Leatherman Wingman rusted after submearging

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Nakme

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Nov 4, 2019
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I bought new Leatherman Wingman... And I performed my "Deep Cleanig" process.

First I submerge Tool in hot water (not boiling, just hot) with some dish wash added. I let it soak submerged for about an hour, during that time I'm opening and closing the tool for several times and I'm running it through the water a little, to get as clean as I can. After that I wash the tool from dish soap running it thru the water from the tap, I immediately dry the tool, and then I spray it With Brunox Turbo Spray and leave it to soak for about an hour, and then I remove the turbo spray with the rag and put on Brunox Lub & Core, let it soak for an hour and clean it with the rag... Through all the process if there is need I use the brush for cleaning parts witch are dirty or rusted.

I have done this for all my Leathermans (I got about twenty of them) and there was no problem.

But, when I put the Wingman through this process... after an hour in water... the pliers head gone rusted! Everything else was fine, only the pliers head gone rusted...!

I was very surprised (not in a good way...) I cleaned the rust write away after soaking it a little in Brunox Turbo Spray but it left some dents and black worm like holes and spots in the tool, I needed to use some fine emery paper to remove that, and the pliers head will never look the same...

Funny thing is that at the same time I was doing this cleaning process to the Wingman I was doing it to the Sidekick also at the same time, and there were no problems or any rust on sidekick...

Did anyone had the same problem or any experience with this...?

Does this mean that the plier head on Wingman was from bad series...?

Does this process of cleaning that I'm doing can affect overall quality and consistency of stainless steal, or this is just the surface problem...

Thank You!
 
I cant see why you would clean a knife this way. The better way is just use oil to clean with q tips and compressed air to get debris out.

There is an internal spring in the sidekick/wingman, I'd be concerned you got water inside and yes you can eat away at the spring. Most models I'd say it's only surface, but this specific model is different. Spray remoil or clp in it to displace any water left.
 
Yo Mama said:
I cant see why you would clean a knife this way. The better way is just use oil to clean with q tips and compressed air to get debris out.

There is an internal spring in the sidekick/wingman, I'd be concerned you got water inside and yes you can eat away at the spring. Most models I'd say it's only surface, but this specific model is different. Spray remoil or clp in it to displace any water left.
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I use Brunox turbo spray after submerging and after Fan to remove any water left... I like to submerge tools for deep cleaning because the warm water and dish wash detergent removes moist and dirt, but i take good care too dry it completely, but after Wingman rusted, I will stop doing this...

I dont have any problems with spring in the Wingman, jut the surface rust...
 
Nakme said:
I use Brunox turbo spray after submerging and after Fan to remove any water left... I like to submerge tools for deep cleaning because the warm water and dish wash detergent removes moist and dirt, but i take good care too dry it completely, but after Wingman rusted, I will stop doing this...

I dont have any problems with spring in the Wingman, jut the surface rust...
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The water is just no doing anything for you that the oil does. Ditch the water rinse, it's like putting a good knife through the dishwasher.

Brunox is new to me, but it looks more similar to wd40. I'd go with a product made specific to guns and knives such as break free clp or remoil.
 
Yo Mama said:
The water is just no doing anything for you that the oil does. Ditch the water rinse, it's like putting a good knife through the dishwasher.

Brunox is new to me, but it looks more similar to wd40. I'd go with a product made specific to guns and knives such as break free clp or remoil.
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Brunox is made for weapons... but I will try remoil...
I'm done with using water and detergent... I learned my lesson, but I did have some great results with some old tools, which were very hard to get the tools out even with oil they would not come out easily but after soaking it in the water as I have explained they worked great... Anyway I just hope that water did not done some long term damage to steel overall in terms of consistency, hardness and quality and that the damage that is done its only surface.
 
First, if it's made from stainless steel, cleaning with water should be okay. I clean my SAKs with soap and water, then spray with WD40 which is made to displace water. After the WD40 drains out I oil with CLP and it's good to do. Never heard of Brunox, but I would be questioning the steel quality of Leatherman.
 
NMpops said:
First, if it's made from stainless steel, cleaning with water should be okay. I clean my SAKs with soap and water, then spray with WD40 which is made to displace water. After the WD40 drains out I oil with CLP and it's good to do. Never heard of Brunox, but I would be questioning the steel quality of Leatherman.
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There is 0 wrong with the steel Leatherman uses.
 
I would never consider using or intentionally using water on my leatherman's. When new I use Go-Juice and thats it. If they need cleaning, I will let them soak in a coating of WD 40 as it is a petroleum distillate and dissolves grease and gunk. wipe it down, blow it off with my compressor, getting all the WD out and then re-oil with Go-juice. Done.

But I still want a m390 blade for mine at the same price,lol
 
That sounds like a lot of work to do to a NEW tool. They shouldn't need any of that, maybe a touch-up on the blade. They come lubed from the factory.

I am not surprised if a multitool rusts after being submerged. It's packed with tiny gaps and crevices that will trap the moisture.
 
Why would you do this to a new tool to begin with? Sometimes a new tool or knife may need a fresh oiling straight from the box but rarely would it need a “deep cleaning.” I could possibly see this process if it was a gummed up rusty mess from hard use. Leatherman only recommends WD40 and the likes be used on their tools. I have never seen in any of their literature for their tools to be clean by the process you are describing. As said earlier there is a spring inside the plier head that could be damaged by the soap and water and it would be very hard to get all of the water out from around the spring once it’s in there. I recommend you stop using this process and only use WD40 or something similar as Leatherman recommends.
 
I think doing your cleaning job when it doesn't even need to be done is just asking for trouble. I don't understand why you would do this in the first place?
 
Sorry to hear about the rust.

I usually reserve hot water and soap treatment only for slipjoint tools that are vintaged where I need to loosen all the dirt/grime from the joint. For LM tools, I wouldn't even trust it with WD40 since I once had a Wave rusted all over the place even it was soaked only with WD40 and kept in a dry place. Till this day, it baffled my mind how it could rust so easily, and since then I only lubricate my LM tools on joints and kept it to the minimum.
 
If, and I emphasize if, I had a gunked up filthy, dirty nastified LM I would consider a soaking in kerosene/Jet-A followed by a compressed air blow-out followed by WD-40. If that didn't do the trick - it probably was a knock-off and not a real LM or the whole affair was too severely FUBAR to begin with.
 
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