Recommendations for knife and tool cleaning???

L

longmood

Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
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My father used to be a mechanic and I have recently obtained a tool chest that was his. Lots of the tools are in good condition but somewhat greasy and dirty. Also, among the chest was an old folding pocket knife of his that is also greasy and dirty plus the blade seems to be rusty and what not. Any suggestions for degreasing and cleaning tools? Any good cleaning products to purchase? And anything for restoring the knife? How does that CLR work?

Thanks for any help... I went to the knife maintenance forum but it seemed really slow.
 
simple green for degreasing, never dull for polishing. Then get a gun and reel silicone cloth to wipe them down after use. Works for me. Simple green is aaammaazzziiing stuff!!

If they are real bad use some easy off oven cleaner, just wear gloves!
 
WD-40 is a fair cleaner - but not a lubricant - it evaporates. Flitz is an excellent polisher. Get a couple of old toothbrushes. You can get surface conditioning discs (rotary rescue pads) that are roloc attached to an electric drill. Extra fine does not remove much metal. Use the discs on dry metal only as they'll load up with grease or oil and lose their effectiveness. Denatured alcohol - shellac thinner is a fair solvent and one of the only ones safe to use barehanded.
 
A gallon of diesel fuel, let tools soak overnight, wipe & oil. If there is significant rust, scrub with bristle brush & repeat soak.
 
CWL sure hit the nail on the head.. Thats how lots of old timers used to do it. Dont forget that diesel is oily so you might want to use simple clean to wipe it dry.. If you are not going to use them much or keep them in storage use some WD-40 to prevent rust... But tools are made to be used ......

Sasha
 
Wear goggles if using brake/carb cleaner. That stuff is aerosolized and will splash back in your eyes. Its some seriously nasty stuff.

I too vote for Simple Green or diesel.
 
Light surface rust can be removed with steel wool. Either 000 or 0000. WD 40 is good too.

On a side note, both of these can be used for firestarting too!
 
CWL said:
A gallon of diesel fuel, let tools soak overnight, wipe & oil. If there is significant rust, scrub with bristle brush & repeat soak.
Click to expand...

I didn't have much luck with this method. I think it is best used as a clean up for grease and grime as opposed to rust removal. IMHO

I bought some K1 Kerosene a few days back to try on my leatherman wave. The in-erds were rusting up a bit. The kerosene didn't do much other than remove lint and surface grime. (I think this is the best use for it) I noticed that the kerosene removed a great deal of the factory oil/lubrication from the leatherman wave (on the wrench and scizzors). I just bought some CLR and dunked my leatherman in it for a few hours and hit it with a toothbrush. Almost all the rust is completely GONE. ALSO BE AWARE ~ CLR will remove just about any finish. It took off the baked on finish from the screw driver bits in my leatherman in a couple hours no problem. I imagine it would remove the patina from Damascus steel aswell. Anyways. Just FYI.

For rust removal definitely go with the CLR. Then dunk whatever in Kerosene afterwards. It is a good penetrant, and will remove the loose oil and grime afterwards.
 
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