Taking care of your custom knives

T

Thor I am

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Oct 20, 2005
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206
Hello all,

My name is Thor and this is my first post on Bladeforums. I have viewed this site almost everyday for a few months and have really found it interesting and helpful. I have mainly focused on the custom knives and makers forums.

This may be the wrong forum for this question, but the threads I saw by browsing the maintenance forum seemed to mainly deal with production or use knives. The knives I am talking about are being treated as works of art.

I have a few custom, one-of-a-kind, knives that I want to make sure to maintain properly. Blade materials include damascus (standard, if any damascus can be called that), mosaic damascus, carbon (through-hardened), and carbon (with hamon). I also have stainless blades, but I am not worried about them. Handle materials include fossilized ivory and premium woods.

I would like to know how you guys take care of those kind of knives. I have heard recommendations for and against Renaissance Wax, clove oil, camelia oil, mineral oil, and Tuf-Cloth. How do you rate these?

Also, is it OK to use a product like Flitz or Simichrome to clean damascus? How about a carbon blade with a hamon?

I know those are a lot of questions at once, but I am about to clean my entire collection and want to do it right.

Thanks a lot in advance - Thor
 
I keep a light coat of oil (camelia or some such) on my carbon steel blades and soak my ivory and stag handled knives in mineral oil overnight a couple times a year.

Roger
 
Thor I am said:
Hello all,
I would like to know how you guys take care of those kind of knives. I have heard recommendations for and against Renaissance Wax, clove oil, camelia oil, mineral oil, and Tuf-Cloth. How do you rate these?
n?
Thor
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Great recommendations from Roger.I use RenWax and wondered if you heard anything against.You might also try something called Howard's Feed & Wax,it's great for wood,stag,horn and bone.
 
I heard that RenWax may not be the best choice for traditional Japanese swords as it could affect the hamon and/or hada. I don't remember details as I saw this in a thread on another forum at least several months ago.
 
Thor I am said:
I heard that RenWax may not be the best choice for traditional Japanese swords as it could affect the hamon and/or hada. I don't remember details as I saw this in a thread on another forum at least several months ago.
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Never, ever use anything but Choji oil on traditional japanese swords. There is no reason to use anything else. If you need to get rust OFF of a blade, than Noxon is a great product, as it is less abrasive than Flitz. When traditional japanese blades are properly stored, the blade is not in contact with any surfaces bearing down on critical areas. Thusly, properly treated surfaces will not rust, as there is no entry point for moisture.

The best way to use Flitz on carbon blades with hamon that REQUIRE it (Russ Andrews, Don Fogg, and Burt Foster come to mind, because they finish their blades so finely) is to apply the Flitz, and use a soft paper towel (I like Viva) and only move in one direction (I go from choil to blade tip, myself). This will allow you to maintain that fine finish while removing rust, and also allows control over how much of the hamon you are going into.

When finished with Flitz, I go over the blade with naptha lighter fluid, and finish with a Tuff Cloth, and let it dry. This has provided me with fairly good results.

Depending on the depth of etch with damascus, I use Flitz or a Tuff Cloth. If the damascus is blued, it is Tuff Cloth only, sometimes with choji oil. If it is a deep etch, I aggressively polish with Flitz, this is an excellent way to remove any residual rust, and left over oxides, which "deaden" the chatoyancy of the blade. This I will finish with Ren Wax, and buff with a clean cloth.

For stainless steels, I only use Tuff Cloth, and finish with a clean, aerated chamois cloth.

Best Regards.

Steven Garsson
 
My bad,sorry.Didn't know you were refering to swords,don't know a whole lot about swords.:foot:
 
Leatherbird - my original request does not pertain to swords but actually knives. The sword reference was only due to the RenWax comment. I know how to polish and maintain a Japanese blade but am not sure about the none-Japanese type.

Steven - thanks, that is a lot of helpful info.

I own RenWax (just got it - haven't used it yet), Tuf-Cloth (used it once on a damascus blade, seemed to work well) and choiji oil. I use the choji oil on a Japanese-type blade that I own but really want to avoid using it on my knives. I would rather use something more viscous. I will display most of my knives in a display case with the blades exposed. The Japanese sword rests in its saya (scabbard) so the viscosity is not an issue.
 
