General cleaning

[ken6]

What about just cleaning up a dirty knife. I did one today using gun solvent and gun oil - worked pretty good but seems I should be using something else. What about stains? What about rust? Vinegar and baking soda?

Without a lot of expensive tools - whats the beginners way to clean a knife.?

[TripleF]

If you've got some rust and stains you need Knife Eraser...

[glennbad]

Hi Ken,

You will get many varied answers on this. I usually recommend that if the knife has any collector value, that you be careful about cleaning it, as removing age and patina can actually affect value.

That being said, there are a number of different things you can do. Mineral oil works good on bone and wood. Qtips and toothpicks for cleaning out the inside well. Flitz or simichrome for any of the shiny parts.

For rust there a few things that work. Birchwood Casey gun scrubber, mineral oil, WD-40. I generally do not use those products on the handle materials. Sometimes for stubborn rust, I may use a very light steel wool.

Some people will wash their knives afterwards in soapy warm water, and then blow them out with air, making sure to get the moisture out.

I'm sure other will have different or better suggestions. (Like knife eraser, those work well also)

[orvet]

Here is a thread where this topic has been discussed already.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... hilit=Dawn

That will save my arthritic fingers from typing what I typed before.

Hope this helps, please ask if you have more questions.
Dale