Knife Maintenance

[Bmyers]

Look for words of wisdom from the knife experts.

I have several brands of knives, Esee, Glock, Spydco, to cheap generic brands and my question is how much maintenance do I need to do on these knives?

When they are used, they get cleaned and a little Ballistol oil on them. The others, just sit in in bags, containers, etc. in dry location.

Is there anything else I need to be doing to them? Fairly simple tool. I know my firearms I try to clean and lube them once a year if they are not used, but my knives will just sit until they used. My regularly used knives will get sharpened every so often, usually goes along with a good cleaning and lube.

I'm working on improving my maintenance/upkeep of all my tools.

[Erich]

For what it's worth (and this is probably not an issue for you), I've found that Ballistol will sort of "gum up" on knives over time and slow down their actions, so I keep it out of the hinges of mine. I use Lucas Oil Extreme Duty on my knife actions (I buy it in bulk, put it into needle applicators I get on Amazon, use them and give them to friends). I use a light coat of Ballistol on my knife blades, though.

But . . . you're using your head: I think you're not going to be doing anything wrong with your knife maintenance.

[David]

Some type of gun cloth would work to provide a very light coating on the blade. And it should last a long time if kept in a sealed bag of some sort.

You could even use something like Rigg's Universal Gun Grease as a coating for knives that are going to be stored for a while. Just a very light coating would do.

For the moving parts like the hinge on a folder just the smallest drop of any oil should be fine.

[Bmyers]

For what it's worth (and this is probably not an issue for you), I've found that Ballistol will sort of "gum up" on knives over time and slow down their actions, so I keep it out of the hinges of mine. I use Lucas Oil Extreme Duty on my knife actions (I buy it in bulk, put it into needle applicators I get on Amazon, use them and give them to friends). I use a light coat of Ballistol on my knife blades, though.

But . . . you're using your head: I think you're not going to be doing anything wrong with your knife maintenance.

Thanks for the input. My process involves spraying the blade and hinges, then wiping off all the excess, letting it sit for an hour or so, then wiping it down once more with microfiber cloth.

I will have to check into the Lucas oil. Thanks.

[Bmyers]

Some type of gun cloth would work to provide a very light coating on the blade. And it should last a long time if kept in a sealed bag of some sort.

You could even use something like Rigg's Universal Gun Grease as a coating for knives that are going to be stored for a while. Just a very light coating would do.

For the moving parts like the hinge on a folder just the smallest drop of any oil should be fine.

Thanks. I'm glad to know I'm heading in the right direction with the maintenance. I figure if I'm spending a little more money on nicer knives, I want to make sure I take the effort to keep them around.

[bdcochran]

Knife maintenance.

1. inspect for damage, rust, discoloration.

2. If there is rust, you may need to partially disassemble.

I have cleaned and maintained hundreds of knives/hatchets/old tools/farm implements.

Just knives, ok.

1. soak in vinegar, wipe. Repeat a couple of times until all the rust is gone. If not gone, you use anything from a dental tool to a belt sander/sand paper/file/grinder to get off the rust.

2. if there is no damage to the blade, perhaps a few passes with a power driven Worksharp on the blade, then lightly wipe down with 3 in 1 oil/pam spray/silicon spray

3. store in zip lock baggie.


The generalities:
Re TSA/police seized/eBay used knives. Ok. This is a snapshot of impressions:
1. the folders are universally dirty . Typically, the owner doesn't clean the areas where the knife folds or when the blade is closed and rests inside the folder. So you use a pair of pliers to compress a cotton quetip flat, saturate the que tip and get into the those two areas on or in the knife.
2. the folders usually don't need a sharpening.

Re re-building hatchets/axes/tomahawks/ old tools.
1. they are usually rusty. The hatches have been used inappropriately, resulting in chipped blades and smashed heads. It will take more than one approach to get rid of the rust. It is a labor of love to work on them.

[Bmyers]

Thanks for the info.

[tom mac]

How about a good cheap way to sharpen knifes ??

[bdcochran]

Answering question about cheap way to sharpen.

The straightfoward answer follows. You go to Bed, Bath and Beyond. There will be a manual sharpener for kitchen knives for probably $25. Get whatever is the most expensive model as some have two different angle cuts and will grow to like the machine.

Background story:
1. I have about 10 or more sharpeners, manual and electric.
2. Most knife sharpening is folders, military fixed blades, table wear.
3. I am not a stud, television character MacGyver, or sharpen on a sidewalk or auto glass although that is possible.
4. I have never had to sharpen a knife in the field.
5. I never joined the cult that believes you are not a man if you don't hand sharpen everything. (When I worked at IBM, the instructors thought you were not really good unless you programmed in zeros and ones. The class them to forget it and not to waste time.)

Please understand:
1. Forget shaving hairs on an arm.
2. Forget my favorite movie of the Korean War, The Steel Helmet, wherein in a guy was constantly sharpening a bayonet. Military knives are deliberately dull because you are not filleting fish. You sticking the knife in a person and twisting so that you take out chunks.

I have an electric worksharp machine. I use it. The original. Why?
1. sharpening takes metal off an object. How much metal it takes off is function of skill and equipment.
2. the worksharp machine provides a multitude of results:
a. Sharpening a knife, sword, hoe, shovel.
b. Different angle of the blade result.
c. Different sharpness through grit of the belt used. If you have a really dull knife, you get to a desired result faster and less expensively using different grit belts.

Two years ago, I bought a used Spyderco Endura pocket knife for $22 including shipping and sales tax off eBay. The guy put on the listing that the knife was dull. I looked at the pictures and saw no scratches or chips on the blade. I was the only bidder. It came in and I ran through the cleaning and then the USUAL two to five passes on both sides of the blade. Just fine. A worksharp will handle a plain edge, partially serrated edge or fully serrated knife. It will not handle a tomato knife.

I explain. When you are presented with say a partially serrated knife, you observe the following. The plain part of the blade always is always from the point to where the serrations start. That is the only portion of the knife that is run through a worksharp on both sides. Then you notice that where there is a serration, the knife is smooth on one side of the blade and serrated on the other side. You use the worksharp on just the smooth side. If you ran the entire blade through the machine, you would immediately cut the belt.

A tomato knife is serrated on both sides. Ok. I never " had to do it". If you want to sharpen a tomato knife, get an inexpensive round and progressively decreasing diameter file for about $8 plus inflation.

[Strayz]

Knife maintenance.

I have seem a lot of postings across the internet about this oil, that oil ect.

I have used sewing machine oil since the mid 1990's. I try and keep my blades clean most of the time. As the most fearsome thing they have to ward against is Cardboard boxes and the tape residue. most of my knives fall in to one mfgr or another. (ZT or BM, with a few others on my desk at any given time.) I have never had any SM oil gum up or do anything more than work great. I am sure there may be better lubricant's out there but I have found what works for me for my knives.


Sharpening pokey things.

I am not very good at sharpening knives, there, I said it. I have a lansky system, and I can get them sharp with that. So I guess it is a good thing I have a fist full of knives with blades made of things like S30VN or S35VN and such.