Maintaining a folding hunting knife

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P_D

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Aug 15, 2023
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I’m a very casual Case Knife collector. Most of my knives I just display, but I carry and regularly use a few of them.
I’m also a small game hunter. I have two Case knives I use for skinning and cleaning game- a Folding Hunter and a Hunter Trapper. The knives get pretty messy in the process, and I usually just rinse them thoroughly in cold water, pat them dry and leave them open for a day or so. Today, while doing some sharpening, I noticed a spot of rust on the one of the liners of my Hunter Trapper.
What’s the best way to maintain these knives that do the dirty work?
 
Most any of Case's knives will be fine with a liquid dish soap & water bath. Especially in stainless, if they are so. Assuming the Folding Hunter is in the standard 'Staminawood' they use for handle covers, it's a resin-stabilized wood laminate and should be impervious to moisture. Bone handle covers also do OK with the dish soap & water bath. And obviously, if the handles are any of Case's other sythetics, like Delrin, G-10, etc., those will also be fine. Exercise the pivots in the soapy water to flush grit & grime out of the joints. Then rinse in tolerably hot water, which will evaporate more quickly and reduce the chance of any residual moisture being left behind in the joints or between liners & springs & covers. After everything is dried out, then oil the joints. A food-safe mineral oil will do for that.

I'd only hesitate with handle materials like stag, horn or unstabilized wood, in trying to wash in such a way. They can be prone to shrinkage, swelling, warping, cracking, etc. if they get wet and stay wet too often or for too long.

In any of Case's standard line produced in the last 25-30 years or so (since 1990s, maybe earlier), all of their liners should be either brass or nickel silver - neither of which should rust or corrode too much, aside from some green verdigris in the brass. And in the same time frame, the backsprings should all be in stainless steel, even in patterns with carbon steel (or 'CV') blades - that's Case's standard practice for springs in all their knives. So, even though a little rust might be seen at times on those, it's seldom enough to get completely out of hand, if the knife gets cleaned fairly regularly.
 
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Me myself I never could get all the guts out of folding knives for some reason. I got tired of pulling my knife out days later and it smelling like roadkill. I switched to fixed blades exclusively around that time.

But, you use folding knives for this and I’m not trying to change your mind. I will add this though, and lots of guys will probably disagree and that’s okay, BUT knives are made to use. If you’re cool with using one for that sort of thing, be cool with it developing some warts from use. Stains, marks, etc. There’s nothing at all wrong with a working knife developing some beauty marks.

But then there’s nothing wrong with using knives and still treating them like objects of fine art when you’re done.
 
Thanks y’all. I know a fixed blade or a tactical folder might be more convenient, but I like what I like. I’m willing to accept some scratches and dings. When I’m gone and my boys inherit these knives, maybe those flaws will carry some extra meaning.

I have just acquired a hunter orange G10 Trapper, so I’ll probably switch over to using that one and avoid the problems with swelling and warping that Obsessed mention. My Kickstart EDC is Bonestag 6.5 and my Hunter Trapper is Amber Bone.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
Most any of Case's knives will be fine with a liquid dish soap & water bath. Especially in stainless, if they are so. Assuming the Folding Hunter is in the standard 'Staminawood' they use for handle covers, it's a resin-stabilized wood laminate and should be impervious to moisture. Bone handle covers also do OK with the dish soap & water bath. And obviously, if the handles are any of Case's other sythetics, like Delrin, G-10, etc., those will also be fine. Exercise the pivots in the soapy water to flush grit & grime out of the joints. Then rinse in tolerably hot water, which will evaporate more quickly and reduce the chance of any residual moisture being left behind in the joints or between liners & springs & covers. After everything is dried out, then oil the joints. A food-safe mineral oil will do for that.

I'd only hesitate with handle materials like stag, horn or unstabilized wood, in trying to wash in such a way. They can be prone to shrinkage, swelling, warping, cracking, etc. if they get wet and stay wet too often or for too long.

In any of Case's standard line produced in the last 25-30 years or so (since 1990s, maybe earlier), all of their liners should be either brass or nickel silver - neither of which should rust or corrode too much, aside from some green verdigris in the brass. And in the same time frame, the backsprings should all be in stainless steel, even in patterns with carbon steel (or 'CV') blades - that's Case's standard practice for springs in all their knives. So, even though a little rust might be seen at times on those, it's seldom enough to get completely out of hand, if the knife gets cleaned fairly regularly.
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That’s two votes for food safe oils. Why food safe?
 
