Hey Brian, some of my knives are kind of starting to rust from their age. My 225Q has some sort of discoloration on one side and my Imperial has rust on the blade and all over the locking mechanism on the back. My dive knife which is stainless steel also has rust from use in salt water without proper cleaning afterwards. Can you recommend something that would remove the discoloration and the rust deposits? I'd like to clean some of them up to be on a display, esepcially the 225Q.
Thanks,
Erik
Rust
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Bryan
- Gold Tier
- Posts: 2417
- Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 5:20 pm
- Location: Illinois
Hi Erik,
The act of cleaning knives can be somewhat controversial. A lot of collectors (myself included) do not like to see older knives with “age spots” scrubbed down to a shine. It will remove some of the original finish and may devalue the knife. Of course this does not pertain to knives that you plan to use. To shine up your knives, I would start with a mild agent like semichrome or flitz metal polish and rub them down with a cotton cloth. If that doesn’t work, maybe try to put some oil (3 in 1) on the problem areas, let it set for a while, and then pick at the areas with a needle or something. That is as far as I would go with your collectable knives. If you must continue... find some copper wool and wd-40 and scrub on the discolored areas. Once you have done that, put on another coat of the simichrome or flitz. When you finish, cote your knives with renaissance wax.
Here is a website that has simichrome and renaissance wax...
http://www.knifeandgun.com/catalog/simi ... 534264.htm
I couldn't locate a site with copper wool.
And of course... I have to put in a shameless plug for myself.
I sell a knife care kit put together by Case.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/aap ... nives.html
Hope that helps,
Bryan
The act of cleaning knives can be somewhat controversial. A lot of collectors (myself included) do not like to see older knives with “age spots” scrubbed down to a shine. It will remove some of the original finish and may devalue the knife. Of course this does not pertain to knives that you plan to use. To shine up your knives, I would start with a mild agent like semichrome or flitz metal polish and rub them down with a cotton cloth. If that doesn’t work, maybe try to put some oil (3 in 1) on the problem areas, let it set for a while, and then pick at the areas with a needle or something. That is as far as I would go with your collectable knives. If you must continue... find some copper wool and wd-40 and scrub on the discolored areas. Once you have done that, put on another coat of the simichrome or flitz. When you finish, cote your knives with renaissance wax.
Here is a website that has simichrome and renaissance wax...
http://www.knifeandgun.com/catalog/simi ... 534264.htm
I couldn't locate a site with copper wool.
And of course... I have to put in a shameless plug for myself.
I sell a knife care kit put together by Case.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/aap ... nives.html
Hope that helps,
Bryan
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225Q
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:45 am
- Location: Virgina
The dive knife isn't collectible, I plan on using that until it falls apart and then get a new one. The 225Q I didn't know if it could be cleaned without devaluing it. I think I'm going to refrain from cleaning it though, I'm not even going to sharpen it and leave the original edge as much as possible. The Imperial I carry around on me daily and use it almost daily. Thanks for the information Bryan, I may have to get that cleaning kit because the Imperial is pretty well rusted, even on the inside where the blades sit when not in use.