What is your prefered method for storing knives you don't use and do you have some tips on maintaining them? Is it better to store linerlocks open and lockbacks folded as I've read somewhere? Do you apply a film of colorless wax on them?

What do you use to prevent corrosion? At first one thinks of oil but it's sticky, it stains the furniture and also eventually evaporates. Do you use silicone spray that you find in the vehicle section of department stores? I'm aware of Tuf-Cloth dry protectant from Sentry Solutions but it's not readily available here. And once you apply stuff like silicone, should you wash it before say, peeling a fruit with it?

How and when do you use Gun Blue? Is it mostly for carbon steel once they lost their coating?

Once you've cleaned and dried a folder like a Spyderco or a multitool (and removed particles with a can of compressed air for example), do you put some drips of oil on the pivot and where else on a lockback?

Thanks
Frankie

I have a whole lot of knives.
Most simply live on a shlef when not being used. I sometimes rub the blade down with a product like tuff cloth. I rarely lube my knives. If they get wet I make sure they are totally dry before storing and maybe add a little lub to the pivot.
I find if a folder is clean and dry it does not require much in the way of lube. Most blades of mine are stainless.
I have never heard before that folders should be stored any other way but closed.
Some folks keep their fixed blades out of the sheath to avoid pitting.

Like billym I have a lot of knives. I have a few that are stainless but most are various grades of carbon steel. I don't oil my knives because I use them a lot for skinning and butchering game. If I am somewhere that I think they might rust because of humidity I coat them with corn or vegetable oil and allow it to dry (use two or three coats). When thickly coated and aloud to dry it forms a coating that will not allow the blade to rust and won't affect the leather of your sheath. It will last for at least a year (the longest I have kept one coated) and washes off easily with hot water. As for my folders I store them folded. If I do get some rust on my blades I use a plastic scouring pad and corn oil again to polish out the rust.

I haven't stumbled on corrosion as a problem with my knives, but, they are all of reasonably decent quality stainless. I have had corrosion problems with axes and mauls, but, usually I find that surface rust will get scraped off after splitting a few logs.

One problem I had with folders that I used to clean fish or dress game was the, ummm, how to say this nicely, nasty gross stuff that grows inside the slot if I am not good about cleaning them soon after doing my work. One time, I went out to my boat and thought something had died inside it. My Buck folder had a bunch of green and white slime growing out of it after it was used to clean a cooler full of striped bass on the boat, and then sat out on the boat for over a week under the canvas on some nice hot days. It looked like a creature from a cheap horror flick. I'm glad I found it before my wife came on the boat, that could have been ugly.

I've been better about doing a good fresh water rinse after use ever since...

I usually use a very light bleach solution when a knife gets to cut the lively stuff like fish and game.

The worst thing ever was when a buddy used my knife at a BBQ in the local park. He managed to get some kind of soft cheese inbedded in every available crevice including the Axis lock and the screw heads.
I hate lending my knife out to almost anyone but folks get wierd when you refuse. Maybe I need to hang with some PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. who want nothing to do with my blades.
In fact one of my bosses always make jokes about me and my EDC but then at every tradeshow all I hear is "Bill, got your knife?" He always dulls the crap out of them so last time and hence forth I bring a KA BAR Dozier along for him to trash. Funny thing is the AUS -8 blade takes a lickin' and then sharpens up real fast with the Sharpmaker.

I put my carbon blades in hot vinegar. Gives it a nice patina which they will get if you use them. It helps protect against corrosion.

I do not really collect knives. I used them, retire them but never throw them away. I do collect dust, which I find is easier and cheaper...

Geez, we can't say you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder about your knives by reading a post like that...

Oil them lightly then wrap them in a length of cotton cloth. Use some twine to tie the cloth closed and the sheath to the bundle. A chunk of bedsheet works fine. Store them someplace dry.

