What is the best way to clean a three-inch folding knife?

Question

I found my knife after it went missing for about four months. There's something on it and It seems pretty stuck. What's the best way to clean it? I've heard of a lot...What do you use?

Answer 1

I usually just slam it on the table till the piece of junk comes off.

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Answer 2

Use a strong detergent to start, letting it soak awhile to work into the "stuff." Rub clean with a terry cloth towel. Any rust that may have developed can be either left alone, or a polish like Simichrome can be used to remove most of it. Pitting will remain nonetheless. Blow out the water in the joints. Do not use WD40 as it will gum up the joints and attract dust and dirt.

If detergents don't work, try Oops!, which is a petroleum solvent used to remove bumper sticker glue and stuff like that. It's similar to lighter fluid.

Gritty sand - or sandpaper, steel wool, or any other abrasive cleaners will ruin the factory finish. It's ok if you want to remove the shiny surface, or change a subdued one, but you might like to know that will happen before you do it. The resulting scratched finish will increase rusting and may ruin the looks of the knife. At the least it will signal a complete newb tried to do something, and you may not want to communicate that. Normal wear and tear is ok, a complete refinish may not be. It's up to you.

Answer 3

Soak in vinegar for a week or any commercial solvent (just make sure that it won't ruin the wood or rubber handle (if it has one. Then take a wire brush to the inside to free it up and some ultra fine steel wool to the blade. Another way is to take a high penetration rust remover to the inside (if you don't have a week) and a wire brush to gently scrape rust away. Take the same stuff to the blade and use the steel wool to gently take the rust away. This would probably work better, as the solvents are used more for large all-metal rust removal. If you want to bring the shine back, a chrome polish would bring back some of the shine. I use the steel wool on my guns to take rust off of the barrel, and it works great as long as you are patient and rub GENTLY. By the way, make sure you wipe out all the solvent when you are done, it will make an aweful mess later on.

Answer 4

I find sharp sand is the best thing to start off with. This will get rid of any rust and hard crud. Then leave in soda overnight to finish the process. After that just wash with your normal washing up liquid. This should bring the knife up as good as new.