All About Pocket Knives

As of now, I dont have any special knife cleaning equipment or items. Is there a safe way to clean them with regular household items? Baby wipes? soft cloths? QTips?

I generally just wipe mine with microfiber cloths and q-tips/tooth picks between the liners to get the dust and grit out of them. Many also use wax made of beeswax and mineral oil to wipe/clean their knives. I would avoid anything with chemicals or abrasives in it. That’s about all I got!

Also I occasionally add a drop of lube on the blade pivots and springs

tpm_989 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 19, 2025 3:27 pm I generally just wipe mine with microfiber cloths and q-tips/tooth picks between the liners to get the dust and grit out of them. Many also use wax made of beeswax and mineral oil to wipe/clean their knives. I would avoid anything with chemicals or abrasives in it. That’s about all I got!

Also I occasionally add a drop of lube on the blade pivots and springs

This
Wipe, and oil.

Cleaning or removing rust? Rust is another matter. I'll leave rust for other members to discuss.

I just cleaned my day's carry which happens to have a D2 blade by sticking the blade into the dish water I was using for dishes and rubbing the sides of the blade with the nylon bristles of my dish washing brush. I always draw what ever dish scrubber I use from the spine towards the edge so I don't dull the edge or cut the dish scrubber. I'll use it for lunch.

Brass wool is great for preserving the factory finish or factory polishing scratches on stainless steel guns and knives. Brass wool is available in the paint departments in Ace Hardware Stores and yachting supply stores near marinas and no doubt on line. Solid copper Chore Boy dish scrubbing pads also do not scratch steel. Chore Boy is coarser. Its draw back is the looks cashiers give you while they accept your money. Addicts put a tuft of it in the bottom of their pipes before smoking illegal drugs. Solid copper is suppused to intensify the high. How? A magnet will reveal the copper plated steel wool that competing brands usually use. Aluminum wool is not as readily available but it is in some industrial tool stores. The point is to use a scrubber that is softer than your knife or gun's steel. While you may prefer the bright shinny finish Mother's Mag and other metal polishes create they devalue collectable stainless steel guns and knives. More than very light occasional use of any metal wool will remove gun bluing.

Q-Tips are too fat to fit in the blade wells of most folding knives. I split fine straight grained wood then use it to push a small oiled patch around inside the blade wells.

This older post in the Knife Repair and Restoratiion forum is about tips for cleaning knives, including specifically common items you can use like pencils, erasers, cotton swabs, etc to make your own knife cleaning kit.
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... hp?t=54157

Hope it helps.

Ken

Popsicle sticks work well for the blade well. Cut the rounded end off and put a slight angle on it. I usually sprayed a little WD40 in and then used the popsicle stick to get the rust and or grime off.

Thanks for all this help, guys. I really appreciate it!

I find that Q-tips can be used if you flatten them a bit with a pair of pliers although the popsicle stickr work well too. I also will use a piece of folded wet or dry sandpaper(used)400 grit or finer.
A #2 lead pencil is great for removing minor rust spots. I use a Staedler drafting pencil with 2mm leads; available at most Staples stores. A little pricey(about 15 bucks) but the leads jast a long time and l have enough replacement leads to last about a thousand years. I also use them in my work.
Mother's Mag Wheel Polish l use on everything. I DO NOT use oil of any kind on celluloid handled knives! A little powdered graphite works fine; or any dry lubricant. Petroleum products damage picture handlers & promote cel outgassing(in my opinion). I als6 do not let foam sponge come into contact with plastic handles of any kind. It almost acts like outgassing when it deteriorates; which it will.

Pencil lead only works on a very thin frosting of rust. Wide carpenter's pencils that are only 5 or 10 cents at Home Depot cover more area faster. When done you have a yuky mess of fine graphite all over your blade. I'd like to read how Mumblypeg removes the lead. Solvent? Bags of 3 bronze wool pads were $7 at Ace Hardware the last time I bought one. If your local Ace does not have it on hand ask and they'll order it through their ware house system. One bag lasts me about 20 years. Bronze wool removes light rust at least as fast without leaving a mess behind and does not mark steel in any way. Both methods remove patina.

Modern Slip Joints wrote: ↑Sat Sep 20, 2025 4:14 pm When done you have a yuky mess of fine graphite all over your blade. I'd like to read how Mumblypeg removes the lead. Solvent? ............

Bronze wool removes light rust at least as fast without leaving a mess behind and does not mark steel in any way. Both methods remove patina.

Never had a problem removing pencil lead (actually graphite) dust by just rubbing with a soft cotton cloth. In my experience pencil lead removes light rust but does not remove patina. We may have different cleaning objectives. I like patina, so making old knife blades "shiny" is not usually my intent. If you are trying remove patina, pencil lead may not be the best method - I just stop applying it when the rust is gone.

I've not tried bronze wool.

Ken