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Knife Maintenance Gear

At some point in time as your collection grows, you may find the need to maintain your knives, in order to keep them sharp, functioning and to preserve their potential value. As a beginning Collector / User, there are certain items that you should endeavour to acquire in order to effectively maintain your cutlery stable. Some of the things you might need would be....

Hex / Torx Drivers (various sizes) - to disassemble/assemble handles / scales.
Allen Wrench set - to disassemble/assemble handles / scales.
Lubricating Oil - to lubricate parts & provide a preventative blade coating for teflon coatings / storage.
Metal Polish - to shine up polished blades.
Compressed Air Spray Can - to remove minoot particles from crevices / mechanisms.
Sharpening Stone - to establish / re-profile a blade edge.
Honing Stone - to maintain a blade edge.
Leather Strop - to perfect a blade edge.
Ceramic Crock Sticks - to maintain / perfect a blade edge.
Guide-Rod Sharpening System - to establish/re-profile/maintain/perfect a blade edge.
Needle-Nose Vise Grip (6") - to temporarily hold onto small items, or to dislodge stubborn screws.
Multi-Tool -to assist in the disassemble/assemble or general upkeep of the knife.
Storage Cases/Containers - To provide for temporary or long-term storage of knives.
Digital Camera / Video Recorder - to pictorially record your purchases / collection.
Notebook - to provide for a written notation of the specifics of your knives and/or purchase information.
Spreadsheet / Database Application - to provide for a written and pictorial accounting of your knives.

You may not need all of those things, but you should try to get most of them as they will help to enhance your cutlery experience.

Tags: Collector, Gear, Knives, Maintenance, User

1 member likes this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Relly Carpio on September 2, 2010 at 23:42

wow! yeah that's a fantastic list.

I think you need to add WD-40 or a similar product to help remove dirty oil from the pivots of folders or any moving parts and to help loosen stuck screws.

another item would be lok-tite or a similar product to secure loose screws or to stick a pivot pin in a preferred position.

a plastic working pan (like an old piece of tupperware cover) to work in while doing repairs or disassembling so as not to lose any screws that might roll off the table.

an old toothbrush and some small stiff oil painting bristles/brushes to help in cleaning also helps

and non-abrasive rags are also a must to help clean up the knife and the working surfaces.

Permalink Reply by kage on September 3, 2010 at 0:29

One has to be careful with WD-40 use. Only 10% of its ingredients are non-hazardous, the rest can be considered hazardous to varying degrees. The following is from the WD-40 Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS):

DANGER! Flammable aerosol. Contents under pressure. Harmful or fatal if swallowed. If swallowed, may be aspirated and cause lung damage. May cause eye irritation. Avoid eye contact. Use with adequate ventilation. Keep away from heat, sparks and all other sources of ignition.
Symptoms of Overexposure:
Inhalation: High concentrations may cause nasal and respiratory irritation and central nervous system effects such as headache, dizziness and nausea. Intentional abuse may be harmful or fatal.
Skin Contact: Prolonged and/or repeated contact may produce mild irritation and defatting with possible dermatitis.
Eye Contact: Contact may be irritating to eyes. May cause redness and tearing.
Ingestion: This product has low oral toxicity. Swallowing may cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. This product is an aspiration hazard. If swallowed, can enter the lungs and may cause chemical pneumonitis, severe lung damage and death.

The full MSDS can be found @ http://www.wd40.com/files/pdf/msds-wd494716385.pdf

I find it better to stick with Mineral Oil, and/or a light lubricant for oiling mechanisms, and combined with compressed air to clean out dirty oil from pivot points in folders.

Permalink Reply by Jason Hak on September 3, 2010 at 10:53

These are great tips, thanks you. Do you know of a place where a kit is sold with the tools for assembly/disassembly? This is a great discussion topic and one that I have been looking for!

Permalink Reply by kage on September 3, 2010 at 11:19

For Torx screws, both Kershaw and CRKT make handy compact driver sets that can be carried with you...
Kershaw's T-Tool @ http://www.thekershawstore.com/Kershaw_T_Tool_p/ktorxtool.htm
CRKT's Get-A-Way ( # 9095) @ http://www.crkt.com/cgi-bin/crkt.pl?pgm=co_disp&func=displ&...

I've taken the Torx bits from my T-tool and put them into my Kershaw Select Fire, so that not only do I have a decent-sized folder but also can maintain the other blades that I EDC...

Additionally, Hex drivers and Allen wrenches/keys can be gotten at most hardware stores

Permalink Reply by Relly Carpio on September 3, 2010 at 11:53

I agree too! Problem is, all i got over here is WD-40. I take precautions when using it. A LOT of precautions. I actually would have to special order the stuff you guys said. If I had that whole mineral oil and canned air, I'd use that too. Sigh.

Right now all I got are motor-oil, wd-40, a well ventilated room, and a lot of rags, and my own kissable lips for the compressed air. Sucks to be me.

Permalink Reply by Relly Carpio on September 3, 2010 at 12:00

Any decent hardware store ought to have them. Make sure to get a good jewelers set (for the screwdriver and philips head type) a decent torx set, and you can get the cheapest allen wrenches in the store. By the way there are two types of allen wrenches, one in millimeter and one in inches. You can get either of the two, but if you can, get both, as they are gonna be the cheapest ones. The reason for the quality is because its easiest to strip philips screws followed by torx. But it is nearly impossible to strip an allen wrench. A good philips will grip the screw very securely preventing accidental stripping, and so on. I'm no expert. But I have messed up a couple of knife screws this way.

Permalink Reply by Jason Hak on September 5, 2010 at 1:44

Awesome, that looks great . Thanks for the tips!

Permalink Reply by Jason Hak on September 5, 2010 at 1:44

Great advice, thanks for the info!!

Permalink Reply by Jason Hak on September 5, 2010 at 1:47

I know exactlyt what you are saying here this is a mistake I made a while back buying something on clearance that had no tags and I bought them because they were odd ball sized that turned out to probably be Reed and Prince. Thanks for the info.

Permalink Reply by KENT GABLE on September 23, 2011 at 11:19

Don't forget a tube of Flitz metal polish (or equal) if you like keeping brass & steel clean & shining. Some folks do not. They prefer the natural patina that developes on brass bolsters or carbon steel blades but I like my toys looking good and I like my knives sharp. Here again many knife collectors want only knives that have been "never carried, never used, never sharpened".

I have some older Case XX knives that are only moderately sharp because they could be considered a collector's item but I have no intentions at present of selling them anyway but who knows? My everyday, working knife is quite sharp but not to the point where I'll cut myself if I just touch the edge. As Dirty Harry said "a smart man know's his limits".

Also, I agree that mineral oil is the best all around lubricant and safe as well, being that it is not petroleum based. That way, if you don't clean off all the mineral oil before opening a can of beans (being that you've spent your last dime on the knife) and using your knife to eat 'em with, your not going to poison yourself. Works fine as a lubricant for sharpening on an oil stone and it's cheap. You don't need to buy a little plastic bottle of specially formulated honing oil.

Permalink Reply by Mel Jones on January 2, 2012 at 14:44