Old knife and rust

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mrszeontestpilot

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Mar 28, 2012
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I was recently given an old knife that my sister found that is believed to have belonged to my grandpa. If it was his, it has to be fairly old. It is in pretty rough shape and is rusted shut. I have tried soaking it in wd-40, as I read about in another thread here, and it hasn't helped. Are there any other possible options to get it open, or is it likely a lost cause? Will try to attach a picture.
 
WD40 is a good start. Since that hasn’t worked and without pictures first I’d try putting it under the hottest tap water you can get for at least 5-10 minutes straight then I’d scrub whatever and wherever I could with a toothbrush and dawn dish soap. If that doesn’t loosen things up I’d soak it in a cup of penetrating oil such as PB Blaster for an hour then try, an overnight soak may be required. Use at your own risk because I have no idea what materials your knife is made of.
It may be easier to link photos to a hosting site like Imgur rather than trying to upload them directly.
 
Once you do all of that you can start working the blade slowly but firmly. Just move them little by little and keep washing hem down with WD40 or mineral oil as the rust is washed away. If all goes well the knife should be opening within a few minutes of that. Then you can clean the inside with Q-tips to get more of the active rust and dirt out.
 
I've had to grip the blade with pliers to pull the blade open on some rusted knives. Some I've had to pry on the nail nick with small screwdriver.
Once open, you can work it to free it up further.
 
Not sure how long you soaked in WD-40. But, I've had luck with the same treatment over a few days' time. Saturate the knife in WD-40, then wrap it in paper towels and also saturate them in WD-40 - don't be shy about leaving it dripping with the stuff. Then put the whole thing, saturated paper towels and all, into a new (fully airtight) zip-loc bag and seal it, so the WD-40's solvent can work without evaporating off. Then just put it aside and forget about it for maybe 3 or 4 days. After that, unwrap it all and see if the blades have enough 'wiggle' to get them open. Might need a pair of pliers (needlenose) as suggested earlier, to get a grip on them. If you can get the blades opened up, then again flush it all out again with WD-40 while continuing to exercise the pivots. Use brushes or whatever works to scrub it down and keep flushing with the WD-40 until it doesn't run red/brown anymore, and keep scrubbing. Once most or all of the loosely-bound rust stops coming off, then give the whole thing a bath in warm water & liquid dish soap, again exercising the pivots until it's clean.

After all that, dry everything out and give it a little bit of oil in the pivots and/or on the steel surfaces (blades, springs) and see how it works.
 
Keep at it. Can try to use a coin in the nail nick, or screw driver if the blade is not high enough to get with players or vice grips.
 
I am soaking mine in mineral oil. Good luck either way... don’t gouge yourself with a screwdriver trying to open the bladesimage.jpg
 
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