When Japanese sword rests in saya/scabbard does the blade touch the saya? :confused:
 
Hello everyone,

Thanks very much for the replys. I have already started cleaning my knives.

There is one issue I ran into today. I have a stainless steel knife with elaborate engraving on both the blade and the area behind the handle. The engraving has some gunk in it. I am guessing that it is either old polish paste or some kind of old wax. But it is pretty well stuck in there.

The engraving has black background. I am not sure what to use to get this gunk out. I don't want to scrape it or use polish as I am worried I am going to damage the engraving. I was thinking of denatured alcohol or some solvent like that, but I am not sure if that could damage it, too.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Scrub with a soft or medium toothbrush, with some Tuff Glide, if you want, and blow it out with compressed air.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Interesting thing I've noticed in my use of Renaissance Wax is that it isn't good for preventing tarnish, on brass. The claim is that it provides a seal barrier (of moisture?), yet in my experience using over 1/2 of a tub already over a few years it gives offers little protection for brass.. how this translates to knife steel, I don't know. I did read an interesting side-by-side comparison of many good products such as WD-40, Ren wax, and others by Wayne Goddard in an old Blade issue, where he found interesting results but I can't remember the specifics.

I like Tuff Cloth. The representative at Blade last year claimed Tuff Cloth and Marine Tuff Cloth both give the knife a protection at a micro level, bonding with the steel... sounds like the "duralube" I used to see advertised for automotive engines. For coating the blade, I've used Camelia oil with no negative results, except Cammelia oil hasn't kept brass from darkening either. Only thing that does a decent job with brass is Semichrome or Flitz. Both work well, and many people like Flitz more.. really they seem to equally do a nice job cleaning and maintaining the steel. I'm interested to hear people's results what works best, especially for long term storage. I have used semichrome in some cases to polish out grind or sharpening marks in knives, so I know it can be used abrasively. With a lot of the chemical cleaners, it's sometimes better to start with something like that if the knife's finish is an issue. Puma offers a very mild green paste that is less harsh on a knife finish, it won't brightly polish as readily, than semichrome. A good chemical type cleaner is "Never dull" available at auto stores. It's a good cleaner but doesn't protect as well as others. That's what I've noticed anyway..

Mineral *spirits* is an ingredient in Tuff Cloth, there as a delivery system of the protective bonding agent.. I think that's how it was explained.
David
 
Good info David, as well an important clarification is that of a mild abrasive vs. that which protects, they are very different things (as you know).

Simichrome and Flitz "work well" in the aspect of literally removing what has dulled / discolored, and "Never-Dull" also has a slight abrasive, very slight, but there is an abrasive aspect to it (very good product for lifting tarnish and light "dulled finish" from metals).

Protecting from oxidation is it's own thing separate from all of that (other than the aspect of trying to have a great surface to begin with, from which to protect). I did quite a bit of study on Renaissance wax (after buying some LOL), testing by many shows that it is "not" a super terrific corrosion preventer, (better than nothing no doubt), though the literature makes it seem "amazingly awesome".

A proven time and again better wax rust preventer is Bri-Wax, they are similar in some ways but Bri-Wax has a toluene (toxic hydrocarbon) carrier (though they have new formulations without toluene which are ok but not quite as effective as the original Bri-Wax formula).

I got into rust prevention initially re: firearm rust prevention, doing searches on the main keywords here (rust, wax, oil, prevent) etc one comes up with lots of newsgroup postings on preventing rust on tools (woodworkers etc), and regular old paste wax (Johnson's etc) often comes up as a pretty darned good rust preventer on tools left in the elements and high humidity etc.

I found Bri-Wax to be gummier and left a tacky beeswax type film while Renaissance wax gave a more dry / hard / "car wax" type of final film (which would be the story with Johnson's paste wax also, I imagine that leaves a thicker film, better for moisture barrier, maybe not as good for museum "optical clarity" etc...)

On firearms and blued metal, Rem-Oil and Breakfree routinely come out well in rust prevention tests (and I've done many of my own rust prevention tests). Some published tests show things like Boeshield to be "the top of the heap", sure, yeah it is, but it leaves a gummy waxy film, it's for "major" corrosion barrier, not for a gun or knife you'll ever pick up and enjoy or use. Like cosmolene / grease etc, great when left on thick, but, not appropriate here.

