Knife maintenance mat suggestions?

JV Knives

JV Knives

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 11, 2008
Messages
1,165
Hello BF,

What do you all use for a mat to do knife maintenance on? I am frequently cleaning, polishing, using small screws, etc and I need a better surface for work.

I have contemplated gun cleaning mats, a large mouse pad, even a car floor mat but then I remembered that I knew a thousand of you all who must be doing something similar! :)

Please give your advice and findings to a brother in need...

Thanks!
 
I have a silicone mat with a shallow lip all around that was advertised on amazon for placing a dog bowl upon. It doesn't slide around on the work surface and holds a reasonable amount of water.

It can be used as a non-slip surface for your sharpening stones or as a delicate, non-marring surface for working on your knives.

I believe it's called the ONME Dog Feeding Mat.

Inexpensive and effective, imho.
 
You're welcome. Hopefully it might be something you can use.
 
Blues said:
I have a silicone mat with a shallow lip all around that was advertised on amazon for placing a dog bowl upon. It doesn't slide around on the work surface and holds a reasonable amount of water.
Click to expand...

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

I have one of these and I like it reasonably well. It took a while to flatten out, as it was delivered rolled into a tube. Mine is rather large and was pretty inexpensive. It's 24" by 16" and cost less than $15.

However... for knife and other work, you might also consider an electronics repair mat or a soldering mat. Search for either of those and you'll find some interesting stuff. Some of those mats have integrated magnets at certain places to hold screws. Also specific tiny indentations to hold small parts like screws. Some have little covered areas (with lids) where you can store parts. They also have several divided sections so you can separate little parts as you do work. Some of that might appeal to you. Take a look and see!

Brian.
 
Another thing that works really good is a small white hand towel you put in the washroom,the white color makes metal parts standout and they don't roll very far on the either.

I used to use a white towel when I built RC Cars and some have what's called a ball differential and they use really small balls and the towel stopped them from rolling very far and also made them easy to see.

Thesian said:
Hello BF,

What do you all use for a mat to do knife maintenance on? I am frequently cleaning, polishing, using small screws, etc and I need a better surface for work.

I have contemplated gun cleaning mats, a large mouse pad, even a car floor mat but then I remembered that I knew a thousand of you all who must be doing something similar! :)

Please give your advice and findings to a brother in need...

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
I like to use a white tea towel with a magnet under one corner to hold loose screws and springs
 
I don't have any large enough to serve as a mat, but flexible magnetic sheet might be an option. Keep all those little screws from going everywhere.
 
I use a silicone baking mat. It’s similar to the soldering mats but easier to wash clean and roll up for storage.
 
Google ‘electronic repair mat’ and images for ‘soldering mat’. Hope this helps.
 
I use a gun cleaning mat and I work in the cardboard bottom from a flat of dog food cans. It's a good size, I can see screws and pieces against the brown cardboard, and there's a 1-1/2" lip all around the edge that keeps things contained.

The price was also right :).
 
I do a lot of mechanical as well as various craft work.
For protecting table surfaces, keeping track of small parts / screws, for keeping tools from sliding around and damaging each other and for quick put away to change to a more pressing task I use the following.

I have scads of baking trays and pans.
For these I have some mats to put in the bottom of them when I feel like I want it.
The mats are either two or three mm thick neoprene (like hard rubber not like foam rubber). There are some tool drawer liners that are like foam neoprene and it is crap; gets cut and flakes off over time NOT GOOD.

The nice thing about the tray / cookie sheet is it lets you quickly put the whole mess away if you need to. Think : knife not back together . . . significant other wants you to clear the table so everyone can eat dinner. Just slide the tray under the bed etc.

The photos of these are not knife projects but old photos I had around.
IMG_2782.jpg

This is a photo of a neoprene mat cut to fit in a larger cookie sheet and is easier to see out of the tray.
Some times, if I don't need to contain small parts I toss the mat down on the table or bench as you see it here.
IMG_3591.JPG

I use the same material to sharpen on in the kitchen ! ! !
IMG_0218.JPG

IMG_0209.JPG

And failing all that there is always the place mat on the dining room table ;) :p
I rebuilt my first two Delicas right here on this place mat at the dining room table :cool:
:eek: It doesn't take a clean room full of Spyderco techs as Nick would lead you to believe. :)
IMG_4683.JPG

Last but not least buy a Chris Reeve knife so you can get the cool guy blue cloth it comes with. All the cool kids work on a knife on one of those.
 
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Silicone soldering mats are excellent. They have sections for screws and some are magnetic in the sections.

They have raised edges on all sides that can catch any liquids or parts. Since they are silicone, they stay put on the table.
 
Yoga mat. They are huge, come in colors, and you can cut them to any sizes you need.
About $10 on Ebay or at Walmart.
 
This is where it sounds like I'm being a butt . . . though I'm just stating the facts :
Daniel said:
sections for screws and some are magnetic in the sections.
Click to expand...
Not a particularly reliable option because higher end products, knives what have you , often have nonmagnetic fasteners
  • Titanium
  • Stainless steel (some types aren't very magnetic)
  • Aluminum
  • Brass

Bill DeShivs said:
Yoga mat. They are huge
Click to expand...
The up side is you get a lot so easy and cheep to replace.

Down side is it is that nondurable flaky foam I spoke of.
I was at work today so I happened to take a photo of what I was talking about. This is as good a place to post it as any.
The light / white areas are where the foam broke down and came off. Not durable. The yoga mat is very similar stuff. This particular mat is adhesive backed and about 1/8" thick. Easy to peal off this teflon pan to replace though. The knife is a SAK Electrician for scale.
IMG_5999.jpg
 
Not all of the silicone solder mats have magnetic sections. If this is a concern, you can simply use one that is not magnetic.
 
If your piece of yoga mat wears out, just cut off another piece.
Mine has been very durable.
 
Throwing away your good knife money on store bought mats.... sheesh.
I've been using paper plates. Once used ones at that.
:D :D
 
Daniel said:
Silicone soldering mats are excellent. They have sections for screws and some are magnetic in the sections.

They have raised edges on all sides that can catch any liquids or parts. Since they are silicone, they stay put on the table.
Click to expand...
I can't believe I've went this long without one of these... Just ordered lol
 
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