Flushing Pivot?

wardcleaver

wardcleaver

Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Messages
290
Just got a new #14 with jigged bone.
Would it hurt the covers any to flush it with Kroil, or should I wait until I can pickup some mineral oil?
 
Thanks Bill.
Flushing sounds pretty self explanatory, but didnt find to much in the archives about the actual technique.
I guess you more or less partially fill the blade well and work the blade open and shut untill the oil runs clear... duh.
Anyone have any secret techniques or advice you could share with a noob? ;)
 
Could just as easily flush it out with warm/hot water and some liquid dish detergent (Dawn, etc). Fill a sink with it, immerse the knife and exercise the pivot (open, close) a few times while it's immersed in the soapy water. Rinse it out with hot tap water; the knife will be warmed in doing so, and will dry more easily while wiping it down. Can also drizzle a little bit of isopropyl alcohol through the pivot, liners & springs, to completely flush out any residual water. After it's dry, THEN just add a drop or two of oil to the pivot. No worries about the bone itself; the dish soap & water won't harm it in the short time before you dry it out.

The advantage of doing it this way is, you don't have to worry about leaving excessive amounts of oil behind in the knife, which can leave it prone to collecting more dirt, lint, etc and make the 'walk & talk' sticky or gummy. I used to flush out knives with WD-40, but then would have to wash all that out of the knife afterward, using the dish soap & hot water. I finally realized the dish soap & hot water was just as effective for flushing the knife out, on it's own. Old knives with heavy internal rusting can benefit from the WD-40 flushing, but only because it's better at breaking down & softening the rust itself. If rust isn't part of the problem, then using WD-40 doesn't really add any benefit to the cleaning.
 
I would of thought total immersion would be bad to the bone:eek:..sorry just couldn't resist
Thanks for the info, certainly sounds like that way should do a thorough job!

After drying would it be advisable to lightly oil & wipe excess off the springs for protection and a smoother action?
Or is that just going backwards towards a gunk magnet?
 
Kroil is one of the best penetrating oils I've ever used. Great stuff. But I agree with the others that the Dawn dish liquid and hot water works very well for cleaning out leftover compound from the factory. The water won't hurt the bone. I usually hold my finger over the faucet in the sink to form a high pressure jet of water, and open the blade into different positions. I've used compressed air for some stubborn ones.

Yes, I would oil it sparingly afterward, for smoother action. Inevitably, it may pick up some dust or pocket lint, but not the end of the world. Every few months you may re-clean or re-oil. I usually do it when I re-sharpen. Hoppes 9 gun oil has worked excellently for me for decades now.

JT
 
wardcleaver said:
I would of thought total immersion would be bad to the bone:eek:..sorry just couldn't resist
Thanks for the info, certainly sounds like that way should do a thorough job!

After drying would it be advisable to lightly oil & wipe excess off the springs for protection and a smoother action?
Or is that just going backwards towards a gunk magnet?
Click to expand...

Yes, after washing, a drop or two of oil in the pivot and maybe another between each of the springs/liners would be OK. Wipe away whatever oozes back out of it, and it should be good to go.
 
wardcleaver said:
I would of thought total immersion would be bad to the bone:eek:..sorry just couldn't resist
Thanks for the info, certainly sounds like that way should do a thorough job!

After drying would it be advisable to lightly oil & wipe excess off the springs for protection and a smoother action?
Or is that just going backwards towards a gunk magnet?
Click to expand...
Some one on the BF just posted that they had a problem with their Bone swelling after being immersed in water, (No pun intended :oops:). It literally swelled and pulled away from the bolsters and it took a couple of days to start to shrink back so be careful to not soak it too long and dry the bone immediately if you do. I'll try to find the post and link it for you Op.
 
Thanks for the warning.
If I remember correctly, that was some sore of antler material maybe, but I might have read that in my archive search.
 
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That swelling issue was with stag. It can swell or shrink or warp with exposure to water or with changes in humidity. Here's the recent thread, from the Traditional forum:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/gec-handle-warping.1651498/

I have a couple of stag-handled folders that displayed issues with the handle covers warping & pulling away from the liners, after I moved from a humid climate (Central TX) to a more arid environment (desert SW of US). But bone doesn't move much, if at all, with exposure to moisture or humidity changes. I've never had such issues with the many bone-handled traditional knives I have, all cleaned at one time or another with dish soap & warm water, as I described earlier.
 
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I did the warm water & dish soap warm water dunk & work the blades operation yesterday am. Then rinsed thoroughly in hot water, let it dry a bit, then detailed clean & dried with toothpicks and paper towels. I was still getting some black & some green gunk on the towels. I oiled it up a decent amount, worked both blades, Tpick and Ptowels clean again, still getting some black gunk as expected. Then repeated the whole process again w/ water and soap. On the next detail drying I got just a little black on the Paper Towels, oiled it sparingly and called it good.
After doing all that I would say the action didnt change much if at all, still a bit of a hard pull on the main blade and a nice snap shut. (Disclaimer: I am a noob when I comes to judging such matters.) It might have smoothed out things out a little bit, but it was probably not too bad to begin with. The immersion (probably about 30+ seconds X 2) in the warm water and rinse (probably about 30+ seconds X 2) didnt seem hurt the bone at all.

Thanks to everyone for their advice!
 
I got a GEC 71 that is a brat but it may just be the way it’s made. I either got to drink more milk or send it on its way. Shame because when it is open it’s great but hard to get there
 
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