All About Pocket Knives

I came home from running errands to find my freezers water supply line for the ice maker spraying water everywhere. It ran through where the floor meets the wall and poured through the basement ceiling right onto....my workshop. A.k.a the Weird Studio. There's water pouring through this 100 year old piano, my desk has pooled water in the top row of drawers, my printer's drawer that's full of knives and HUNG ON THE WALL!

I'm still attempting to dry it all and assess the damage. Hundreds of knives are wet. Carbon steel and water don't mix well

And the leather. Oh man the leather. And my old silverware chests that'll never be tarnish proof again

My only power tool that I'll use for cutlery, my beloved cordless dremel, chucked its last bit.

Im what you'd call "bummed out".

Oh wow, that's quite an ordeal. Sorry to see you going through that. Stupid little water line sure caused a big headache.

That’s a real kick in the shorts! Good luck getting it all cleaned ,dried and oiled. You may want to invest in a dehumidifier to put down there to help out.

Oh no, that's horrible! Are you able to dry those knives out good?

My sympathies.
Froe

Open them all up and place them on a window screen '"even if you have to take one out of one of you windows" put a fan under them a let it blow. The'll dry out pretty quickly. After 24hr lube and wax.

Sorry to learn about that - what a tragedy!

You can likely salvage the knives if you get right on them, clean and dry them. WD-40 - just about the best (maybe only) thing it’s really really good for is water displacement. That’s what the WD stands for. Fate they’re good and dry, clean off any WD-40 residue and oil them. If they’ve been treated with Tuf-Glide or RenWax before they got wet, so much the better!

As for the rest (furniture, floors, ceiling and wall etc) there are some companies that specialize in water damage remediation. Your insurance company can likely recommend some in your area.

Ken

Oh man that blows! Hope the pump shotgun stayed dry!

TWKG
Sorry to hear this bad news. Hopefully the loss is minimal. The salvage work will be very much.
Steve

Additionally, spray down the knives with WD-40. It displaces the water and will help prevent rust.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. Hopefully with a little (lot?) of work you can salvage the knives. And as has been previously stated, a dehumidifier will aid in the general drying out process of the workshop.

It's late August. We're having a week in the mid 90s. I'd open all the knives and get them and their empty storage containers out in the sunshine. With only a light wind they'd dry fast. While carbon knives wet a short time with water that is not salt water is nothing to panic over leaving them on that damp carpet is begging for trouble. After they're dry follow some of the suggestions above. I also like WD40 used sparingly. It can darken some handle materials.

Bummer for sure - amazing how the weak link in every system creates the most havoc when they fail - guaranteed this wasn’t on your weekend agenda - hoping there’s a silver lining somewhere - sending positive thoughts your way brother.

Thank you all for the advice, condolences and well wishes. The pictures of the knives on the carpet and towels is where I spread them out to dry. That's in a finished area of the basement where I evacuated
my shops contents to. I've got 2 box fans and several smaller ones at full power and my high capacity dehumidifier chugging along. It drains right into the floor drain and its been going non stop. The knives have been about 75% gone through and dried blade by blade. The only casualty so far is the finish on my silverware chests. The piano I've decided to finally disassemble. For both ease and utilitarian purposes I've opted for a piece by piece methodical breakdown. Once the piano is gone I'll have more room for a real bench or more practical shelves.

Am pausing on the breakdown to research a bit. It seems there's a significant amount of tension on the piano wires, I don't want this to become a dangerous endeavor.

The silver lining here is that I've been wanting to disassemble and salvage this piano for a long time now, and maybe there will be money or good coins stashed inside

Also everyone gets to see a majority of my non- user knife accumulation since it's all spread out. My wife included

Oh and my 12 gauge pump got wet but is fine, same with the Ruger.

Oh man, that's terrible.

So sorry to hear of this misfortune. What a mess. Best of luck on all the restoration.

Absolutely heartbreaking. Very sorry man and I hope you are able to salvage as much as possible.

Dang! Talk about bad luck! So very sorry about that! Thankfully the knives should be ok. Sounds like you're doing a good job of taking care of them. Sure hope insurance does what they're supposed to do, too!

After a significant investment of time and energy, my work shop space has been restored. I would say to its former glory, but I feel the new iteration is superior to its antediluvian counterpart in many ways.

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 10:51 pm After a significant investment of time and energy, my work shop space has been restored. I would say to its former glory, but I feel the new iteration is superior to its antediluvian counterpart in many ways.

You did good.

Its BACK ! nice job recovering, that was quick.

Really nice job. Happy it worked out so well. Harold

Back in business, !

Looks nice and cozy!! Great job!!

Looking good, nice "reno"