Restoring/Cleaning old Pocket Knives

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wyclef

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Nov 24, 2017
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Hey, I've inherited a number of old pocket knives over the years. Kamp King type knives, different kinds. They all are in crummy shape been wanting to get around to fixing them up. I took the one in worst shape and sort of just soaked it in 3 in 1 oil and tried scrubbing it clean with some steel wool polishing pad I had lying around. It turned out alright but not great. The blades were real dull and someone had given me this thing...

http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/redhead-diamond-combination-bench-stone-knife-sharpener

Either I have no clue how to use the thing or it's a piece of junk but it seemed like I was making the blades worse rather than sharper. Wondering if anyone has any experience with a sharpener like this? And other advice thanks.
 
I love the coffee mug trick, I use one often at work to touch up an edge because I don't carry a sharpener with me.
 
Make sure you don't go crazy trying to make them look shiny and new, because vintage steel has a story to tell.
All you want to do is remove the rust with steel wool and some mineral oil.
Personally for a knife I intend to use ( that's all of them I find ) I remove the rust with a soft wire wheel for a Dremel,With some care you won't mess anything up and will removing only the rust. Taking your time with this is much faster than taking your time with steel wool, but you still need to take your time.
You don't want to use sandpaper on the blade, though medium scotchbrite is ok to carefully remove and hard rust or run inside it if it's got a rusty steel frame, much finer scotchbrite if It's frame/ liners is brass.
Of course this is all for carbon steel, because stainless is a different ball game.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Make sure you don't go crazy trying to make them look shiny and new, because vintage steel has a story to tell.
All you want to do is remove the rust with steel wool and some mineral oil.
Personally for a knife I intend to use ( that's all of them I find ) I remove the rust with a soft wire wheel for a Dremel,With some care you won't mess anything up and will removing only the rust. Taking your time with this is much faster than taking your time with steel wool, but you still need to take your time.
You don't want to use sandpaper on the blade, though medium scotchbrite is ok to carefully remove and hard rust or run inside it if it's got a rusty steel frame, much finer scotchbrite if It's frame/ liners is brass.
Of course this is all for carbon steel, because stainless is a different ball game.
Click to expand...

I have restored and reconditioned quite a few knives myself as a hobby, and I think that is pretty sound advice. I have a couple of amigos that pick up an occasional orphan at estate sales, and I like to clean them up, regrind if needed, reattach or replace scales then gift them to my buddies. They love them! For the guys I give them to, they don't care about the history of the knife, and in truth most of them were inexpensive to begin with. I carefully sand out the blades a bit so they have a nice appearance.

But if it is a keeper, like a their father's or grandfather's knife, I do absolutely as possible. I feel like those knives earned every scratch, pit, dent, or damage to the edge they have. I also soak in mineral oil (very low acid) for a couple of weeks, then start the cleanup.

I have my grandfather's CASE large hunter that looks like he used it for everything from skinning elk to cleaning battery cable and stripping wire. According to my Dad, he did! I soaked it in mineral oil for a couple of weeks, and carefully cleaned it with a brass brush to get he crud off. I like the staining and pits so much that I sharpened it, and left it alone. If that knife could talk... one of three knives he owned for about 40-50 years.

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
I have restored and reconditioned quite a few knives myself as a hobby, and I think that is pretty sound advice. I have a couple of amigos that pick up an occasional orphan at estate sales, and I like to clean them up, regrind if needed, reattach or replace scales then gift them to my buddies. They love them! For the guys I give them to, they don't care about the history of the knife, and in truth most of them were inexpensive to begin with. I carefully sand out the blades a bit so they have a nice appearance.

But if it is a keeper, like a their father's or grandfather's knife, I do absolutely as possible. I feel like those knives earned every scratch, pit, dent, or damage to the edge they have. I also soak in mineral oil (very low acid) for a couple of weeks, then start the cleanup.

I have my grandfather's CASE large hunter that looks like he used it for everything from skinning elk to cleaning battery cable and stripping wire. According to my Dad, he did! I soaked it in mineral oil for a couple of weeks, and carefully cleaned it with a brass brush to get he crud off. I like the staining and pits so much that I sharpened it, and left it alone. If that knife could talk... one of three knives he owned for about 40-50 years.

Robert
Click to expand...
I didn't do any of the cleanup to this knife's blade myself, but this is how I leave blades.

It's pitted, scratched, and patina'd, but it's not rusty and I wouldn't change a thing about it.
 
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