Just got a new(old) Imperial 2 blade Jack

[crunky]

I don't have a lot of slippies, so this is exciting to me
I was browsing the bay a few days ago, looking through all the used folding knives, and I stumbled across a listing that claimed to be a NOS Imperial 2 blade jack knife. It did not give any info on the knife, other than stating that it was out of a display case from a store that closed down in the 1950s.

It showed up today, and it definitely seems new, doesn't appear to have been sharpened, and whatever oil was used on it is starting to become gummed up. Measures about 3" closed, and has a ~2" clip blade, and a ~1.5 pen blade, and has some sort of black synthetic handle material that emulates jigged bone. Its a perfect replacement for the Rough Rider stockman that rides in my watch pocket.

With this gummed up oil in the pivots, its a little hard to open the blades, especially with a wounded thumb... What would be the best way to clean it out and re oil? Blast with WD-40? My only concern would be any negative effect on the handle scales.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

You might not necessarily need to hit it too heavy with the WD-40. I doubt it would hurt the scales anyway, the solvent in WD-40 is quite mild, with the balance of the mixture being what amounts to mineral oil. The solvent evaporates quickly, leaving just the mineral oil behind. If you are concerned about the scales though, just go lightly with the WD-40. Direct it into the pivots a little bit at a time, and let it soak in a bit. Exercise the blades by opening/closing them, then give it a little more of the WD-40 & repeat the process as needed, until the pivots seem to be loosened up sufficiently. If the gummed up oil was the only issue, and there's no significant DIRT left behind, that might be all you'll need to do. If the knife was dirty, I'd also likely give it a bath in HOT water with dish soap, rinse completely in HOT water, dry everything thoroughly, then re-apply a little WD-40 in the joints.

 

[fast14riot]

^^ +1

Good advice. I use CLP on all my flea market finds instead of WD-40. One drop is usually enough. Sometimes I will load up a bad one, work the blade(s) a bit and let it sit over night.


-Xander