Non chlorinated brake cleaner?

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
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Hey guys. When I used to carry my D2 benchmade griptilian in the shop about once a week I would hose it out with brake cleaner and then blow it out with compressed air to move whatever the cleaner missed. I have a manix 2 xl that I would like to clean in this manner but I didn't know how the cage that holds the bearing would stand up to the cleaner. Or any of the other parts. Do you guys think it would be safe to do so?
 
I would avoid using brake cleaner on any sort of polymer. As you are aware, some will "melt" and others that seem unaffected can become brittle after repeated exposure.
 
Yeah maybe I'll do dawn and blow the water out. I just worry about water being trapped elsewhere and causing rust.
 
As long as you use hot water and blow it out with air, you shouldn't have a problem with rust. Personally, I usually just clean off the blade with rubbing alcohol to remove adhesive. Then once every few months I'll take apart my knife (if possible) and clean the internals. If I can't take the knife apart, I use very hot soapy water and then dry it out as good as possible then oil. No problems with rust yet.
 
I've taken the knife apart twice but would like to leave it together and clean it if I can. I'll try some dawn dish soap and hot water as suggested.
 
I've used non chlorinated brake cleaner to clean my polymer framed guns for years with no problems. The only thing I would shy away from is wood grips. Just lube pivots afterwards as it removes all lubricate as well.
 
I hit it with hot water and soap. Then sprayed some silicone lube in the pivot area and sprayed the excess out. Should be fine? I usually use hoppes gun oil but this knife seems gummy with thicker lube.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I hit it with hot water and soap. Then sprayed some silicone lube in the pivot area and sprayed the excess out. Should be fine? I usually use hoppes gun oil but this knife seems gummy with thicker lube.
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Get yourself some Nano-oil, you'll never use another lube on your knives again. They can get scary smooth.
 
If you're using real compressed air (vs. canned air) nearly anything is going to be fine. I too would suggest staying the heck away from brake cleaner. If you need solvents (which I doubt), I'd use carb cleaner.
 
This post makes me cringe. I managed a mechanics shop for over 3 yrs. Break clean is some really nasty toxic stuff. I would never ever use it to clean my knives. To me that's like saying you are going to use brake fluid to clean your leather car seats. If I ever bought or traded for a knife smelling like break clean I'd send it back. It may not be super bad for metal...but a lot of knives use plastic washers. I've seen some high end custom knives using plastic washers. Imagine that melting around the pivot. Reminds me of a time I saw a plastic bag fly onto a nice Harley's hot chrome exhaust and melt on there.

A little dish soap and an old toothbrush is perfect. Especially if you have to go wash your hands anyways...kill 2 birds with one stone. Then a few drops of gun oil on the blade and pivot
 
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ShepardCC said:
This post makes me cringe. I managed a mechanics shop for over 3 yrs. Break clean is some really nasty toxic stuff. I would never ever use it to clean my knives. To me that's like saying you are going to use brake fluid to clean your leather car seats. If I ever bought or traded for a knife smelling like break clean I'd send it back. It may not be super bad for metal...but a lot of knives use plastic washers. I've seen some high end custom knives using plastic washers. Imagine that melting around the pivot. Reminds me of a time I saw a plastic bag fly onto a nice Harley's hot chrome exhaust and melt on there.

A little dish soap and an old toothbrush is perfect. Especially if you have to go wash your hands anyways...kill 2 birds with one stone. Then a few drops of gun oil on the blade and pivot
Click to expand...

This.
 
ShepardCC said:
This post makes me cringe. I managed a mechanics shop for over 3 yrs. Break clean is some really nasty toxic stuff. I would never ever use it to clean my knives. To me that's like saying you are going to use brake fluid to clean your leather car seats. If I ever bought or traded for a knife smelling like break clean I'd send it back. It may not be super bad for metal...but a lot of knives use plastic washers. I've seen some high end custom knives using plastic washers. Imagine that melting around the pivot. Reminds me of a time I saw a plastic bag fly onto a nice Harley's hot chrome exhaust and melt on there.

A little dish soap and an old toothbrush is perfect. Especially if you have to go wash your hands anyways...kill 2 birds with one stone. Then a few drops of gun oil on the blade and pivot
Click to expand...

I know the dangers of brake clean as well. I've gotten overspray on my screwdriver handles... nasty. Which is why i asked. I didn't know if anybody in the field has used or accidentally gotten some on spyderco's polymer. My griptilian has been fine with it, i don't know what they use specifically but it's very resistant. I don't use brake clean to clean any other knife but that griptilian, and when i saw the cleaner get on the handles accidentally i knew it was safe. This spyderco hasn't been near brake clean because i don't carry a blade at work anymore. I'll have to try your leather renewal process with the brake fluid though :-) lol. The reason i asked was because the pressure of the cleaner and the cleaning properties made it ideal for blowing gunk out of the pivot area/ball bearing retainer. But don't worry, i used good old hot water and soap. Which was the whole reason i came here to ask, before i did anything harsh like that.
 
Non chlorinated brake cleaner is essentially the same thing as polymer safe Gun Scrubber. I would try it on a cheap knife if you're worried, but it should be fine.
 
Funny story abt this stuff..I worked in a dlrshp some years ago where the service mgr got an oil spot on his new white sweater when looking under a
car that was raised on the hoist. He came to the parts dept, got a spray can of brake clean, and proceeded to hose down the stain. After letting is set for
a few minutes he wiped it clean with a paper towel with virtually no residue or damage to the wool. Hard to imagine this could affect wood or plastic..
 
I've used standard brake cleaner to clean guns prior to the introduction of polymer frames. Since then, I've used non-chlorinated. I've also sprayed down knives with the non-chlorinated stuff as well as Poly-safe Gun Scrubber and none of them suffered any negative effects. I consider it to be safe for use with any type of plastic material.

Conversely, the old type standard brake cleaner melted the Kraton handle of a knife I once had and handling knives with synthetic grips (don't remember what materials) after using insect repellant with DEET left them with a hazy appearance.
 
Most Benchmade knives use bronze washers.
-Spyderco is up in the air. A lot of the Japanese made Spydercos, the Breeden, Superleaf, Superhawk, Lum, Captain, Battlestation, etc use plastic washers. (They also all have the half rivet/screw pins instead of two screws and a standoff)
- Most of the Taichung and Golden knives use bronze washers.
-Southard, Domino, Dice, & Rubicon use ball bearings housed in a plastic housing cage (which would render the knife useless if it melted).
 
MAF sensor cleaner is a good cleaner for plastics/electronics that I've used with no negative results on numerous types of plastic.
 
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