HELP!! In my laziness and stupidity I left one of my SAK's in a damp bag that had recently been drowned and drip-dried in sea water. the blades have all fused!!!! I soaked it in alcohol and worked lubricant into it, and manidged to move the blades limitedly. Can i save my beloved knife? PLEASE HELP!!!! <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

WOFT:

Victorinox suggests working the blades while holding the knife under regular tap water. Hope this helps.

Chris

If you can get your hands on some Naval Jelly, apply it with a brush, leave it on 15-20 minutes and rinse it off. If the rust is extremely heavy, apply it several times and leave it sit out longer before rinsing (even overnight). Lubricate once rust is gone. Navel jelly is a miracle worker when it comes to rust. I took a deep sea fishing reel that was so rusted the gears woudn't turn and when I was done, you couldn't see a spot of rust and it worked like new. Just don't get it on your hands!
Good luck, George

You can try getting a tub of warm water and putting your SAK in and opening and closing the blades a few times. Once you work them free, lubricate with WD-40 and see how it goes. You may need to repeat the cycle a few times.

SAKs are very hardy and if it still doesn't work, you can send it back to the dealer - they will fix it up for you. Victorinox has some outstanding aftersales service.

Good luck!

Forgive my ignorance but what's naval jellly ?

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What I'm about to write is applicable to conventional steel and iron alloys and MAY not be applicable to stainless steel... also, my SAKs have brass pins and bushings in them and I SUSPECT that at least some of your situation is due to a galvanic corrosion between the steel and the brass - but I am only guessing. There are probably other non-stainless-steel components to the SAK, but I'm not going to pull mine apart just yet, LoL...

First, your alcohol soak should have "dried" the SAK of any residual moisture but probably did not remove many salts. Wash the knife thoroughly with a detergent and water - even run it through an automatic dishwasher if you have ready access to one (don't let the scales melt in a hot drying cycle, though). That will take care of any residual oils that may adversely affect treating the corrosion and remove virtually all the salts. Rinse very thoroughly with fresh water - scalding hot - shake and pat and poke dry and the residual heat from using a scalding hot water rinse will help dry it as well - especially if it is arid right now in your home. Now on to attacking the corrosion:

Naval Jelly, previously mentioned, used to be a gel whose primary ingredient was phosphoric acid - I assume that is still the case. Being in gel form was/is a convenience for use on vertical surfaces, not an essential feature. I have no idea off the top of my head what, if any, effect phosphoric acid has on brass, but generally the zinc in brass alloys reacts rather vigorously with acids especially compared to, say, iron or the iron in steel. I won't belabor the point, and phosphoric acid is rather mild anyway in its rate of interaction with metals, but you may want to test out a scrap of brass (for example, a brass cartridge case - expended case, of course!)

How fancy do you want to get? If you have access to US-style Coca-Cola, immerse the SAK in it (flat - non-carbonated - works as well or better than "fizzy"). Let it sit in the Coke as long as you can tolerate the suspense - perhaps even overnight. US-recipe Coca-Cola works as a rust reformer because one of the ingredients is phosphoric acid - and it is more dilute than Naval Jelly AND its very low viscosity lets it penetrate into very tiny crevices. I only mention it as US-style because my experiences in East Africa with licensed Coca-Cola are certainly NOT the US recipe and I cannot state either way if they have phosphoric acid as an ingredient... which is the key point.

Lore has it the Coca-Cola and ONLY Coca-Cola does the trick. I believe that the lore is partially true - there is no question that Coca-Cola works - but if the ingredients list on a serving of flavored soda water includes "...phosphoric acid...", I suspect it will work nearly as well or as well.

Assuming you have used a rust reformer like Coke or Naval Jelly, rinse (scalding hot water) and try working the blades. You may see incremental gains - soak, rinse, work, repeat. Or it may all come groaning free in one application. Once you get things freed up, dry the knife completely (a blow dryer for hair, if not held too closely to the scales, would be excellant). Now, I think that repeatedly working the mechanisms DRY for a while may accelerate smoothing reformed rust on the mating surfaces - blow out any dust that appears - but don't over do it. I would use a penetrating oil like Kroil and sit doing something brainless (like watching Television) while working the mechanisms over and over again - full extension and flexion.

After things are to your satisaction, wipe all the excess oil off and re-treat with some metaphillic oil of your choice. IF you normally use a food grade oil, wash all the penetrating oil off first - hot detergent wash (see previous), hot water rinse, dry - since you obviously have access to alcohol, you may choose to immerse the knife in neat alcohol after drying to remove all occult water from the nooks and crannies, but don't bother if you're using some alcohol-water mix like "70% Isopropyl Alcohol" from the cosmetics area of the drug store...

There are likely to be some cosmetic blemishes on parts of your SAK as a consequence of the salt water soak. I call that "patina" - which is like calling junk "junque", but... <grin>. Hopefully nothing will be functionally impaired.

If the phospohoric acid (Naval Jelly / Coca-Cola) treatement is not productive, there are witches brews of things available from automotive supply stores with names like "Rust Eater" - left to sit overnight, they are VERY effective - none of this is for the impatient. Be careful with those - you do NOT want to spray that stuff in your eyes, and it is probably not good stuff for a child or pet to ingest.

If all the above fails, let me know. I can give you a few more old fashioned methods that are VERY effective and simple. But one or both of the above approaches will probably work for you. Hope the SAK is OK - I understand "favored knives"...

One thing I forgot to mention - you HAVE to make a choice up front about this - the area under the scales is going to be, er, difficult. You can easily prise the scales off, but they will NOT reliably stay on after you do that unless you do something like use a proper epoxy (not any kind will do) in the boss holes. The factory repair center will, I believe, replace the scales, so that could be an option. My suggestion is to leave the scales on but pay extra care to wash, rinse, and dry that area under the scales. It's your call.

I sure hope this helps!

Regards,

Tom

WOFT,

You may want to phone your nearest Victorinox service center to ask their recommendations. Depending on what they say, you might let them do the repair. The repair may be covered by the warranty. On small consumer items, I've found manufacturers to be generous re repair/replacement. I've had good experiences with Victorinox re service & parts. If the cost of repair is a concern, you could ask for an estimate. You can get their toll-free phone number from the Victorinox website.

Incidentally, I'd be very cautious about applying heat in water beyond what is comfortable to finger touch. I suspect the warpage we have experienced in our scales on various SAKs may have resulted from: 1. a cleaning in very hot water; 2. sessions in the washing machine & dryer as to my kids knives. I don't know for sure, but it is a strong suspicion.

Good luck,

John

...all what the other fine gentlemen said + another good steel/iron rust remover is plain vinegar, ,best if boiling.

Good luck

D.

sounds a bit like this stuff
http://www.mmsrestore.com/jenolite.html
I've used jenolite jelly on some really bad rust before and it strips it away really well.
Hope this is of some use

Thanks! <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />