Knife cleaning kit, what does everyone use??

C

CaneC808

Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Messages
177
So I own a good few knives, been picking them up while being active duty over the past 12 years. I've always used my gun cleaning tool kits to keep my blades rust free, lubed and ready for work. In the last year I started investing in nicer knives, microtechs, higher class benchmades and spydercos and thanks to BF a few customs along with more on order.

Now I'm more concerned with being miticulus and keeping everything spot free and in perfect condition and I just don't have the right stuff. I'm sure this will provide great info for a lot of people so bottom line is,

WHATS IN YOUR CLEANING KIT
 
Old rags and knife oil seem to be all I need... Maybe a bit of really fine abrasive for getting sticky stuff off.

Cotton ear cleaners work well for cleaning out the insides of folders and multitools.
 
Torx 6, 8, and 10, along with 3 in 1 oil and Park Tool PPL-1 PolyLube 1000 Lubricant. The polylube works great for lubing pivots but you have to disassemble to use it.
 
I use Rem Oil to clean my knives, and I use Winchester cotton patches to wipe them with (a towel would work just as good), then I use EWG (Extreme Weapons Grease) to get my knife to open and close super smooth. Depending on what knife it is or what is exactly what I'm doing, I use regular WD-40 or plane Gun Oil. I hope this helped, Knife care is very important, and everyone has their own system for cleaning.
 
A small twig and some cotton balls, 3 in 1 oil in a syringe, a microfiber cloth, some vinegar in a syringe (for forced patina's on my traditionals), tangerine wax.
 
Torx bits, lots of Torx bits.
Dis-assembling your knife will void most warranties, but cleaning individual pieces will work much better than trying to wash it out assembled. You just have to be willing to accept the risk of ruining a knife if you mess up.

Then a toothbrush and soap. Scotch-brite pads and steel wool for rust spots, and occasionally fine grit sandpaper.

Tuff-glide works great for smoothing out a pivot.
 
When I'm really cleaning them out I disassemble and use;
-Wiha torx bit set
-Microfiber clothe
-3 in 1 silicon spray lube (dry lube that coats) to clean all the metal parts
-Tuf Glide to lube the pivot
-Scotch brite pad just in case

Minor tuneups;
-3 in 1 silicon spray the innards
-Q tips to get in there and grab the junk
-Dab of Tuf Glide to the pivot
 
Old t-shirt
Benchmade blue lube
torx bits
paper clips (bend them straight and put a piece of t-shirt on the end to clean out the inside of the knives, and for cleaning out the gunk in the joints of my traditionals)
 
If I'm home with time to spare...Flitz stainless steel cleaner and polish, microfiber towels, Boshield T-9 for lube and SC Johnson paste wax for blade coating.
 
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compressed air cans work wonders for cleaning out the pivot of folders - i spray compressed air, then just a drop of oil.. and use qtips or alcohol swabs on a toothpic to clean the inside..
 
I find gun oil on a rag gets most stuff off of blades and keeps them lightly coated for corrosion resistance. But I use my knives a lot to open taped up boxes and my blades get sticky gunk on them all the time. Oil and repeated passes on the cloth work, but I find plain isopropyl alcohol works better on sticky stuff. I keep a little dropper bottle with a flip top in my knife sharpening/maintenance box and use a few drops on a rag at a time.

For lube, I mostly use Hoppes gun oil as it was cheap and I'm trying to use up a bottle I bought 14 years ago. I also have a Husky torx set. I occasionally use powder solvent to clean up the insides of really dirty knives. When doing that I also use cut up rags, or gun patches to clean and usually use a bent paper clip to help get in the tight areas. I recently bought a set of dental tools thinking they would work better, but I find they are so sharp they poke right through the cloth and I don't want metal on metal contact. I think I'll take one to a very coarse stone and blunt the tip, then try it again.

Brian.
 
Get an old fasioned shaving brush (E-bay?) It will remove stuff from places you didn't know were places.
Have used them since the mid 60's. Outstanding on firearms too.
 
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