Recommendation? Best way to remove heavy rust off a back spring without dissasembly?

M

Messer Meister

Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
11
A friend of mine gave me an old schrade 897UH he found in a storage unit for free. It needs some sharpening and the blades need some fixing up, but the main problem is the internal stuff. The brass liners are decently corroded, and the backsprings are deep red rust. Whats the best way to remove this stuff without taking apart the knife?
 
Hitting it with wd40/mineral oil will wash a lot of that out. Beyond that you can use a mild polish.

n2s
 
If you mean inside the knife, WD 40 on a small piece of 0000 steel wool. Stuff it down the blade well and scrub back and forth with a toothpick or similar. Flush with WD 40 when you are finished.
 
Besides the methods mentioned above you could also try electrolytic cleaning.
This works well to remove rust from carbon steel, and also to get crud & grime out of otherwise inaccessible pivot area’s.
Also very effective on various other metals, like silver.
 
For loosely-bound red rust on knives, I've liked using baking soda and a tiny bit of water to scrub it off; just wet it enough that it makes a paste. Use whatever improvised tool will fit into the blade well, perhaps with a piece of cloth wrapped around the end as a scrubber. I like this method, because the gently-abrasive baking soda 'grit' can easily be flushed away afterward, because it'll completely dissolve with a water rinse. No worries about the scrubbing 'grit' getting bound up the pivot or between liners & springs.
 
<remove rust tools> on youtube shows most hits with vinegar 24h bath, e.g.

and after the bath feel free to scrub lightly with Bar Keepers Friend and toothbrush .
I never tested VSR O-Fix-C (Savo Chemicals Trading & Consulting GmbH) which some kitchen product sellers stock .
 
Last edited:
Get it as clean as you can the keep it oiled and carry it. Something about riding in a pocket and daily use does something to old knives.
 
For getting into the well I use pipe cleaners.
Not the hobby shop type but the tobacco store pipe cleaners.

I forget the name but one brand even had a bristle type that are very tough.
 
kreisler said:
<remove rust tools> on youtube shows most hits with vinegar 24h bath, e.g.
y después del baño siéntase libre de frotar ligeramente con Bar Keepers Friend y cepillo de dientes [/ QUOTE]
kreisler said:
<remove rust tools> on youtube shows most hits with vinegar 24h bath, e.g.

and after the bath feel free to scrub lightly with Bar Keepers Friend and toothbrush
Click to expand...
Hey I just did this with some knives I have and it worked. I quite them of the vinegar and cleaned them with a brush. The problem is that next morning I went to see how they were and I found all the knives developed a new layer of rust or something. affortunaly brushing them again was enough to quit it but you know why's that? it was a layer of orange rust
Click to expand...
 
I always start with vinegar and then move on to steel wool/abrasive. I like the vinegar most due to the patina left behind on non stainless.
 
The UH (Uncle Henry) line of knives from Schrade are generally always stainless steel blades. If you see a '+' stamped on the tang of the main blade, that indicates it's stainless steel, being 440A on most of the older ones and 420HC on more recent, USA-made versions for a few years before they closed shop. If it's stainless, the vinegar won't hurt that at all. The backsprings might be carbon steel (non-stainless), as indicated by the rust you're seeing there.

For the rust on the springs, it may be safer to soak the knife in WD-40 for awhile. I've done this with a couple of knives that were heavily rusted. Spray it liberally with WD-40, then wrap it in paper towels also soaked in WD-40. Then put it all in a zip-loc bag for a while, even up to a few days. Sealing it in the bag will prevent the WD-40's solvent from evaporating too fast, and that'll give it some time to soften up the red rust so it can be scrubbed away afterward with a stiff brush. When doing that, keep rinsing & flushing with WD-40 as you work, until it runs clean from the knife (and not red/brown in color). After all that, give the knife a thorough bath in dish soap & water, rinsing everything out with hot water (which evaporates quickly and makes drying easier).

If the blade has an etched logo on it, I don't know that there's anything you can do to make it darker or more visible, save for having it re-etched, which is likely impossible or at least expensive to have it professionally done. Some etches are pretty shallow and will fade over time anyway, as they wear. And polishing the blades will also tend to make the etch fade over time.
 
Last edited:
[QUOTE = "Obsessed with Edges, post: 20340704, member: 245540"] La línea de cuchillos UH (Uncle Henry) de Schrade generalmente son siempre hojas de acero inoxidable. Si ve un '+' estampado en la espiga de la hoja principal, eso indica que es de acero inoxidable, siendo 440A en la mayoría de las más antiguas y 420HC en las versiones más recientes fabricadas en EE. UU. Durante algunos años antes de que cerraran la tienda. Si es inoxidable, el vinagre no le hará daño en absoluto. Los resortes posteriores pueden ser de acero al carbono (no inoxidable), como lo indica el óxido que está viendo allí.

Para el óxido en los resortes, puede ser más seguro remojar el cuchillo en WD-40 por un tiempo. Hice esto con un par de cuchillos que estaban muy oxidados. Rocíelo generosamente con WD-40, luego envuélvalo en toallas de papel también empapadas en WD-40. Luego, póngalo todo en una bolsa zip-loc durante un tiempo, incluso hasta unos pocos días. Sellarlo en la bolsa evitará que el solvente del WD-40 se evapore demasiado rápido, y eso le dará algo de tiempo para suavizar el óxido rojo para que pueda limpiarse después con un cepillo duro. Al hacer eso, siga enjuagando y enjuagando con WD-40 mientras trabaja, hasta que salga limpio del cuchillo (y no de color rojo / marrón). Después de todo eso, dale un baño completo al cuchillo en agua y jabón para platos, enjuagando todo con agua caliente (que se evapora rápidamente y facilita el secado).

Si la hoja tiene un logotipo grabado, no sé si hay algo que pueda hacer para oscurecerla o hacerla más visible, a excepción de volver a grabarla, lo cual es probablemente imposible o al menos costoso hacerlo profesionalmente. . Algunos grabados son bastante superficiales y se desvanecerán con el tiempo de todos modos, a medida que se desgastan. Y pulir las hojas también tenderá a hacer que el grabado se desvanezca con el tiempo. [/ QUOTE]
Thanks for your advice. Appreciate.
 
willc said:
For getting into the well I use pipe cleaners.
Not the hobby shop type but the tobacco store pipe cleaners.

I forget the name but one brand even had a bristle type that are very tough.
Click to expand...

I like, "Comoy's of London".
 
000Robert said:
I like, "Comoy's of London".
Click to expand...
I never tried that brand.
The bristle ones are BJ Longs.
The regular type also have various degrees of puffiness.

The craft store type are horrible.
The pipe smoking cleaners are so much more effective.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top