Cleaning a pen knife

breadmonkey

I've had my pen knife for about 8 years at this stage and I want to clean it out completely and have it looking and functioning good as new. All the dust and dirt seems to be in every little nook and cranny. What's the best way to go about this?

This is the one I have:

Also, while I'm at it, I lost the toothpick a while ago, is there any way to get a replacement? I thought about making a new one but I dunno....

Evil Phil

I suppose you could try boiling it in Mr Muscle or leaving it to soak in drain cleaner. TBH I don't really know.

Alun

I usually give mine a good squirt with WD40 every now and then and let it soak in. Then get in there with cotton buds, tooth picks, cocktail sticks ... whatever it takes to get down into all the nooks and crannies, and dry it off well with kitchen paper. The WD-40 will lubricate it a bit too, although it'll stink for a good while afterwards.

As for the toothpick, you can get a staggering range of spare parts from most shops that sell these things, including that annoying little spring in the scissors that I seem to have to replace every now and then because it snaps off I'm sure I've seen spares in Great Outdoors and the Lowe Alpine shop.

Alun

Just to bump this thread ...

As luck (?) would have it the spring in the scissors of my knife broke yesterday, so I had to track down a replacement. There's a shop called Petersons on College Green, next door to Lush, that sell the knives and do spares. I got my spring free of charge

Clare gunner

Most of what Alun said I hold with.Bar using the WD40 as a cleaner.
First stop ,off with you to the local air line at the garage,or if you have access to compressed air in private so much the better.Open the knife fully inc all attachments.Blast with the air line in all nooks and crannies,and try and get as much pocket lint,etc out of it if you carry it every day.
Next time you are in your dentist,ask for a used dentist pick or ask where they get them from.The dentist pick is the BEST tool for getting crud out of awkward spaces[like tooth cavities:) ].Us shooters use them all the time for gun cleaning.
Clean and pick out the lock notch[if it is a lockback kinfe] this is where the mech locks the blade.Then the mech itself,the place where the blade sits in,the lanyard hole.Then wipe all metal parts down with surgical spirts,especially try and get it into where the blades hinge open and closed work it so that it starts to flush out the crud.Allow to dry thourghly[appx 5/10 mins]Dont smoke while you are doing this for obvious reasons.
Add a DROP or a very light &breif squirt of WD40 to the mechanism.Best oil I find is if you can get it Ballistol oil.It is German and used for lubing surgical instruments.It can be got here but you have to shop around.Wpie the blades with a WD40td rag and you are done.

calcifer

I've got a Swiss pen knife, and I usually do this:

- I try to keep it as clean as possible all the time (remove dirt from cutting after I'm done).
- From time to time I take a q-tip and clean it more thoroughly (mainly the fuzz from carrying around in the pocket).
- I also have cleaned it in the dish-washer a couple of times. If it's a good knife, it should take it.
- I lubricate it with White Lightning Wax Lubricant, which is specifically for tools like pen knifes. Try a Google image search to see what it looks like. You should be able to get it at bike stores (Cycleways?). Wax is better than oil, since it doesn't attract dirt (as oil does) - although it stinks just as bad if not worse than the WD40 oil.

I never had to take my knife apart, so I can't say anything on this. If you want to be sure that it will work alright, maybe it would be a good idea to have it done by an expert. Otherwise you might end up having to buy a new knife...