Pin crack dirt/black

[orvet]

Welcome to AAPK!

Excellent advice TT, we appreciate input from someone in a profession that uses this technology much more than we do. Since I do repair of knives, my use of the sonic cleaner is most frequently to clean the parts after I disassembled the knife. At this point in the process it is generally all metal pieces unless I’m replacing the blade and need to clean a lot of gunk off the parts.

Knowing the porous nature of bone, your advice makes sense. I will make sure that I don’t leave any knives with natural handle material in the sonic cleaner for any extended length of time. I normally allow about five minutes of time in the sonic cleaner unless a knife is really dirty. I have cleaned parts that still have Delrin handles attached. I didn’t notice any problems but I didn’t leave them in for an extended period either.

Thanks again for your input and advice.

[TennesseeTime]

Welcome to AAPK!

Excellent advice TT, we appreciate input from someone in a profession that uses this technology much more than we do. Since I do repair of knives, my use of the sonic cleaner is most frequently to clean the parts after I disassembled the knife. At this point in the process it is generally all metal pieces unless I’m replacing the blade and need to clean a lot of gunk off the parts.

Knowing the porous nature of bone, your advice makes sense. I will make sure that I don’t leave any knives with natural handle material in the sonic cleaner for any extended length of time. I normally allow about five minutes of time in the sonic cleaner unless a knife is really dirty. I have cleaned parts that still have Delrin handles attached. I didn’t notice any problems but I didn’t leave them in for an extended period either.

Thanks again for your input and advice.

There you go. Thanks for the advice. I'll have to remember to never clean my pearl handled knives in the sonic cleaner. Now, as far as bone is concerned, I've cleaned a bunch of bone handled knives both old (1940) and much newer with no ill effects. I usually run three cycles on them (4½ minutes each) and they come out as clean as they ever will. Your mileage may vary.

I should add this disclaimer. I'm nowhere near an expert on sonic cleaners so maybe there is a difference in the "robustness" of different brands and different models. Could it be that the ones from a lower price point are more "gentle"? Just speculation.

I'd be mostly concerned with discoloration in anything porous such as bone....but it may be fine...I just really don't have much experience with bone. But I have had weird experiences with putting different kinds of metals in the ultrasonic together. I put some silver in with a ring that had a lot of copper coating on it one day...it plated everything in the tank with a pink coating of copper! I'd avoid that at all costs. I'd use it for steel only, or any single type of metal at one time.

[bigden]

Well boys I ordered one from ebay and it came with two bottles of jewlery cleaner. The cleaner really does a great job. I was able to do exactly what I wanted to do. Thanks guys. I did notice that the jewlry cleaner takes all the finish off the knife so,it has to be re buffed. Second if left in the water to long the blades will start to turn a gray. No problem it buffs right off. great product though. Great edition to the shop.

[jerryd6818]

I don't know what's in the jewelry cleaner they sent to you but I think I would stick to a few drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid as my cleaner of choice. It doesn't patina the blade or damage the finish on the knife. In fact I notice my bolsters and blade are just a tiny bit shinier with the Dawn.

Your stuff. Your choice.