Months ago I did a search here on Bladeforums on Renaissance wax, found that MANY had found it to not be much of a rust preventer. But it does leave a nice finish and isn't gummy. Maybe using it often would be the ticket. The Tuff-cloth deal, I've heard it's great (came up on the same searches), I've not tried it yet, it sounds good though.

If woods etc. aren't a concern, Rem-Oil and Breakfree truly are great for just outright rust prevention, not appropriate in many knife and collection situations though. I wish Renaissance wax worked better, but I DON'T want a false confidence while things slowly rust...

By the way, a room dehumidifier is a GREAT thing to use to prevent a major cause of rust, ambient humidity. I tried a few "didn't work well" dehumidifiers then settled on the one WalMart sells (made by Fedders), it's basically a self contained little air-conditioner and heater that pulls humidity out of the air and it drips into a 2 gallon or so container (or you can route a hose out from the unit etc). I swear, here in Oregon when it's rainy and damp, that thing can pull 2 gallons out of my shop / storage area in a day and a half. That's a lot of water out of the air. Digital set point and digital read-out of current humidity, turns itself off and on, great unit, great for basements etc etc, great for whatever room you keep your safe in etc, good for a better environment for where you store photos and paperwork etc also if you've got humid rooms at various seasons.

Frank H.
 
Renwax provides a protective barrier, nothing getting in, nothing getting out so to speak, so the surface has to be prepared very well before application as you could trap a contaminent onto the blade. A common problem with such a fine clear wax is that some people actually rub off the wax when they buff/polish it, if you are using it polished then the buffing should be done gently. If you want to store yourt knives for any period of time it is recommended to apply a good layer of renwax (after carefully cleaing and drying the surface) and NOT buffing/polishing it. This does not look pretty, but lasts longer than many oils. The wax sets hard and needs to be removed with another fine rub of renwax when the time comes to use or show! Of course different climates etc will get different results!

Oil wise I have found Balistol to be very very good..... and his really "clings" to the surface, oiled blades I will wipe down once a month or as fondled :D

Ivory/Stag .... soak in Mineral/baby oil every six months.

Ebony/Black woods I will wipe with oil every so often as they do not visibly darken.

Other woods ....... still not sure on this one :D

Stephen
 
Stephen,
I've done that too with Ren Wax, leave a heavy coating.. it just doesn't do the trick as a moisture barrier, at least on brass. (maybe I didn't clean it enough first?)

For blades, seems like Ren oil having a Teflon coating would be just as good as most others for corrosion resistance. I think Wayne Goddard's study showed good results for Bri Wax, at least if I remember.. I think it did the best of the ones he tested.

I was worried about using Mineral spirits on etched blades, but it has proved to be safe. First wipe the blade with the mineral spirits and then after it dries give it a wipe with the Tuff Cloth. The rep for Tuff Cloth said to do it that way.
David
 
At the museum of military edge weapons in Intercourse PA, that gentleman uses Butcher brand bowling alley wax. He's had so many requests from visitors regarding what he uses, that he says the local hardware store now carries it. He has thousands of carbon steel blades in a humid climate and no rust.
 
brownshoe said:
Butcher brand bowling alley wax...
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That's bound to be durable, and Johnson's paste wax is durable, these do provide a good moisure barrier. Renaissance wax's main claim to fame is being non-reactive to materials, re: preservation, it seems in practice to not be as durable as I'd wish it was (applies well, looks nice etc).

Leaving it on "more thickly" would seem to offer more protection as Stephen described (though David experienced that didn't improve the protection of brass), per the main US distributor for Renaissance wax, they simply say "buff if a shiny surface is desired", they don't indicate to leave it unbuffed for it to work properly, though logic has it that the thicker film maybe it would work better. The good reports I've heard on paste wax were with buffing it out, which would be nicer re: enjoying ones collection.

Reiterating a point from my earlier post, pulling the moisture out of the air where knives are stored (a simple dehumidifier, as described) goes a long way towards preventing corrosion, it's nice glancing at the readout of humidity in the "safe closet" or basement etc and seeing no higher than 50% or whatever you want to set it for humidity level. Here in Oregon, it's often 80% without a dehumidifier.

Frank H.
 
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