HELP, Found My Folder In A Pile Of Snow, Next Steps?

Oil it, use it.

 

For rust spots, you could use BreakFree and a bit of work with a small brass pad. Works for me.
BreakFree works for lubrication as well.

Anternatives to your knife are legion. Maybe narrow it down a bit; what do you plan to use the knife for?

A good alrounder could be for example the Spyderco PM2.

How did it save your butt from a beating, did you flash the blade and and yell "knife!" and the ruffians left or what?

 

Not super familiar with S&W models. I'm guessing that's one of their $20-$30 knives. As fas as clip screws you just need to figure out what size. Torx head screws are not proprietary and are actually very common. Finding screws that small is the problem. Unless you have a really good hardware store that deals with lots of obscure fasteners. They can be ordered online but will be expensive.

Rust on the cutting edge will eventually sharpen out. Other rust can be taken care of with penetrating oil and fine steel wool.

As far as maintenance shouldn't need more than an occasional sharpening and a drop of oil on the pivot a few times a year.

 

Those screws look to be torx socketed screws. There is a special driver for those and Husky makes a cheap tool for those available at Home Depot. It does not look to have fared too badly in the snow. If you had salt down outside, I'd give it a good rinse under the hot tap or even a soak in warm distilled water, dry thoroughly and oil it well.
For getting rust off of my carbon steel blades, I find some WD40 and some scraping with the edge of a copper penny (real copper, not the copper plated zinc junk pennies they make today) works pretty good if it doesn't wipe off easily with just the WD40. Your mileage may vary, but worth a shot.

 

My favorite method for removing light surface rust has become toothpaste on a fingertip (rub lightly until the rust disappears). As others have stated, give it a wash and dry, remove any rust spots and oil it.

If you really want to give it the works, disassemble it and clean it inside and out.

 

for minor rust, I'm surprised no one has mentioned just using some white vinegar - is there a reason you don't use it?

 

You and that knife are apparently meant to be together. Use some oil in the pivot, give it a good going over, and keep on truckin'! A few spots of character are not a big deal. Keep it sharp and keep going.

 

S&W knife? Dig another hole and put it back! if the ground is too frozen for that, might as well oil her up at least until a proper burial can take place...

 

This is a perfect excuse to buy another knife.

 

Wow! Yeah, like these guys said just drop it in oil and take the rust off with superfine steel wool. Glad its back in good hands.

 

Just give it a good light oil rub down and wipe it clean then I would take the center screw of the clip and move it down to were the missing screw is to give the clip better retention until you find another one. That could be why it popped out of your pocket. I wouldn't try to disassemble because Smith and Wesson load their screws up with Loctite from my past experiences with them and you would do more harm than good. BTW nothing wrong being attached to an inexpensive knife, I just sharpened this one up for a friend and it was full of lint and half the screws were missing.

 

looks a-okay to me in the pics. oil pivot and go back to using. should be fine.

 

Soak and wash the thing in hot soap and water. Shake it out , dry it out and oil it up with a fresh sharpening. Done.

 

He wasn’t asking for opinions on the quality of his knife. Furthermore, it has worked for him as his sole EDC knife for over a decade. Sounds like the knife is a good fit for his needs

 

It's stainless so I'm surprised it's rusting.
Anyhoo... just rinse and wash it with warm running water and mild soap (like Dawn). Air-dry it. Then a couple of drops of mineral oil into the joint. A drop of mineral oil on the blade, smear it around with your finger.
Sharpen it, use it, that's it.

 

Titanium 440? Is that actually a thing?

 

It's a typical marketing ploy on lower end knives. The steel is a flavor of 440, the coating has a sprinkling of titanium in the epoxy. I'm not sure of the composition, but lots of knives have it.

Now, that said, nothing wrong at all with an inexpensive knife that suits ones needs. I think many of us amass a clutch of knives that are so lightly used, the quality beyond pride of ownership is never really tested. Lots of $20 folders do lots of work. I had a S&W folder about 20 years ago. It was a bit of a rattle box, but it locked up tight enough to do some work. I lost it long before I killed it.

OP, I'll make you a deal. Try to clean up the old girl. See what you can do with the advice you've been given here. If it works out, carry that old knife with pride. If you can't get it cleaned up to your liking, pony up the couple bucks to buy a basic membership and I will find you something lightly used from my trunk of knives that i promise you will be worth more than the $10 bucks a membership costs and a step up in quality from your S&W.

Can't lose on that one

 

For the rust, get one of these. It won't harm the finish on the blade.

 

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Very nice.