Stainless blades are stored clean and dry. Carbon steel gets a light coat of oil, excess is wiped off and then they're stored clean and dry. Depending on the knife, some of the carbon steel blades get the vinegar treatment, others are blued and others are left white.

I know what you mean about the folders collecting gunk. I was cleaning ducks for a while with whatever folder I was carrying, but finally had to carry a fixed blade that was a LOT easier to clean afterwards. What's nice about that too is it got me in the habit of having more than one knife in the field- folder on me, fixed in the bag.

Of course, just out of tradition any new knife I get has to clean one bird, even if it's not the most appropriate blade for it. The Ritter Mk3 did surprisingly well actually, but I wouldn't use it exclusively (for bird cleaning).

To get to the point of the post, my knives are all piled in my camp box. However they're all stainless so that hasn't been an issue. I have noticed that one Kershaw liner lock is a little stiff after a couple years of not using, and the lock itself where it contacts the blade while closed is a little stained. Wouldn't be surprised if, even in a stainless steel knife, the liners are not stainless.

J

I do what RAS does....nothing on stainless and a little light oil on carbon blades.

It seems I'm always washing a blade. Every time I use one, even if I've only been whittling and the blade gets a little sap or other tree-gunk on it, I wash it under HOT (hot as in hot) water with a little dishsoap on a sponge. Then it gets rinsed with HOT water and dried with a cotton cloth. Then it's done. If it's carbon I'll put a little oil on the blade only if I think I won;t be using it for awhile.

For folders, I oil the pivot when I remember to do it. I may wash a folder (HOT water) and not oil it after, but I will when I think it's been awhile since I did last.

I never heard of storing a folder any other way than just closed. That's new news to me.

I too have a good collection going. They are either cased or bagged, some remain in their sheaths while others are removed, depending on sheath type and such. Folders are all stored folded. All knives are treated with tuf cloth, which goes on wet, dries quickly, and leaves a nice film coat that prevents corrosion and keeps things lubricated. I use the marine version for maximum protection.

I used to use an Armadillo coating, which was carnuba based and made for blued steel for my guns, but I think the tuf cloth is a little easier application and just as durable. None of my knives have a patina. About half are stainless. All of them will take the hair off my arm at the least.

I can honestly say that now that you mention storing liner locks open makes a little sense. The liner is like a spring, and when open, the "spring" can be in the relaxed position.

This is sort of like saying that magazines should be stored empty.

Honestly, I am not enough of an expert on metalurgy to know if springs loose their springiness if compressed for too long. You know the saying: "Opinions are like ..." etc. etc. I have yet to hear from somebody with a PhD in the appropriate subject matter.

Well, just being honest I guess. Most of the time, I do clean and sharpen the knives I use regularly. In the case I mentioned, where I managed to grow some form of life on my folder, I was probably in a rush to get the boat buttoned up, and then forgot that the knife was still in the bait well. I might have actually created some new strain of virulent bio/chem warfare agent, but, the bleach seemed to do the trick, and it's gone from the face of the earth forever. (Or at least until I fillet some more fish )

I suggest you use a fillet knife like a Rapala that has no slots and hidden complex mechanism

AFAIK, it is NOT recommended to leave a knife in its leather sheath.
Leather attracting moisture, a carbon blade can easily rust.

As for storing my knives when not in use, I use tuf-cloth and put the knives in the display case, folders mostly opened.

I think it was an advice more geared toward automatic knives like the jackknife, so that the spring does not loose its elasticity from the compression when folded over time but it was also recommended for linerlocks. I would need to have a better understanding of their mechanism.

Would you settle for a Masters in Mechanical Engineering?

So let it be written: Metallic creep is only a factor at high temperatures. Unless your spring is made of lead.

Overloading and fatigue are the main killers for springs.

So, I can leave my folders folded and my magazines loaded. Thanks.

But can you use the knife that's been tuf-clothed for food preparation after that? Will just washing with water and soap remove the tuf-cloth particles?

