All About Pocket Knives

Ok I know i've seen a post on this before and i've looked and can't find it. There is an older gentleman in my community and he has several older case knives that are begining to rust. These are MINT never sharpened or carried knives just laying in the closet.

My question is whats the best way to remove the rust and the best oil to use before packing them back up.

First off if they have rust-they aren't 'mint' any longer and you'll hear forty opTions how to remove rust but here's mine.
If it is 'rust' not staining/patina/discoloration you can use a damp light polishing cloth and only rub it in one direction to prevent scratching.
Scratching is something you definitely don't want to do.
If a damp polishing cloth does not work use the finest grade steel wool. If that doesn't work 1. you can use the next coarser grade 2. but it sounds like the rust is getting heavy.
Corrosion-X is the absolute best thing to remove or prevent rust. Its not cheap. I'd keep it off any plastic as it has a heavy tendency to stick forever. It is meant for metal so don't get it all over including on your hands.
Remember most oil will stain steel eventually.
Oil also can trap moisture on the steel [maybe thats why it stains?] because oil is lighter than moisture.
Surface rust can be removed-pitting has caused damage and won't be removed without removing metal.
If these knives are rusting the owner must find a beter/drier place to store them.
Many people wax their knives-many absolutely will not use wax. I do. Bernard Levine does not. You'll have to decide that one.
And if you do use oil, you might consider the non-petroleum based silicone lubes instead.
AG Russell also sells and recommends 'Rust Free'.

Thank you sir. I guess I worded that all wrong. I know they aren't mint after they rust. I meant they were mint, but some of them have started rusting. The ones that I seen are not heavy rust , just in the starting stage.

I kind of figured you knew that but wanted to make sure.
Sounds like the rust isn't too bad so you should be able to remove it. If not, someone just learned an expensive lesson but worse things can happen.
Use some patience so you do no further damage.
Good luck.

I store my knives in a gun safe and use dessicants from Cabela's to wick moisture from the air. I just use a 33 cubic feet, maybe over kill but it's fairly cheap and getting harder to find because they want to sell expensive hummidity control stuff.

Just keep an eye on them, bake them out in the oven when the indicator turns pink. I keep a spare also. I bake them out just before I put the new one in. No sense in baking one out and let it sit around if humidty is high.

Kere's a link to them, sometimes they are hard to find.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

Never had any problems. That's one heck of a link though.