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