Ultrasonic Cleaner and Cracked Bone

[SEArkHog]

I wanted to get more input on using an ultrasonic cleaner with a cracked scale. It's an awesome Western that has very slow snap on the close. I think there may be some gunk in the pivot preventing the snap so I thought I'd try an ultrasonic cleaner to start. I am inexperienced with ultrasonic cleaners but wanted to check to see if the cleaner may aggravate and cause further issues with the crack/scale? Quite possibly a dumb question but I just don't want to cause any damage to this knife. I've tried to attach a pic but only get a black picture when I upload. Will keep trying. Thanks much everyone.

[Tinpanva]

I personally wouldn’t. I’d try an overnight soak in CLP in the pivot first, maybe a squirt of ballistol.

[Dinadan]

I have used an ultrasonic cleaner on a few old knives with cracked bone. And I am talking really cracked like a maze, not pin cracks. So far none of them have got worse from the treatment, or anyway, no pieces of bone fell off. If it is a special knife I might hesitate. Maybe it is just me, but I have not noticed the sonic cleaner making a lot of difference on the snap, but it certainly improves the looks of the blade well.

[Dinadan]

sorry about the double post

[Mumbleypeg]

Try a waterpik if you have one. There are so many different things that can cause lazy snap, gunk in the pivot among them. You might be able to determine what the problem is by partially opening the blade and observing what happens at the interface of the spring and the blade’s tang. If working properly, opening the blade should depress the spring such that it protrudes slightly below the liners. If the spring does not move, or only moves very slightly, then the interface has worn down (probably due to lack of lubrication). Either the end of the tang, the spring, or both, have lost enough metal to make that mechanism not function properly so the spring no longer works.

Another possibility is the bolsters squeezing too tightly on the blade and thus inhibiting it from freely moving. Not likely on an old knife, but nonetheless possible. It gets more complicated from there so if those mentioned aren’t it you may need a pro to address it. JMO

Ken

[SEArkHog]

Thank you all for the good info, I appreciate it. I think I'll try to investigate further before using the cleaner. My gut tells me that the cleaner won't do any damage to the bone but maybe better safe than sorry for now. Wish I could get this pic to attach just for clarity but oh well. Thank you all again for the help!

[orvet]

I am a big believer in the usefulness of ultrasonic cleaners, I have three of them. However they would not be my first choice for a bone or stag handled knife because most of them generate heat in the process, and bone soaking in hot water does not seem like a good idea to me, unless I'm making soup.
If I were starting on that knife, I would take it outside, (for ventilation), with a can of Birchwood Casey's Gun Scrubber. Using the tube provided squirt the joint and pivot out really well. Then I would work the knife open and close several times and then spray it again. Since I have a compressor blow the excess gun scrubber out, though this is not necessary as it evaporates quite rapidly. You might notice at this point the knife does have a little snap. Sometimes that happens sometimes it doesn't. My next step would be to lubricate the pivot joint and the end of the tang with Quick Release Oil. I have had knives that had no snap surprise me with a respectable walk and talk after being treated with QR.

I know the gun scrubber does not hurt bone nor Plastics but it does blast a lot of dirt and debris out of the knife well and from around the pivot. The other thing I like about it it doesn't leave the knife an oily mess.

Quick release oil is the best knife lubricating product I have found in more than 20 years. Quick release is less expensive than many of the other highly regarded knife lubricants and it works better than any of the other specialty knife lubes I have tried and it's less expensive than a lot of them.

Just my 2 cents worth.