Vintage knife clean-up

T

tomsch

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2004
Messages
2,794
I have a few vintage kitchen knives that I am going to restore. The worst of them has surface rust on the carbon blade. The handles also need work to clean up. Any recommendations on how to clean off the rust. I was thinking a fine sanding paper followed by steel wool. For the handle I will sand and finish in a wood preservative.

Any other suggestions?
 
You might start with Barkeeper's Friend, then go to sandpaper. No use doing more damage than necessary.
 
#0000 Steel wool and mineral oil. Scrape the rust off with a penny. Its softer than the steel.--KV
 
This is the next knife for clean-up. I will be easy on the blade to keep from removing any of the logo stamp. Handle will remain original for now. I may decide later to replace with micarta to give it a more modern look.

cleaver2.jpg
 
A reducing acid such as Hydrochloric (Muriatic) is used commercially for removing rust and is also the active ingredient in Naval Jelly. Try it on your oldest knife first and follow the directions carefully. I often use a stainless steel brush to remove rust. A fiberglass bristle typewriter eraser is also quite useful for this purpose.
 
Of the vintage cleavers I have managed to clean up the rust and crud by starting with Ajax and moving on to #00 steel wool. No undue removal of blade material so that is good.

The next question is how to fix cracks in the original wood handle. The handle is solid but does have a few cracks that I would like to repair. Any suggestions on what to use to fill before I sand and use Tung oil? - Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top