Welcome Home...THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY

iKnife Collector

The online community of knife collectors, A Knife Family Forged in Steel

Metal Cancer

Any one have an idea of what I could use on a few knifes that have become rusty over the years but might be worth a bit of money/collector/sentimental value. So I don't want to do anything to harm the knife; steel wool, WD-40 etc.

1 member likes this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on August 24, 2011 at 18:07

Kit,

Extremely fine bronze wool will work, it wont leave shavings that could rust. Since you do this step by hand you can be careful of the pressure, just lightly. Then use some remington oil to wipe with. If you have a buffer with a very fine /soft pad you could take some of it off but you would have to use a soft compound like the green or the pink.

I am sure there are many ways Kit, this is what we have done in the past

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kit Adams on August 24, 2011 at 19:50

@Dan - Yeah I know not WD-40 since i said i dont want to use something like that or steel wool.

As far as the searching for it, i have done that as well and there are things ranging from break cleaner to a foaming degreaser that you can pick up at most CAT dealers.

@Jan - Im just worried about using anything abrasive since some of the knifes i will be using this on are my grandfathers WWII and Vietnam knifes as well as a few of my great grandfathers.

I have heard several differing oppinions on you should use this... no you shouldnt, this is better than that... I figured I would ask here and see if there was any consensus on what could be used to maintain the value while allowing the knife to look better or even fold again.

Something I have actually used in the past is chainsaw lubricant/oil. This works pretty good, it just takes about 5 soakings, and for something that cant be fully submerged that is a little difficult to do. Plus it takes quite a few bottles of it since they are usually smaller in size.