SAK cleaning & grumbling

[HBlaine]

Just got through cleaning up a decent Vic Champion that had obviously been through a rough past life.  It was grungy.  It's at least back to the functional state, though it needs a good bit more work. 

Just moved on to cleaning a couple Vic Huntsmans (Huntsmen?).    One's an older model with the fluted corkscrew and no hook, while the second one is a later model.  The older model is right up there with the Champion in the grunginess department.  The new model at first just looked a little gunked, but the closer you look...  The knife had obviously been heavily used.  The saw's teeth are packed with wood, and the sawblade has some sort of white, very sticky gunk plastered on it.  And, more annoying, the spring on the scissors is completely broken off.

Granted, like everybody else, I've seen knives in far worse shape, but...

(grumble, grumble...)

You know, I can be rather rough on tools.  I can be careless, and sometimes lazy about maintenance.  But, well...c'mon, folks....

[Gareth]

I know what you mean.  I take a certain pleasure in bringing a SAK back to working order, but I really don't understand how some of them end up so gunked up.

[jzmtl]

Better pop off the scale and clean under it as well, I've read some, um interesting stories regard that.

[WhichDawg]

for me, because I'm a nut, I enjoy cleaning them after usage.

[HBlaine]

I do fall into the same sort of mentality as the mentioned in the article on Sosakonline about "Used SAKs".  I do kinda wonder where they came, what they were used for, blah blah blah.  But there are times I'd sort of like to time-jump backwards and give someone a swift kick...   

For example...  If you're going to apparently saw though laminated boards with a large layer of glue...  CLEAN THE @$%*! SAW AFTERWARDS!  Etc., etc.

Now, I'm going stop grumbling, and actually fix the SAKs...   

[ICanFixThat]

I opened packages today.... it was like Christmas... but now I have a few SAK waiting for a good scrubbing.

[Black Rose]

Better pop off the scale and clean under it as well, I've read some, um interesting stories regard that.

Yeah, that's one thing I wonder about with the various TSA forfeitures I get off of eBay.

I clean the toothpick and tweezer channels using a pipe cleaner with 99% isopropyl alcohol, and then repeat using another pipe cleaner with 70% isopropyl alcohol to disinfect them.

I buy new toothpicks for them even if i don't intend to carry them.

[Benner]

I love getting stuff like that. 

[Neil]

I love getting stuff like that. 

Good job I always send you ones full of budgie poo 

Be careful with the alcohol BlackRose, it damages the plastic scales 

[Black Rose]

Be careful with the alcohol BlackRose, it damages the plastic scales 

Yeah, the little bit that gets on them leaves a white residue on them that I wipe off.

I plan on replacing the scales at some point.

[HBlaine]

I managed to salvage a spring for the scissors off one of the junkers I'd picked up along the way.  Now, to get 'round to removing the spring residue from the damaged Huntsman...  Yeesh.

I actually washed these in water with a tiny drop of dishwashing soap in it.  Flushed them, let them dry, then used WD-40 on them.  (I know some people go  over that, but it works for me, and I clean it up afterwards.)  I've used Simichrome to take REALLY bad stuff off of blades, etc.  (Mainly because I have a supply here, as it's widely used to clean the metal parts of fountain pens.)  The last thing I generally do is put a tiny drop of 3-in-1 on the joints.  Again, it works for me.  If I ever do any food prep (which, for me, is generally limited to peeling/cutting up fruit), I wash the blades.

So far, I've had no trouble.  But, then, I don't generally put my knives through massive amounts of sturm und drang, so...   

 

[HBlaine]

And a bit more grumbling...

I finally decided to fix up a Climber in the junk bin.  All it needs is a new set of scales, and a new spring in the scissors.  (I cannibalized the spring for the Huntsman...)  While digging through the bin to see if there was anything else I could maybe salvage, I hit a Wenger Backpacker that was only lacking the Wenger emblem, and a Wenger Tradesman with some chips out of the end of its scales.

I had a really bunged up low-end Wenger advertising knife and. well the choice between it and the Backpacker was easy.  I prysed the emblem out of the ad knife, and set it aside.  Then started to clean up the Backpacker.

And ran into a mess that made the Huntsman above look clean.  I'm not sure what the mass was gluing the the can opener and the saw together was, nor what the white substance is that's practically glued the screwdriver/caplifter into the handle...  The stuff on the can opener & saw sorta looked...well...organic...  I really don't want to know...  I dug off the worst of it, and now have the knife in some cleaner for a bit...

Good God...................

Who were these owners??  I really want to find them, and   

[max6166]

My friend, you have not yet even come close to the worst substances that can be found in used SAKs. At least you are only dealing with inorganic matter... 

[HBlaine]

My friend, you have not yet even come close to the worst substances that can be found in used SAKs. At least you are only dealing with inorganic matter... 

Oh, I have my suspicions about the composition of whatever the Hades was in that Backpacker.   It looked like certain organic materials that shouldn'd be anywhere near a knife...   

