All About Pocket Knives

Being in need of something to carry for EDC, I stuck my hand in the Box O' Knives and pulled out a Case XX-era 5254 trapper that has seen better days. Blades, etc will probably cleanup OK for use, but the stag is a dirty brown color, as if soaked in oil. (That is likely what happened; the knife came from a machinist who used it for EDC for many years.)

Any suggestions on cleaning up the stag?

Thanks,
Jim

Try dawn dish soap

What about kitty litter to soak the oil out? I know folks use it a lot to soak out oil from gun stocks.

That sounds like a wonderful old knife!

It is a decent knife for my purposes. A guy told me that the bolsters are short (?) and the clip blade is unusual (?) and that somehow makes it more desirable--but I'm not a Case guy and have no idea what he was talking about. . . .

The stag doesn't feel oily, just has a stain to it. I left it on my dash board last summer, wrapped in tissue paper; at the end of a week the paper was still oil-free. I think I may try 0078's suggestion but amp it up a bit, and try soaking it in acetone for a bit. That should remove at least some of the oilstain.

I was thinking acetone, but didn't know how it'd affect the stag. I know in my old ithaca shotguns, lots of Gus when refinishing stocks will soak them in acetone to pull oil out of them. One guy I know who does beautiful stock work, if he isn't going to refinish the original finish, will put kitty litter inside and then pour acetone on the kitty litter and soak the oil out from the inside. It works.

Let me know your results, I'm interested!

Just my 2 cents here, but I'd go with the dish soap, an old tooth brush and a good rinse OR rubbing alcohol rather than the acetone. No matter how you get the oils out though, just remember that the handles are now dried out and more likely to crack. I'd coat them with mineral oil to help keep that cracking from happening. Good luck!