Washed My Knife - Have I Fixed It?

Dknight16

Dknight16

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2013
Messages
1,184
For the first time, I machine washed a knife. I caught it in the rinse cycle. I towel dried it and submerged it in canola oil for an hour. Then I cycled it a couple of times, wiped that off and hit the pivot with WD-40. Then cycled a few more times. Lastly, I more thoroughly dried it off.

Have I done enough?
 
Last edited:
Wholly crap.

A rinse with WD40 would do. Compressed air or the recommended computer duster. Lew's fishing reel oil. Mineral oil. Rem Oil...

If you want to spend the money. Get the spray can of Remington gun oil or the CLP. Still need a computer duster. Blow the knife out. Spray, and use the duster to blow the oil into any areas water could be. Wipe down with a rag.
 
Fun fact. The pivots in knives. Be it washer or bearings.

Somewhere along the line. High end spinning reels got the same everything. Reels costing big bucks.


I've read about people suggesting Daiwa brand oil. Whatever you want to think. None of it is cheap. Tiny bottle will run $9-$10.


A local box store sells the Benchmade brand oil. Butterfly tax of around $15+ a bottle.
 
Last edited:
Dknight16 said:
For the first time, I machine washed a knife. It was my brand new Benchmade Auto Immunity. Of course it was my least corrosion resistant steel, M4 (albeit Cerakoted). I caught it in the rinse cycle. I towel dried it and submerged it in canola oil for an hour. Then I cycled it a couple of times, wiped that off and hit the pivot with WD-40. Then cycled a few more times. Lastly, I more thoroughly dried it off.

Have I done enough?
Click to expand...
😆 Ruined forever! Might as well sell it.

Seriously dude, you overdid it with the maintenance. I would’ve shook it off and threw it in my pocket. The WD was good enough on its own.
 
Canola oil goes all sticky an rancid after a while, auto knives have lot of little bits, even wd 40 does the same...if its just water exposure then dry and oil should be enough...but there is a lotta lil bits Id be inclined to dissassemble and clean but auto's have a lotta lil bits!
 
Canola oil is a poor choice.
WD 40 is a very good choice. The WD stands for "water displacing." It does not go rancid or gum up.
Just drying (or trying to dry) is not a good option if the knife uses any carbon steel parts. Even stainless will rust if not protected.
WD 40 will displace the water and leave a thin film of mineral oil on the internal parts.
 
Canola oil? Not a good choice.

A hairdryer wouldn’t hurt. Put it on top of a running dehumidifier. Your car hood on a sunny day. Any kind of mild heat would drive out any moisture.
 
Dig a hole in the backyard and bury it there. Then you buy a new one and remember proper knife care/maintenance.
831c270c58ad0c82ed44c18297f3ce98.png

I'll come back later at night and dig it out.
 
Thanks to everyone for your useful (&/or funny) responses.

I was under a time crunch at the time I discovered my mistake, and used the first thing I could find in sufficient quantity to feel like I at least did something right away I did buy an air can today and blew it out. I also did the WD-40 thing again to further “flush” the pivot. And finally I applied some RemOil as my final lube and protection layer.

I should be good to go now, and will get on with using it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top