delicate scales, or plastic/nylon bushings in the pivot. I have one knife, that I think I damaged the synthetic bushings using a gun cleaner solvent. Pivot became very sticky afterwards, and hasn't been the same since. I think the solvent melted the bushings a bit, like acetone would do to plastic.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
That's why I recommend the HOT bath with dish soap & water, after the WD-40 flush. It does a good job in cleaning out everything, including the excess WD-40. When used in moderation after cleaning, the WD-40 will leave a tiny bit of what amounts to light mineral oil behind. That presents no issues, gunk-wise, that wouldn't also be present if another oil-based lube was used. And the WD-40's solvent is mild enough, it won't harm delicate scales, or plastic/nylon bushings in the pivot. I have one knife, that I think I damaged the synthetic bushings using a gun cleaner solvent. Pivot became very sticky afterwards, and hasn't been the same since. I think the solvent melted the bushings a bit, like acetone would do to plastic.
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I think my ideal cleaning method would be the one I've used at work, just chuck the whole thing into an ultrasonic tank full of sizzling-hot dish soap and water, then blow dry and oil. It's the process we use to clean a goodly number of our parts here at work, and it seems to work just as well on my Benchmade. Unfortunately, I don't have a dedicated *stall* of my garage that I can toss the giant ultrasonic tank and it's twenty gallons of solution into. :D People discount how well dish soap works, but with ultrasonic agitation I've seen just dawn-and-water take off some NASTY gunk, stuff I would have pretty much thought you would need acetone / MEK to remove.

I've never had carb cleaner or gun solvent damage the workings of my knife before, but I HAVE had it put kind of an odd white residue or solvent stain of some kind on plastic scales. It's a reasonably powerful solvent, of course, so you don't want to just toss it around without thinking.
 
Komitadjie said:
I think my ideal cleaning method would be the one I've used at work, just chuck the whole thing into an ultrasonic tank full of sizzling-hot dish soap and water, then blow dry and oil. It's the process we use to clean a goodly number of our parts here at work, and it seems to work just as well on my Benchmade. Unfortunately, I don't have a dedicated *stall* of my garage that I can toss the giant ultrasonic tank and it's twenty gallons of solution into. :D People discount how well dish soap works, but with ultrasonic agitation I've seen just dawn-and-water take off some NASTY gunk, stuff I would have pretty much thought you would need acetone / MEK to remove.

I've never had carb cleaner or gun solvent damage the workings of my knife before, but I HAVE had it put kind of an odd white residue or solvent stain of some kind on plastic scales. It's a reasonably powerful solvent, of course, so you don't want to just toss it around without thinking.
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Actually, an ultrasonic tank is something I've frequently thought about for a task like this. You can use pretty much whatever cleaning solution you wish. I think a lot of users use something like isopropyl alcohol for a final rinse, as it does a nice job displacing residual moisture. There are some smaller 'home-friendly' versions out there, for hobbyists & such. Might be worth looking into.
 
They work tremendously well, at least the big ones we have here at work. I've never tried one of the smaller 'consumer' grade units, although I suspect they'd probably work just fine. Not going to have as much power in the transducer, almost certainly, but would likely just take a little longer to do the same job. What I love is the a ability to get the gunk out of even the tiniest corners, without having to try to get in there with a pick or something and scrape it out.
 
Komitadjie said:
They work tremendously well, at least the big ones we have here at work. I've never tried one of the smaller 'consumer' grade units, although I suspect they'd probably work just fine. Not going to have as much power in the transducer, almost certainly, but would likely just take a little longer to do the same job. What I love is the a ability to get the gunk out of even the tiniest corners, without having to try to get in there with a pick or something and scrape it out.
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I think jewelers, especially, rely on ultrasonic cleaners quite a bit. I'd think, whatever bugs or weaknesses there were in the smaller ones, they'd have worked 'em out by now. Might not be as fast as an industrial unit, but certainly not as pricey, either. I think a decent one for smallish stuff can be had for $100 - $200, maybe even less. I have a catalog or two around here, for hobbyist supplies, with a couple or three models listed. I'll double-check, see what's out there.

Here's an example, listed at the vendor's site at $113 (and currently discounted to $81). 50W power consumption (120VAC). It's tank is 2" x 3-1/2" x 6-1/2", seems perfect for a pocket knife or folder. They also sell their own 'non-volatile' cleaning solution, not sure what's in it.

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