Need Help Bring a Case Knife Back to Life

R

rckshrk

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Feb 25, 2010
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I was helping my wife with some late spring cleaning when I came across a knife she has been throwing in random kitchen drawers for at least the last 16 years or so. It's probably been longer than that but since that's about how long I've known her I will leave it at that. She probably got the knife from her father ( "borrowed" is my guess, I plan to ask the next time I talk to him) and it's been with her through countless moves. Moves that occurred every year in college, about 5 moves during 10 years of following me in the military and then there have been a few post military moves. So needles to say, she is tied this knife and doesn't plan to give it up.

Unfortunately, this knife has been neglected and needs lots of TLC. There is some rust starting to set in, some staining and then there is the caked on remnants of various things this knife has been used to cut over the years. Thankfully, the blades are functionally in great shape. Just dull with a small chip in one of the blades which I can easily handle since I'm use to taking care of my own collection. However, that's where my expertise ends since I would never let any of my knives get any where near as bad as this Case knife is right now.

So far I have soaked the knife in WD40 just to stabilize it until I come up with a complete plan of attack. I will eventually use some bluelube cleanser and lubricant that I have on hand after the rust and stains have been addressed. What's going to make bring this knife back to life really tough is the fact that this knife is pinned together. So I don't have the option of taking it apart to properly clean it. Which finally brings me to...

Blade Forum Community, please help me. Help me bring this knife back to it's rightful state and once again make it an useful tool that I may return back to my wife. I'm open to any and all suggestions especially anything you may have for taking care of the rust inside the handle. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.
RS


This is my first post with pictures so be patient with me on those. The best I can do right now are links. I'm open to advice on pictures too. Thanks again.

Front of Case XX 6318HP
A Look inside the handle of the Case XX 6318HP
Back of Case XX 6318HP
 
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Bit of fine steel wool on a toothpick for the inside. WD40 sux. Use break free- any gun shop. Looks to be in great shape.
 
WD 40 is what the pros use. It is thin enough to get in all the crevices, and it is pretty good at loosening rust.
 
What sort of pros? It gets under scales and turns to varnish. It's not nearly as good for lubrication or rust prevention as Break Free. I don't know if it's a better penetrant, but I've gotten lots of rust off with BF. WD40's best trick is displacing moisture. WaterDisplacement40to1
 
WD40 has many uses, its not just for water displacement.

To the OP, a little polish, cleaner, lube, and some rags and I'm sure you can make it look good again.
 
Pros like me. I use it all the time. Any lubricant will dry up and varnish. When it does, add more of it. It then dissolves and displaces the old lubricant.
 
On knives that I've given the heavy WD-40 flush treatment (to clear away gunk, dirt, etc.), I've always washed them afterwards in hot water with dish soap. After the soapy wash, I rinse thoroughly under hot water, and wipe down all standing moisture from areas I can reach. The hot wash/rinse does an excellent job of warming up the internals of the knife (liners, backsprings, pivots) so that residual moisture evaporates off very quickly. After all that, if I see the need for it, I might apply just a LITTLE BIT of WD-40 in critical areas to displace any moisture that might be left. This has worked great every time I've done it. No issues with rust or varnish afterwards. In fact, I've never seen any varnish issues with WD-40, so long as it's applied sparingly as needed.

To the OP:
That knife looks great, even as it sits now (based on what I see in your pics). Those dark red/purple bone scales are beautiful. Whatever red rust is present, it can be cleaned off with WD-40 oftentimes, or polished away with polishing compound. As for the remaining pits in the steel, on a knife like yours, this is what I'd call 'character' in a knife. It shows that it's got some history and a story to tell. That's a wonderful thing in a knife like this. Aside from maybe putting a new edge on the blades, I don't see the need to take it much beyond that. You've got something to be proud of there.

Another tip:
Something that's worked great for me, for accessing the narrow spaces inside the handle, is to use a wooden 'craft stick' (like a popsicle stick) with a rag/paper towel folded over the end of the stick to clean/polish the inside surfaces of the backsprings/liners. You could even fold a small piece of fine/xtra-fine grit wet/dry sanpaper over the end of the stick, to do a little more gentle scrubbing in there. The stick is just about the perfect thickness to snuggle in between the liners, so it's flat edge can make good contact with the backsprings. You can find these 'craft sticks' in the Crafts section at Walmart, or perhaps at Hobby Lobby if there's one near you. They're available in various sizes, here are a couple examples:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/slim-craft-sticks-135087/

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/craft-sticks-170480/
 
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Great knife! Ill second the wd-40 and then a few drops of dawn and hot water rinse.Scub with a plastic bristle brush if needed.Then dry and polish with Flitz or similar.
 
I get most of my opinions about lubes, cleaners, and rust inhibitors, from professional machinists, professional gunsmiths, gun users, gun companies, military people, the US Military, hunters, guides, and lots of reading about these things. I don't make stuff up. I think there is enough conclusive evidence to say that there are better products than WD40 for your knives, guns, and the rest of your metallic mechanical instruments, so it puzzles me that you recommend it. Are you trying to save the OP $8 and the effort required to simply pick some up the next time he's at Walmart?

I think it's worth the 5 seconds it takes for me to remind someone that he will be better off using a more advanced product for the rest of his life, but I won't do it here if it will save us arguing about it.
 
No. I'm a PROFESSIONAL cutler, and I use WD 40 for exactly what I described. I'm also a former gunsmith, jeweler, engineer-all PROFESSIONALLY. I don't make stuff up, either.
WD 40 is an excellent water displacer/solvent/cleaner. It is also a light lubricant.
There are better lubricants.
 
Let's see...

3,900+ posts VS. 57

Hmm.

Clean It with WD40, wash It, and put some Tuff-Glide on the pivots. Oiling the blade Is your call, I personally don't.
 
Post count isn't everything.
Here are some of the reasons I use WD 40:
Easily available, excellent penetrative qualities, harmless, convenient, excellent water displacement qualities, inexpensive, prevents corrosion in tight crevices, and is a light lubricant.
There may be other formulas that do some (or all) of these things better-but I haven't found them.
To be sure, in my business I use other chemicals, solvents, and methods-but I am a professional and can't recommend them for casual use.
WD 40 will loosen rust, can be washed off with detergent and water (which will remove more rust) and then reapplied to displace the moisture from washing.
WD 40 is recommended for the above reasons, plus it will do no harm.
 
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