Cleaning and Restoration

Kiah

Pit Bull Appreciation Society
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Jul 20, 2006
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I got a question about how to clean Kydex, surprisingly the first, and thought I'd make a note for anyone who may be wondering.

While colored Kydex is neat, anything lighter than chocolate brown tends to get dingy and dirty real quick. Tan, orange, and other "high contrast" colors can look awful after a while if you carry in a dirty environment. Mechanics, machinists, and others who are around a lot of dust, grease, and grime know what I'm talking about best, but even through normal carry, light colors can get dingy and hard to clean.

If your sheath is really grimey, Goo Gone will take care of the worst of it without harming the Kydex. Rub or spray it on, let it sit for a minute, and then wipe it off. After the Goo Gone, or if your sheath has just gotten dingy and dirty, a "Magic Eraser" is the single best way to get it back to normal. Wet it, scrub it, rinse it. Just watch the eyelets or you'll remove the coating. Your plastic should look like new.

On the subject of eyelets, the coating will wear obviously. BC Brass Black can be picked up at your local gun store, department store, or hobby store. It won't bring the eyelets back to the same blackness as they originally were, but it'll take the shine off pretty quickly.

Any questions or additions, feel free.

Kiah
 
I used Goo gone on a red sheath a while back (after trying normal dish soap), but never tried the Magic Eraser. Good to know :thumbup:
 
I didn't have much luck with the brass black so I added some white vinegar to it. Maybe 50/50. It seems to work a lot better now. If you try this let me know if it works better for you or not.
 
I didn't have much luck with the brass black so I added some white vinegar to it. Maybe 50/50. It seems to work a lot better now. If you try this let me know if it works better for you or not.

I haven't, but I will. A pre-clean with muriatic acid is ideal, but harder to do on an already made sheath.
 
I haven't, but I will. A pre-clean with muriatic acid is ideal, but harder to do on an already made sheath.

Ok, I pre-clean with alcohol but the brass black seemed iffy to me. I apply it with a q-tip but may have been using to much. Much like forcing a patina on steel, it seems like it needs to dry to react, instead of sitting on there wet for a few minutes.
Does that sound right?
 
Ok, I pre-clean with alcohol but the brass black seemed iffy to me. I apply it with a q-tip but may have been using to much. Much like forcing a patina on steel, it seems like it needs to dry to react, instead of sitting on there wet for a few minutes.
Does that sound right?

In theory it should do better soaking (for 10 or 15 minutes), but it's kinda hard to do on the sheath. If you can suspend the sheath flat with an eyelet resting in something like a plastic bottle cap full of BB, that might work, but I usually just use the q-tip method to touch up a die scratch or a worn finish every now and again and it works well enough for that. I'll test out a few things when I can and let you know what I find.
 
In theory it should do better soaking (for 10 or 15 minutes), but it's kinda hard to do on the sheath. If you can suspend the sheath flat with an eyelet resting in something like a plastic bottle cap full of BB, that might work, but I usually just use the q-tip method to touch up a die scratch or a worn finish every now and again and it works well enough for that. I'll test out a few things when I can and let you know what I find.

Have you ever found the brass black to damage kydex? I've left droplets of it on for quite a while and never seen any ill effects. I'm still leery of leaving it on the camo patterns and lighter colors though.
 
It won't affect Kydex in the least. Don't know for certain about the camo, but I can't imagine it would bother it. Best to test a scrap piece to be sure of course.
 
It won't affect Kydex in the least. Don't know for certain about the camo, but I can't imagine it would bother it. Best to test a scrap piece to be sure of course.

Good idea. Sorry I derailed your thread from kydex cleaning into brass rivets. :eek:
 
No worries brother. Not derailing at all, as others may wonder about it as well. :thumbup:
 
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