Cleaning an antique knife

Welcome to the forum..you need to post a picture or two for members to help.
 
Step away from the sandpaper.
First do no harm.
Let’s figure out what you have and then go about taking the correct course of action.

Easiest way to post pics is a link to an image hosting site such as Imgur.
 
Yeah, what they^ said.

People often think that "cleaning" an antique is no big deal, that they will just sand it a little or use some steel wool on it. But they don't realize that doing so could very well cause a significant reduction in the items monetary and collector value. What some people often see as tarnish, collectors often see as highly desirable patina.

I had a girlfriend once who worked for a guy that dealt in antique weapons, and I'd hear horror stories about the DYI cleanup jobs and "restorations" that people did that ruined the value of their items.

And welcome to Bladeforums.
 
Your knife has no real collector value.
It will never look new. Just lightly scrub the blade with 0000 steel wool.
 
There is no such thing as cleaning an antique. If shiny is what works for you, you scrap the original knife and regrind a new knife from the scraps. But, every layer that you peal off is just additional damage. The thing becomes further and further from the original factory product.

n2s
 
I’d start with remoil or wd40 on the blade and choreboy copper pot scrubber for the rust. Then 0000 steel wool for the blade recess and a very light scrub (wet with light oil) everywhere. Dry it thoroughly and see how it looks.

I’d guess a form of electricians knife.
 
Glad you got a picture up.
Soak with WD 40 and scrub 0000 steel wool. It will be what it will be. A cool piece with a little story.
 
That's a cool find. :thumbsup:

As previously recommended by others, I'd absolutely minimize or avoid entirely anything abrasive, like the sandpaper. The steel wool and oil/WD-40 scrubbing is about as much as I'd do to the blade, backspring or the iron bolsters. I'd personally hesitate to soak those old wooden handle covers in anything though, probably limiting anything there to some light rubbing with 2 - 3 drops of mineral oil or mineral spirits on a microfiber rag to clean it, and/or applying a wax.

That patina on the blade is bonafide antique and real character in itself. Took many decades at least, to form it, and it won't harm the steel at all. It'd be a shame to scrub that off. Just use the steel wool and oil/WD-40 to scrub away any red/brown rust and leave it at that.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
That's a cool find. :thumbsup:

As previously recommended by others, I'd absolutely minimize or avoid entirely anything abrasive, like the sandpaper. The steel wool and oil/WD-40 scrubbing is about as much as I'd do to the blade, backspring or the iron bolsters. I'd personally hesitate to soak those old wooden handle covers in anything though, probably limiting anything there to some light rubbing with 2 - 3 drops of mineral oil or mineral spirits on a microfiber rag to clean it, and/or applying a wax.

That patina on the blade is bonafide antique and real character in itself. Took many decades at least, to form it, and it won't harm the steel at all. It'd be a shame to scrub that off. Just use the steel wool and oil/WD-40 to scrub away any red/brown rust and leave it at that.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I love the old knife and I'd like to carry it!
 
Rhianna said:
Thank you. I love the old knife and I'd like to carry it!
Click to expand...
By the way, since you'd asked in your original post as to what the pattern is, it looks like it was possibly used for electrical / cabling work. Those notches in the blade look like the insulation-stripping notches seen in more commonly seen electrician's pattern knives (often called 'TL-29' pattern, or 'radio' knife, or 'lineman' pattern), which usually have two (2) blades, one of which is a liner-locking screwdriver with a cable-stripping notch and a semi-sharpened edge, used for cutting into the insulation or jacketing around electrical wires or cabling. Normally the actual knife blade in those patterns is simply a spear pattern blade (as in yours), but without the notches in the cutting blade itself. I wouldn't know if yours was originally made with the notches as you found it, or perhaps it might've been a DIY modification to a more standard-pattern slipjoint knife, to do that sort of electrical / cabling work.
 
Using oil with steel wool creates an abrasive slurry of iron oxide.
Use 0000 steel wool dry, and frequently wipe/blow off the residue.
THEN use WD 40 to dissolve any remaining rust/dirt, and wipe thoroughly.
 
My experience is that oil and steel wool scratches less than dry steel wool. Maybe the slurry crated is finer than the wool itself?
 
Steel wool should not affect blade steel at all, unless you scrub too hard.
 
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It’s been a while since I tried dry. Maybe I was using too much pressure. Could be memory is fuzzy too.
 
I use a brass scraper made from a flattened brass rifle cartridge to knock off any active rust or crud. Hand sanitizer or alcohol pads if something seems sticky. Then oil and a rag. Mineral oil works good on steel great on wood.

Sharpen it, then put it in a pocket for a day or so. Call me crazy but being carried in pocket seems to bring the knife back to life.

Its a neat old knife to find.
 
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