Knife cleaning process

H

Huckle berry

Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
5
Most all of my knives are rosewood, walnut, or birchwood.

Step 1: Wash thoroughly in warm soapy water. No bleach, comet or other chemicals. Dry completely

Step 2: Clean blade, bolsters, etc with alcohol.

Step 3: Apply lubricant/oil to folding areas, pivot points and blade.

Step 4: Apply a thin coat of lubricant/oil to the entire surface of the knife with cloth.

Now the question is, what are safe lubricants to use? How about 3 in 1 oil?

Critique and add any other relevant info.
 
My critique, meant with good intentions, no offense intended:

Step 1: Why are you washing your knives in soapy water? You're stripping off whatever protective oil is already on there. And it's not good for the wood, it will raise the grain.

Step 2: Same questions as above.

I would recommend cleaning with mineral oil, paint thinner or turpentine. They will get out the grease and the gunk and will not damage the materials.

Steps 3 and 4 are okay.

Regarding 3-in-1 Oil, that stuff has been around for years, it's a light machine oil that has been used on guns, knives, sewing machines, fishing reels, etc. Oil is oil, it coats the metal, lubricates joints, and prevents rust. There's all kinds of new magic stuff on the market, fine to experiment with.
 
My first 110 was back in the 70's. Used extensively for deer hunting. As I finished field dressing and quartering, the knife would go in the ice chest on top of the meat. Back at camp or home, it would go under as hot a water as I could get to wash it off. Then scrubbed with dishwashing soap and a brush.

Every great once in a while when sharpening, I will add a drop or two of 3n1 or sewing machine oil to the pivot points .

A few times over the years, I have sprayed it down with WD40 and blown it out with an air compressor. A good wipe down and the 3n1 on the piviot points.


Have found that the cheap thinner type q-tips get down inside if/when needed.
 
Huckle berry Most all of my knives are rosewood, walnut, or birchwood.

Step 1: Wash thoroughly in warm soapy water. No bleach, comet or other chemicals. Dry completely

Step 2: Clean blade, bolsters, etc with alcohol.

Step 3: Apply lubricant/oil to folding areas, pivot points and blade.

Step 4: Apply a thin coat of lubricant/oil to the entire surface of the knife with cloth.

Now the question is, what are safe lubricants to use? How about 3 in 1 oil?

Critique and add any other relevant info.
Click to expand...

Yea , I'm with coldwood , I would never wash a knife with a good hardwood handle in soap and water , unless.
It was a knife for use in the kitchen , or a hard user that I was not concerned about the overall appearance , such as a filet knife or field knife.
I use denatured alcohol if at all possible to clean my knives and unless the scales are cured with something disolvable by alcohol , i'll use that on the wood as well , wood such as cocobolo comes to mind , anyways.

There are numerous threads regarding this , I suggest you do some searching on this forum.

I think it was nottosharp that did an excellent test on the popular lubes , find his thread and you have some good reading.

The search function is a great tool on this forum. ;)
 
On a quality knife, the wood will be stabelized and will not raise the grain. The Buck 110 I have used for the past 30 years shows no ill effect from hot soapy water. Of course it is not just sitting in any water for extended periods.

Wash it down and wipe it off and ocassional oil, it should be fine.

I would never use alcohol on one. Unless a concern for sanitizing a blade.
 
Wash the knife in warm soapy water

Wipe dry

Apply a light coating of gun oil on the blade and metal parts.

On folding knives add a drop of gun oil on the moving parts and pivots.

If soap and water does not remove the dirt, in this case from chopping evergreen brush and gooy sap is all over the blade. Then a bit of gasoline or paint remover will take the sap, or any waxy stuff soap won't remove.

As for oils and lubricants. I found gun oil, and electric motor oil good choices.
 
Bufford,,,

Try some WD40 on the tree sap. Might be better than using gasoline.
 
Something else I use sometimes since it is clean and easy and the wife doesn't go beserk on me here in my pc room, is believe it or not,, Lysol.

Use it on a thin q-tip to get down inside a really dirty knife if I feel lazy and don't want to go to the garage for the wd40 and aircompressor treatment. I don't get aggressive on wood handles with it.

Something else I have done, got in a cordura sheath with a Buck 110 and it had obviously seen some heavy dirty use. I saturated the sheath with go-jo type hand cleaner and get a lot of the grime off. Then just tossed it in the washing machine with a load of jeans. To say it came out as new is a stretch, but it was a huge improvement.
 
If you have a shellac or lacquer finish on your wooden, bone or antler handles, then alcohol might be a problem. Otherwise, if your handles are stabilized with something like epoxy, it shouldn't be a problem. However, you might get some water between the scales and the liners or tang, and lead to rust, or splitting the bone or wood, etc....that could be a problem. I would still only clean with an oil based lubricant. A blast of WD40 would be okay, followed by oil. And then wipe it all off. Whatever residual oil I might get into my system ain't going to kill me. I've had worse things ;)
 
I'd avoid using alcohol. Alcohol is more corrosive than water.
I'd rather stick with soapy water for washing, and oiling after thorough drying.
 
Alcohol is not corrosive. Alcohol mixed with water becomes corrosive.
Bill
 
My reasoning behind the use of alcohol is that alcohol evaporates quickly. Far quicker than water, and will dissolve most stains like tape adhesives and so forth. I would not hesitate as much using soap and water on a fixed blade , but not a folder. Just IMO :)
 
One thing I like about my Pacific Salt; I can just toss it in the washer and NEVER concern myself with it. But, for my other knives I found lighter fluid takes all kinds of sticky junk off, and dries really fast.
 
When I do clean my blades, I always use the same method. Clean with hot soapy water, and then put the teapot on high flame. When it whistles, I pour the boiling water over the whole knife until empty. Knife dries in under a minute, then I put apply a light coat of oil. Been doing it this way for about 10 years now. Never a problem!:) :)
 
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