How do you clean / disinfect your knives?

Terry M.

Terry M.

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I did a search and didn't see a thread like this. Apologies if it's already been asked, if so can someone help direct me?

Anyway, I use all my knives in various situations at work and they get into some nasty stuff. Typically about once a week I'll clean them by boiling water in a pan and boiling them for 5-10 mins. Then I touch up the edge and re-oil the hinge and locking mechanism.

How do you clean and disinfect your knives? Plain ol' soap and water? Disinfectant wipes? Bleach?
 
Pretty much under a faucet on hot, with soap and an old toothbrush in needed. Unless it's expensive stag or bone, then mineral oil.
 
Soap & Hot Water, sometimes Soap & Hot Water then Rubbing Alcohol and then more Soap & Hot Water
 
If you get a lot of bacteria type "stuff" in/on your knife, a good bath in alcohol will clean things up nicely. If you have a lot of extra foreign material, I would recommend first spraying it out with a good degreaser like 409 (which I think is disinfecting now...), rinsing then cleaning up with alcohol. Soap (Dawn is an excellent degreaser) and water are generally good enough to clean out anything I have on the blade.

I use bleach to disinfect my bathroom and whiten my clothes...but it has been known to affect the finish on metal (albeit rare). So I don't use bleach to disinfect my blades.

I always re-lube after a thorough cleaning since a lot of cleaners are degreasers and solvents. I like to relube with mineral oil so my knives are always food safe.
 
I've been using my titanium Military for cutting up apples, pears, and other fruits/vegetables. GREAT slicer! Anyway, it does get sticky and some of that gets into the pivot. I use hot water and Dawn detergent on the pivot and blade. When dry, I use alcohol wipes on the blade to disinfect, and Miltec 1 on the pivot, and just a drop will do you!
 
Gunsnknives said:
If you get a lot of bacteria type "stuff" in/on your knife, a good bath in alcohol will clean things up nicely. If you have a lot of extra foreign material, I would recommend first spraying it out with a good degreaser like 409 (which I think is disinfecting now...), rinsing then cleaning up with alcohol. Soap (Dawn is an excellent degreaser) and water are generally good enough to clean out anything I have on the blade.

I use bleach to disinfect my bathroom and whiten my clothes...but it has been known to affect the finish on metal (albeit rare). So I don't use bleach to disinfect my blades.

I always re-lube after a thorough cleaning since a lot of cleaners are degreasers and solvents. I like to relube with mineral oil so my knives are always food safe.
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Excellent post. Thank you (and to the others too). I haven't used bleach, but rubbing alcohol is something I hadn't thought about.
 
If you are using alcohol to disinfect, remember that there is an optimal concentration for use as a disinfectant. Ethanol is more effective at 70% v/v than 100% for example.
 
Boiling a knife is overkill and possibly harmful. Wash it like you'd wash your metal cookware. Bare, clean steel doesn't harbor any bacteria to speak of. Clean it 'til it looks clean, like you would a steak knife. If it's got sticky crap on it, remove it w/ alcohol 'til it looks clean, then wash w/soap and water.
 
Maybe keep that knife for those specific tasks, still clean it to your specs and another for your personal use to eliminate any cross contamination.
 
I don't "disinfect" my knives, a quick rinse and dry if they're not too dirty, or soap and water of they are.
 
Treat your knives the same as you would your kitchen utensils. Wash them with soap & water then dry, that's it.

Some of you guys are way overdoing it.
 
CWL said:
Treat your knives the same as you would your kitchen utensils. Wash them with soap & water then dry, that's it.

Some of you guys are way overdoing it.
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^ +1. unless you're performing surgery, anything more than soap and water is overkill.
 
I would suggest getting some Barbacide.

It was recommended to me for my safety razors so I bought some from sally's hair supply. Glass jug and the concentrate was 24 dollars. It is 2 years and I still haven't depleted the concentrate.

I soak anything and everything in it. Watches, jewelry, razors, knives, toothbrushes whatever I want to have sanitized.

It kills 99.99% of all germs and bacteria, including HiV. It is rated as a hospital cleaner/sanitizer.
 
CWL said:
Treat your knives the same as you would your kitchen utensils. Wash them with soap & water then dry, that's it.

Some of you guys are way overdoing it.
Click to expand...

haha maybe so, but if you seen some of the stuff my knives get into, you'd want to disinfect them too. LOL! :D
 
usually just wipe the blade on a rag and a shot of compressed air. Occasionally some dish soap and hot water if its warranted
 
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