It actually got worse when I opened up the Tradesman...  I swear to God it looked like someone puked in that knife!     And it was packed down in the chassis of the knife.  I almost wanted a pressure washer to take this stuff out...

Maybe it's just because I'm coming from a background of repairing fountain pens, where the worst you get is generally a mass of 60 year old solidified ink (think something akin to blue-black concrete), or a melted filling bladder.  Occasionally you'll get a pen where some nasty little lifeform took root in the ink and made the pen it's home.  (This is colloquially referred to as "SITB", or "Slime in The Bottle".  You can generally smell it the minute you open a bad bottle of ink, or uncap a contaminated pen.)

I don't like cleaning a puke analog out of a knife...   

[max6166]

Ok, I take it back. Sounds like you are starting to get a glimpse of some SAK horror sludge. 

Personally, I have developed strong misgivings about using any used SAK that hasn't been thoroughly disassembled before cleaning.

Removing scales is usually no longer enough for me if I plan on regularly using the SAK. I once thought I had cleaned a SAK thoroughly and EDCed it for a while. I later disassembled it and found some very nasty stuff hiding in the pivots and spacers. 

And here's some general advice to everyone: Don't even trust a new toothpick unless you have removed the scales and cleaned inside first.

[HBlaine]

Ok, I take it back. Sounds like you are starting to get a glimpse of some SAK horror sludge. 

 

[HBlaine]

'Course, I think I should correct myself.  I kept saying Tradesman, but this is a Handyman.  No pliers...     My bad...

 

[Neil]

'Course, I think I should correct myself.  I kept saying Tradesman, but this is a Handyman.  No pliers...     My bad...

 

How much hair have you found so far?  hairy knives are fun 

[max6166]

How much hair have you found so far?  hairy knives are fun 

We were all wondering when you would finally get around to mentioning that! 

[Neil]

Best I not bring up dead bugs, blood and hair then (yes all in the same knife).

[Benner]

I can cope with hair, bugs and budgie poo, but blood is just too much.

[Neil]

I've had a couple that have obviously been used for field dressing and then never cleaned.

[Benner]

Eeew!

[Neil]

Needless to say, I've become quite the master at SAK sterilisation and for that matter knowing when to give in and lob in the bin

[HBlaine]

Best I not bring up dead bugs, blood and hair then (yes all in the same knife).

I really don't need to hear this...

Nope, nope, not listening....

 

[ducktapehero]

I don't understand some of you. You buy USED SAK's then complain how the former owner treated it. If you want a nice knife buy a new one, or get a "gently used" one from Felinevet. Now of course if you bought it and it was advertised as "like new" condition and it isn't then I understand being mad. Granted we love these tools but they are that, tools. And sometimes situations pop up that you have to use your SAK in a way that it wasn't designed to do.

Myself, I generally try to take care of my knives but there have been instances where I've abused and broken SAK's. When I do that I don't send it back in for a warranty since I did abuse it.


Some of you are too sensitive.   

[Gareth]

Yeah, I've done some pretty mucky stuff with knives over the years, but somehow I always found the time to clean them afterwards.

[HBlaine]

Hey, I just like to b****!   

Still, it amazes me that people don't take care of things.  Granted, as I've said a 1000 times before, I can be a bit lackadaisical with tools and machinery, but I try not to be.  I try to take care of stuff.  I had it drummed into my head as a kid (by parents who came out of the Great Depression) that you take care of things.  By God, you paid good money for that, so take care of it!  Hell, I didn't pay very much for any of these SAKs, but I'm going to take care of all of them.  Same with my MTs, which I do abuse the hell out of at times.  I still clean them afterwards.

To get all serious for a moment, I just have very little patience for stupidity, and as far as I'm concerned anyone who treats a tool the way the previous owners of these SAKs did are...well, stupid.  Sorry.  But that's the way it is.

OK, seriousness over.  (If I keep this up, I'll start telling stories about my gov't servitude a few years back.  Talk about a primer on stupidity!!   )

[Black Rose]

Better pop off the scale and clean under it as well, I've read some, um interesting stories regard that.

I recently won an auction for a really old Vic Ambassador (has the screw in the scissors).

It had a cracked scale on it so I bought a new set of scales from BenX and they arrived the other day.

I popped the scales off the SAK and holy crap, what a disgusting mess underneath.

Now I am wondering how to clean the other used SAKs I have bought without having to remove the old scales and buy new ones.

Is soaking the SAKs in hot water with some dish soap sufficient?

EDIT: I decided to take the scales off of a couple of the used ones I have.  They weren't too bad underneath actually.
They are currently soaking in soapy hot water anyway.

BTW, the blade on the Gerber Clutch works very well for removing the scales from (58mm) SAKs without damaging them.

[stressmaster5000]

TTIUWOP

I have several grungy ones needing cleaning and I will post some of the worst offenders. Later.........