Thanks

But what kind of oil? Is mineral (Parraffin) oil a good choice?

Thanks

Bah... I just toss mine in either a box in the closet or my desk drawer. They seem to do just fine. The only caveat is if I use it and it gets dirty. Then it's just a rinse under the kitchen sink, dry with a towel, then air dry for the rest of the day. No problems yet. Sometimes run a Q-tip down the middle and get some pocket lint out.

Probably had over 2 dozen folders, and only had one get any hint of rust: an ATS-34 (I think) Emerson CQC-6. I was NOT pleased with that knife.

Knives that I don't use? I don't have many of those. I own a bunch, but I'm not a collector.

As said, don't store a knife long-term in a leather sheath. One thing I found out the hard was to not store anything metal near a bottle of iodine water treatment tabs. I had one in a kit. The iodine tabs ate throught the metal cap on the bottle, then started eating through the stainless steel knife also stored in the kit.

I just keep the knives I don't have on me either in a drawer, in the box they came in, or in a plastic fishing tackle box. I've never heard of storing folders opened. That would be tricky for me. I keep them clean, but I don't wax or oil them. 'Course, I live in SoCal. No humidity to speak of.

Kevin B.

One item not mentioned (I've gotta log in more often) is a wonderful substance called Renaissance Wax. I have gathered any number of knives over the years, along with a few real (as opposed to costume or wall-hangers) swords. Ren Wax goes on easy and comes off with a wipe, but it is a preservative so I wouldn't consider it for food preparation material unless you know you will have a chance to really wash the contact surface first. I'm thinking for a BOB or just preservation of metal not presently in use. I'd offer a link, but anyone can Goggle it and probably find a cheaper source. One can lasts a while.

Philip

That's what I have in mind, storing carbon steel knives that I don't need, then wash them when I'm going to use it in the field. The Renaissance wax is used by British museums for conservation purposes. But I was not expecting this to be so expensive though.

Frankie

Frankie,
Renaissance wax seems to be pretty good stuff. I bought a can a few years ago for use in the shop (woodworking). When I ran out, I didn't buy any more because of its cost. Plain old Minwax works as well as I need it to at a fraction of the cost.

I'd say use a good oil then wrap the knife well in saran wrap or some non-absorbant cloth ( i have no idea what that might be). When you need it, you can just wipe the oil off if you're unable to wash it, and it should be just fine for food prep. A little oil (that tiny film that remains), even if petroleum based, wouldn;t worry me during an emergency.

That's what I use. I'm pretty sure that what we Americans call mineral oil is non-toxic and should be safe in the minute quantities that you'll get on a blade. I'm not sure if that is the same stuff up your way though. I've also heard of guys using olive oil, but I'd like to make sure it won't go rancid over time before I'd use it.

Hmm, the Ren wax seems too expensive, and the oil and saran wrap too much hassle. I will stick with either the tuf cloth or possible the Armadillo from Blue Wonder, try this link:

http://www.bluewonder.us/BlueWonderArmadillo.html

If you are gonna use a wax, this would be my recommendation. However, I switched to the tuf cloth because it is inexpensive, durable, and the easiest thing to use on gun/knife metal I have found. No sprays, no applicators, no residue. Just wipe the cloth on the metal, let it set for a minute, then put it away. Plus it is lightweight and very portable. I also don't worry about having to remove it before I use my knife for anything, inlcuding preparing food.

Rem Oil, Ballistol, Break free, Bore Butter, I suppose each can be adapted to work similarly, but none of them have ever seemed to be as effective, and I've tried them all. Heck, I've even seasoned carbon steel blades with lard using heat to volatize the fat and deposit a carbon coating with some success. You might be surprised at just how effective that last method is. Hey, if it will work for cast iron pots, then why not for carbon steel knives and gun barrels?

I think I'll start with mineral oil, that you find in pharmacies. But nobody gave any comments on silicone spray. Is it a good alternative?

Thanks