Tuff Cloth and heating the blade - fact or fiction?

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Boink

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Jun 6, 2002
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I once heard that a blade should be prepared before it's first dose of Tuff Cloth by cleaning the blade with something that will take off all prior finger oils and whatnot. Then heat the blade with a hair dryer before applying Tuff Cloth. Something about heating the blade allows the Tuff Cloth to immerse itself into the molecules of the steel, or something like that. It there any truth to this, or is it an old wive's tale? Can I just swipe the blade down and leave it at that, without all the aforementioned preparation?
 
I have never heard about that with Tuff Cloth, but I have heard about heating the blade before applying Militec-1. I haven't done it myself, but have read about others on the Benchmade forum who have good results.
 
Are you thinking of Militec-1? I thought it was Militec-1 that requires the heating of the blade for optimum effect.
 
I was told that about tuffcloth when I was getting unimpressive results. i always cleaned the blade first, but didn't heat it. It didn't seem to make much difference, but I haven't given up, yet.
 
I believe you are thinking about Miltec. You do need to heat the metal before applying. For Tuff Cloth, you do need to clean the blade, handle or what ever you are applying it to first. I use acetone to remove all oil and polish and then apply the Tuff Cloth. I only use Tuff Cloth for those items going into the display case or for storage.
 
Not sure, but I think I was the one that started that with the tuf glide, maybe not. I think that almost any lube/protectant works a little better when it's applied to warm steel, it's been a while since I used the tufglide, but I recall it helping with application, it soaks into any coating a bit better when warm, and dries way faster (since the protectant/lube is what's left after the carrier evaporates). I'm pretty well convinced that warming helps, even if only a little, when it comes to getting the protectant to adhere to the metal surface. There's no molecular absorbtion here ;)

*in fact, I just found the archive post where this is mentioned*

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132110
 
Thank you for the fast replys. I got some new goodies from the NY show and live near water, so I figured to protect the blades with Marine Tuff Cloth. I feel free now to do my thing on them at some point tonight.
 
Yeah, I think it helps to warm up the blade before hand. But it surely isn't neccary to do.
 
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