Sand in Folders

D

ducksoup

Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
160
What's the best way to get it cleaned out? For rivet folders that can't be disassembled, I usually just run it under water while working the blade(s) open and closed for several minutes. I'm worried about this grinding up the washers, backspring, etc on my nicer knives, though. Is that ever a problem? Is it always better to take them apart if possible?
 
Compressed air is your friend. You can get canned air from any camera shop, quick and easy way to clean out a folder.


If there is sand and grit in there, mind you watch the eyes when blowing the stuff out.
 
Yup, compressed air is the best. I've also used bike chain lube like prolink and triflow (eg: ones with solvent mixed in) to great success. I've found bike chain lube to work well as knife lube in general as its designed to lube well, resist wash out and repel dirt and grit (at least the good ones).
 
Another vote for compressed air. I tried water once, and it really doesn't work very well. Compressed air will get it out nicely.
 
Compressed air is the way to go. Then water, if you want, to get the real fine stuff that stays back by static.

This is why a lot of guys like bronze (or other metal) washers. Teflon and nylon washers get chewed up much, much faster by contaminants.
 
I used WD-40 to wash out the pivot and then used compressed air to get the WD-40 out. It seemed that the WD-40 acted as a carrier to help flush out the grit.

Lubed it up with Mil-Tec and it was like new!
 
Thanks for the input. I didn't think compressed air cans would have enough power to force out sand when its packed under the washer, but I guess I'll give it a try next time. :)
 
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