New collector

J

jimleach

Joined
Aug 9, 2001
Messages
16
I've been collecting slipjoint knives for a couple of years now, with my preference being smooth bone handles, in any pattern.

I have several of the peacock appaloosa bone Case knives now (6), plus several small canoes and peanuts. All of my knives have what I assumed to be leftover polishing compound hiding in all their nooks and crannies. What I am wondering is, should I be cleaning that gunk out, and secondly, what is the best method to do so? I don't want to damage the bone handles, and I don't want to scratch the blades or bolsters.

Also, some of the knives have minor scratches on the bolsters and blades from me wiping fingerprints off with <gasp> paper towel... How does everyone keep their collections nice and fingerprint free after you are done fondling them? I can't bear not to touch them on occasion, and I've actually carried most of them, although I stopped that practice when I dropped my pretty new cheetah on the rough tile floor in the bathroom at the office, and scarred it up good...

I love this forum, most knife forums are all about tacticals (nothing wrong there, I've got a few emersons myself), but I enjoy the stories and the historical perspective that a good old fashioned pocket knife conjures up. And the people in the office don't freak out when you pull a cute little blue/green whittler out of your pocket to cut up the six-pack rings left from the department meeting, where a 4 inch hawkbilled black evil tactical tends to raise eyebrows.

I've been lurking for a long time, and posted in the emerson forums on occasion, but this is my first post in this forum. one of these days I'll get a picture of my modest collection, and show them off.

thanks for sticking with me though this long post,
jim
 
Jim,
Welcome! Glad you decided to join us.

On slipjoints I am a proponent of Rem-Oil and Renaissance Wax. but all of us have our favorites. Others like Tough Glide by Sentry Solutions and I use it on some damascus, but I do not like the film it leaves. If I am going to put the knife up for a long period of time Tough Glide is a good product.

For wiping try a soft clean cotton cloth or even better clean chamois. Try either on cleaning gunk off of the blade and tangs. I keep my chamois in zip-locks so that they do not gather dust and debris that can scratch when wiping.

The Ren Wax is great for fingerprint protection. Paper towels can leave light scratches (at least some do on my glasses).

Gunk cleaning in crevaces (with a steady hand)- a straight pin works coupled with a q-tip and oil should take care of the job. An oiled cloth and a little elbow grease should take care of gunk on visible surfaces.
 
Welcome,
I am new to this forum as well. I am looking forward to seeing your pictures.
Ed T
 
Gus is right on. Another thing I do, especially to get into hard to reach areas, is to take any type of implement (small screwdriver, flat blade, dental pick) and wrap it with an old t-shirt or light cloth. Then you can stuff it down in the cracks of the folders to get to that gunk. Q-tips can sometimes be too thick.

Glad to have you on board. I might get bold and post some pictures sometime, as well.
 
Jim,

you can use a toothpick to clean compound gunk out of the hard to reach places, a q-tip works well also. as far as cleaning around the scales, just be careful. You can also use flitz, semi-chrome, or brasso also to polish and clean, bolsters spring backs, ect. If you have any bone thats natural, or light colored be careful if you use brasso, you dont want to stain the color. When oiling your knives same rule, be careful as you may stain the scales if they are a light color. You can use a dremel tool with a buffing wheel and brasso, or jewelers rouge to polish the scratches out of your bolsters. Remember though that if you do too much too your knife you'll be taking off the collectors value (keep in mind in case you want to keep it for collectors purposes). When polishing with rouge be careful not to stain the light colored bone (if its dark, should'nt be a problem). It tends to get all over the place. One thing you can do is tape the handles tight to avoid getting something on them while your polishing.
For protection of your knives you are keeping for collectors purposes rennasainsse wax works well to protect blades and not leave a mess. Tuff-glide is good, its 100% mineral spirits mixed with oil, and goes on wet and dries (leaving a thin protective layer). remember though with this, or any other petroleum product it will stain natural, and light colored bone.
Theres nothing wrong with cleaning your knives up, just dont do to much, like any grinding, steel wool, over polishing, ect.
I would reccomend that you use a soft cotton cloth and one of the polishes (flitz, brasso, semi-chrome) I mentioned for polishing your bolsters (a dremel will probably get rid of the scratches, but you dont want to do too much and ruin the value, if thats a concern). For bone, stag, ect. you can use a very light coat of natural mineral oil to help keep these materials from drying out. Be warned though natural colors, and light colors can be somewhat darkened with using this.

hope this helps some!!! :)
 
Welcome Jim
I enjoy this forum more than any other. You'll find a very civilized bunch of folks over here and some pretty knowledgable fellas too.I think the history thing is what draws a lot of people to slipjoints, I also like their pocket size - heck you can carry several in your pants without needing suspenders or looking like you are part of a plain clothes tactical assault squad.
look forward to more posts and some pics!
 
Wonderful ideas! thanks everyone... I'll be sure to get some images online soon. All I have now are images of my evil black stuff, and some of the gunsmithing work I've been doing...

I'll have some good pictures soon, i promise.

well, heck. I might as well force this image on you guys, I've made everyone else look at it... i'm worse than some parents when it comes to this project...

finishedtoy.jpg


allright, i know it's not all black, but it started that way...
 
I use a bent pipe cleaner to reach in and clean the inside of my knives.

For light polishing as on the bolsters I use a fingernail polishing file, the type with three grits and a foamy backing.
 
You guys are awesome. I forgot about pipe-cleaners and tooth-pics and dental pics. I guess it has been a while since I have had to really get to one of mine.

For dental pics, if you ever go to a gun show you should be able to find them there.
 
you can also cut a plastic handled q-tip at an angle for a nice, non-scarring, pick!!! :)

and also a can of pressurized air (suchas the knid you use for computer keyboards) makesd a great liner, and backspring cleaner!!:)
 
Here are some more of my collection. This is the rest of the case pieces, and a bit of my ar-15.com CRKT big knife.

case.jpg


The Red peanut is a limited edition red bone...
The Blue peanut is one of the Lowes contract kives, and the first knife I purchased for collection purposes.


jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top