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How do you clean your vintage knives
I'm new to knife collecting and over the week been buying knives at estate sales and Craigslist,All the knives I've acquired have been either rusty or covered in black gunk on the blade. So my question to the community is how do you clean collectable knives that have rust and gunk on the blade?( materials you use, cleaners, etc.) Thank you for the info.
Below are some pictures on my knives that need to be cleaned so you can get a idea of what I mean.
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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on
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I'm going to need to use that aluminum foil and water concept. I've used liquid wrench with good results to unstick and clean up some really old and frozen knives -- basically when they were at the point of throw them away or take a chance and maybe save them. The problem with soaking knives in solvents like liquid wrench or even olive oil or mineral oil is you never know what it will do to old handle material, especially celluloid. Bone or stag might change in color but celluloid might actually dissolve and wood could very well suck up the oil then have it leach out for years.
Most of the knives I've cleaned up were neither scarce or rare. I'm may have increased their over all worth by a buck or two. When you consider the time spent as well as the money spent on cleaning/repair supplies, I'm probably actually losing money on the deal! I guess that's why this is a hobby and not a business!
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Permalink Reply by Syd Carr on
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I'm going to be on the lookout for an ultrasonic cleaner like jewelers use, and I might research some of the techniques that archeologists use to clean old rusty stuff. They use a low voltage current in a chemical bath and an anode, which attracts the corrosive elements away from the metal, but it takes a long time to work.
Last night I took an old rusty parts knife, put it in a tub of water with foil. This morning the blade is indeed less corroded than before, so there is something to the method that seems to work.
Tobias Gibson said:I'm going to need to use that aluminum foil and water concept. I've used liquid wrench with good results to unstick and clean up some really old and frozen knives -- basically when they were at the point of throw them away or take a chance and maybe save them. The problem with soaking knives in solvents like liquid wrench or even olive oil or mineral oil is you never know what it will do to old handle material, especially celluloid. Bone or stag might change in color but celluloid might actually dissolve and wood could very well suck up the oil then have it leach out for years.
Most of the knives I've cleaned up were neither scarce or rare. I'm may have increased their over all worth by a buck or two. When you consider the time spent as well as the money spent on cleaning/repair supplies, I'm probably actually losing money on the deal! I guess that's why this is a hobby and not a business!
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Just wanted to report about trying my version of Adam's aluminum foil de-rusting method. Unfortunately, I didn't think to do before and after photos, so all I have is an "after" photo....but, it did work in removing active rust from the blade, (to a certain degree at least).
I took an old Colonial sgl blade trapper parts knife, (cracked handles, missing a bolster), which had active corrosion going on with red rust showing, and just soaked it for three days in a container with plain tap water and a strip of aluminum foil. I noticed that the lighter areas of the blade started to expand and get shinier, after three days there was a film of reddish scum on the surface of the water; apparently dissolved rust!.
Below you can see that though dark and stained, there is no active rust, or at least not as much, and you can feel where the rust was. The blade now feels relatively smooth to the touch, and if I were to use some elbow grease with an abrasive I can imagine the blade shining up and smoothing up even more. Nothing else has been done to the blade, no rubbing, cleaning or buffing, just submerged with foil; maybe this is a good way to start a restoration?
I guess the chemistry works!.
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I think I'm going to try this method.
Use a potato. The oxalic acid in potatoes helps remove the buildup of rust.[2] This method is especially useful for smaller rusted items, such as knives. There are two ways you can use a potato to remove rust:- Simply stab the knife into potato and wait a day or overnight. (Be careful when stabbing the potato.) Remove the knife from the potato and scrub away the rust.
- Slice a potato in half, coat the inside with a generous portion of baking soda, and go to town on the rusted surface with the baking soda-coated potato. Wipe afterwards with an abrasive material, such as steel wool.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Squier on
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Have any of you tried a product called Evaporust? Antique motorcycle guys love it, it supposed to take off the rust but leave other coatings alone like paint.
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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on
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I was actually told about Evaporust this past weekend for use in another project I have going....hmmm may have to try it on knives
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let us know how it works Jan.
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Here is what happens when you put a rusty knife into a container of water with a strip of aluminum foil, this is after three days. I used a broken parts knife for this experiment, and though it doesn't remove any staining, it obviously dissolves rust to a certain degree. I can't imagine this happening by just putting the rusty knife into plain water, there is some kind of chemistry going on here. Soup anyone?
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That is very cool! Thanks for sharing the experiment!
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You're welcome Jan.
Here is a similar knife, in similar condition corrosion-wise, (one of my latest $3 swap finds). It's an Imperial "Scout", which is whole, including the bail, with no nicks on the master blade and intact tools. The blade and tools basically had red, lumpy rust blisters all over them. After it's aluminum "soak" I hit it with a soft brass cone-shaped dremel brush, using the edge of the bristles at low rpm, then switched to a cloth buffing wheel. The soft wheel polished the bolsters nicely, and the brass brush took away whatever residue was left behind on the blades, but it doesn't abrade the metal, (hence my use of brass, it is softer than the steel and won't remove metal). With rubbing compound the cloth wheel also works very well to put a high polish on bolsters if needed/wanted, while the brass wheel creates a nice "brushed" appearance on bolsters if that's what you want.
. What's left is stained yet smooth, corrosion-free metal that can be maintained with a light coating of oil. All the darker spots you see in the photos had red, raised active rust which mostly came off in the "soak", the brass brush then smoothed out that surface.
If I wanted to "restore" the knife completely with shiny-bright blade/tools I would get the appropriate wheels for my bench grinder, and/or micro-abrasive belts for my table sander, and then would carefully remove surface metal down to the "virgin" metal underneath, but I don't see the need to do that with this knife. I like it like it is, old & stained, yet still sporting all it's parts....just like it's new owner.
I'm sure there are other more effective procedures, but this one works for me.
Jan Carter said:That is very cool! Thanks for sharing the experiment!
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I like it like it is, old & stained, yet still sporting all it's parts....just like it's new owner.
LOL, well I guess my question is do you clean up as well as this scout did?
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