Clean a Knife

by Arbitror

45K8936

Intro: Clean a Knife

In this instructable, I will show my way of easily cleaning a hunting knife, swiss army knife, whittling knife, etc... Remember to give me a +1!

STEP 1: Long Lasting Blade

First thing, after using a knife and it gets dirty, don't close it (if its a closing knife). The reason is because stuff like dirt, tree sap, what ever is on the blade might get stuck in the base of the knife, dulling the blade every time it is closed. This will assure your knife a long happy life. The picture is of my knife after doing my other instructable, Whittle a Staff / Walking Stick.

STEP 2: Hot Water

Turn a tap on hot and wait for it to heat up. Once it is as hot as it gets, place the blade under the water for 30 seconds, rotating it.

STEP 3: Electric Tooth Brush

Take an old electric tooth brush, and brush all along the blade, with some pressure. Do the same thing with both sides.

STEP 4: Rinse

Rinse the blade the same way you did in step 2, to make sure it's immaculately clean.

STEP 5: Dry

Dry the blade with a towel making sure that the sharp edge is facing away from the towel, not towards. Any make SURE that the blade is fully dried.

STEP 6: Done.

Your blade should now be as shiny as new! Remember to give this instructable a +1!

38 Comments

paracordry 10 years ago

Dear dirt action Julian so who would clean a knife well any one with common sense and who's mommy and daddy doesn't do everything for them ( no offence)

thatsjet 11 years ago

This is kind of lame. An -ible on how to cook an egg would make more sense than this.

owlart101 12 years ago

I find the finger nail polish remover and a Q-tip work very well for cleaning the blade.

scottrules 12 years ago

Running a knife under water and using a toothbrush to scrub it? I'm seriously not trying to be negative, but I expect this kind of common sense information from ask.com, not Instructables.

Arbitror 12 years ago

I made this 'ible using my method of cleaning my whittling blade, for this.

_noth_ 15 years ago

Nice work dude. You should take some time and apply a quantity of WD-40 or similar oil on the moving parts of the knife (pivots etc.) to make sure no moisture settles in there.

adamvan2000 14 years ago

And of course, seeing as WD-40 doesn't lubricate, it only displaces water(hence the WaterDisplacement), you'd need to apply a light machine type oil.

Polishing Peanuts 12 years ago

Actually, water displacement is only ONE of WD 40's properties.........Read this from their site.........

LUBRICATES: WD-40's lubricating ingredients are widely dispersed and tenaciously held to all moving parts.

Sure, it is only a light lube and no where near as good as machine oil but still, WD40 will do in the field.

fartnocker 14 years ago

 i did this and it worked amazing on tree sap and that green stufff you get on your blade from wittling a fresh cut tree.
 before this i opened up all the tolls on my swiss and put it in the dish washer.

Thanks!

Patented 14 years ago

hey thanks, im sure going to try this method because I got two old knife I found in a park ! yay !

Arbitror 14 years ago

Thanks for the first part! But do you think that it's ugly because of the flat blade? Believe it or not, a flat blade is far better than a rounded one! It also has a wicked little curved blade on the other side...

Arbitror 14 years ago

BUCK SEKIDEN w/ 2 locking blades. It's a good little knife...

aaaltomare 14 years ago

I have this knife and it is fantastic.  I bought it new at an army/navy surplus store.  My knife has a drop point blade on one side and the other side is a 3/4 serated blade.  The thing has a wicked locking mechanism on it.  I've used this knife for a variety of projects - wood carving, bushcraft, utility projects, work, etc and it has never failed me. 

Nice tutorial on cleaning!  You can use a little dish detergent to help get those particularly nasty stains and grit off.  Also - after washing any knife you should use a little 3-in-1 for lube.

Arbitror 14 years ago

Err.. I just Google imaged "Buck Sekiden", and the first image (also the only image of a Buck Sekiden knife) is the one below that I posted!

Arbitror 14 years ago

That is, far better for whittling...
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