All About Pocket Knives

Hello, I was just wanting to get some different opinions on the best way to remove rust from a fixed/folding knife with stag handles and an etched blade…both sides of the fixed blade have lots of etching…maybe I am posting in the wrong forum…I tried a search for this topic and came up empty…I'm thinking an oil bath and see how it comes off before thinking about using 0000 steel wool (gently) on it. It's an old knife and I want to try and save the blade etching…If I'm right with the oil bath what type of oil is recommended? What oil is NOT recommended…I can't afford mineral oil but I have plenty of peanut oil is that good? Also, I know wood handles can't be soaked in oil but how about Celluloid, Delrin, Micarta or any other type of plastic or any other handle material for that matter…Thanks for any input anyone might have… maybe I'm in the right forum this time or maybe somebody cares over here….sorry about all the ??? Q's ???

WD-40 for rust.

Mineral Oil is very, very cheap.....couple few bucks for a pint if I rememver correctly.

Heck thats less than generic vegetable oil then….but I'm kinda broke all the time and have a gallon of peanut oil…I can't even keep gas in my truck…so if any of you wonder why I'm not purchasing knives from you, well, I guess it's obvious why. I'm buying rusty knives and trying to use peanut oil on em…I wish my leg had never given out on me.

haha... I was typing a reply to the origional post but when I tried to submit it....
It said there was no topic that I was replying to!??? VERY STRANGE! Seriously, I knew I had finally lost my mind.


O.K, OKie, here goes again.
I've never herd of anyone using peanut oil on rust before BUT I have used it to remove
pine sap from my hands. Also, I've heard it works to remove chewing gum from a kids hair!

What you need is a penetrating oil. Something with a very HIGH viscosity. Gun
oils and 3-in-1 oil works pretty fairly for this but you have to let it soak for a
while... over night or longer if possible.
I have also used transmission fluid on rusted nuts & bolts.

You may want to start off with something a little finer than #0000 steel wool. Just
as a precaution. A piece of NEW denim cloth will do the job. Then move on to the
#0000 steel wool... progressively getting coarser while keeping an eye on the etch.

Are they blackened etches? I've found it difficult to preserve black etches, so take
it slowly with whatever you use. Haven't found a good way to re-blacken an etch yet.

It sure would be nice if someone knows a better way to do this. Hopefully someone will
come along and enlighten us.

It will be interesting to see what peanut oil does to rust. It shouldn't hurt the steel in
any way. Honestly don't know about the handle materials.

"Normal" petroleum based oils won't hurt plastic or cell. Neither will mineral oil.
STAY AWAY FROM WD-40!
WD-40 works very well as a cleaning agent, but ya never know til it's too late, if it will
damage other materials. It will take the advertising right off an advertising knife!

Good luck and please let us know how the peanut oil works out!!

...... Joe

Thanks for the replies guys I guess I'm not as hated as I might have thought I was and joe I'm with you on the work my way down to 0000 steel wool I had already both thought about and been warned TO use something like cotton cloth and rub rub rub…my Pa said the 0000 steel wool shouldn't hurt the etching but I'm leary…and he's on medication…I figure the peanut oil should be safe but your right about needing a more penetrable oil…it would work faster anyway..peanut oil for pine sap huh? Who would have ever thought of that? I would think gasoline.And yes it Is the black etching……..okay I went and took a few pics but the sun wasn't cooperating

Peanut oil doesn't penetrate well at all when it comes to rust, you want something thinner. No mineral oil--got any baby oil? (same stuff, except the perfume). If that isn't available, try some motor oil or ATF cut 1:2 with mineral spirits, paint thinner, etc. Diesel fuel works real well, or kerosene if that's what's on hand. I've used ATF cut with diesel more than once, as well as WD40 and PB Blaster.

Removing the rust shouldn't be too different from removing rust from a saw blade when you are trying to preserve the etch (except the saw blade flexes more, and the etches are often more shallow). Wet the blade down with oil. Let it sit for a bit so the oil can penetrate, then use some softer piece of metal to sorta "scrape" the raised rust off. (I save old keys for this, but a penny will work in a pinch.) Try not to cut yourself on the blade edge: diesel stings in cuts, and tetanus shots cost money. You want all the rust removed that is above the main surface of the knife, then wipe the blade off.

Wet it down again and let it soak. You want to clean the blade with some fine wet-or-dry sandpaper or emery cloth--about 400-600 grit--tightly wrapped around a hard flat block. The block keeps the abrasive from "dipping" into the etch. STOP when you have the rust fairly polished away but the etch is intact (there may be some staining left). You can use more normal polishing methods (finer grits of paper, Meguire's, etc) to clean it up from there.

If you don't have any wet-or-dry the right grit, drop me a PM with your mailing address. I've been doing some shop cleaning and not only know I have some, I know where it is. (For now, good chance I will forget before I need it again!)

Jim

someone once told me to use a lead pencil to remove rust from a blade...i do this quite often now, and no negative results yet...
it is messy, time consuming...but works fairly well...

A tool guy at the swap meet told me old brake fluid was best for removing rust (kinda funny every tool he had was rusty)…but he wasn't caring about any etching….the pencil idea i've never heard of…the eraser end or the lead end?If the lead end then a carpenters pencil would speed that up a bit. Curiouser and curiouser as Alice would say…Coffeecup thank you for offering the wet/dry thats very kind, but I think I have some if I don't then I need to get more…that stuffs not cheap either…I'm just scared to do much scraping or sanding at all…this is a great knife, I just wish I had the sheath…Baby oil is starting to sound like the ticket…Affordable, muti-purposed and the knife will smell like a baby… thanks guy's…I'm still willing to learn other members methods

While you are plotting the best way to clean it, don't forget that the etch is basically "controlled rust" below the (original) surface of the knife. Rust removers may result in the etch disappearing . . . .

I also use the pencil method if the rust isn't scabrous. It works to my satisfaction.

Pencil works for me. I learned it here. I don't know about the etching.

pencil here too......Is that a puma?

For now I put some turbine oil on it just to slow down the rust until I can afford proper stuff….yeah it's a Puma…..Pretty old one

Ended up breaking out the Rem-oil, poor lil bottle, A little scraping with a softer metal and wipe,rub,oil,scrub. rinsed and repeated many times got through the surface rust and saw the pitting situation which I knew was there. Poor edge, gonna need a lil tip n shape. I haven't made it to sanding but the etch is still there so far. The pencil technique is almost magical (thanks to whoever thought that one up) and thanks for the tip guys. I will use that one from here on out, I used a carpenters pencil and after that, I couldn't see using a regular pencil except for tight areas.I couldn't resist breaking out the Flitz and it helped a bit but I'm back to working it with oil for now…. Oh, by chance Does anyone have a sheath for this knife??? …………..it's worth trying