Soap and plenty of hot water, a brush can be useful too. Like Obsessed said the hot water will heat the steel and make it dry pretty quick, then like Bill I use WD-40.
Now that I write that out it's the same prosses as cleaning a black powder barrel.

I got my Case folding hunter 79 and I still use it. It's rose wood handled and is holding up so far....
 
P_D said:
That’s two votes for food safe oils. Why food safe?
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As another mentioned, it's just a better alternative if your blade is coming into contact with anything you might eat. Other oils will often have additives like solvents, rust preventives, detergents, etc., which might present some health risks. For the most part, in the minimal amount you'll be using to lube the joints and/or coat the blades, the risks are generally moderate unless you literally drink the stuff. An easy no-brainer solution is available in food-safe mineral oil. It should be labeled as such on the container. So-called 'cutting board oil' is just food-safe mineral oil, for example. And some honing oils for sharpening, like Norton's product, are also labelled as safe to use on knives used for food preparation. It's just highly-refined, 100% pure light mineral oil. I use it both for sharpening and for lubing the joints after I've cleaned up a knife.

BTW, pure food-safe mineral oil is also completely odorless and flavorless as compared to other oils that will usually smell or taste of petroleum or other 'chemical' odor/taste. That, by itself, is also good incentive for using it on knives you use for food.
 
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I like to use Victorinox oil for pretty much everything. It's also food safe. You can usually buy it from almost anywhere that sells a decent selection of swiss army knives and accessories. There is a lot of variability in the price, so it couldn't hurt to shop around.
 
The perennial folding knife problem. You want to be able to do dirty work like processing game or yard work, but you also want the knife to always be available. Sure, a fixed blade is the tool for the job. Duh. But you want to just be able to reach for it and it's there without prior planning as well.

I'm leaning toward a cheap but good friction folder like an Opinel. A simple action easily cleaned and not hard to replace if you end up using it with too many abrasives still in the pivot. I could kick myself for not getting a few Svord Mini-Peasants for the short while they offered them in 12c27.
 
You could take a little cleaning kit if you wanted. A tooth brush or a rag on a stick or something.
 
My favorite dresser/skinner is a little CRKT folder. It gets nasty, but really hot water flushing it out will loosen the grease/fats and get the blood out of the joint. I generally hold it under hot water and work the blade open and closed half a dozen times, then fold half-open (into a "V") and lean it against the drying rack. Scrubbing the top of the joint with a Q-tip helps, too. It's 12c27 so I don't really oil it, but I am a big fan of going food-safe whenever I can, so mineral oil is great.
 
P_D said:
I have two Case knives I use for skinning and cleaning game- a Folding Hunter and a Hunter Trapper. The knives get pretty messy in the process, and I usually just rinse them thoroughly in cold water, pat them dry and leave them open for a day or so. Today, while doing some sharpening, I noticed a spot of rust on the one of the liners of my Hunter Trapper.
What’s the best way to maintain these knives that do the dirty work?
Click to expand...

Like many maintenance related issues, the longer you put it off, the worse it tends to get. The more time that stuff spends sitting in your knife, the more of a detrimental effect that it can have.

I would say the best practice would be to simply rinse with warm or hot soapy water as soon as you're done using the knife, but if you're out in the field then that's not going to be realistic. You're probably just going to have to accept that your knives will stay cruddy until you can get somewhere that you can properly clean them. What's the alternative? Carry a thermos full of hot water just for rinsing your knives in?

I say just try to always clean them as soon as you can, and accept the idea that you can't really do any better than that.
 
If it is bad enough to need to be washed, I like hot water to make it easier to dry completely. On and off fast if your handles are more porous. Old toothbrushes are a good tool for this job. Hot water and the hot sun will get it dry quickly.

I have found that going back and forth between compressed air and WD-40, always allowing the debris a path to escape, can get a folder surgically clean. Kroil, a penetrating oil, will wick into any tiny gaps or spaces that water could remain in. An old toothbrush and some mineral oil or Frog Lube finishes the job.
 
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Popsicle sticks work well to clean inside the blade well. I agree with soap and hot water. Blow dry, compressed air, hair dryer, output port on a shop vac, etc. then mineral oil.
 
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