question to swiss army knifes fans

[Frijid]

well, i got a stroke of luck today. i FOUND a brand new swiss army knife laying beside the road. i pulled over to fix the side rail on the side of my truck and lo and behold beside the road i found a brand new swiss army knife still in the package inside a kmart bag. the receipt was still in it, so it must have blew outta someone's vehicle or they pulled over at this spot and got out and must have knocked it out. this is the first swiss army knife i've ever owned. it says on the package it's made by wegner. on the back of the package, it says to lightly oil all the pivot hinges. well, i did this with some 3-n-1 oil.

my question is, how often should this be done? every month, every 3 months, every year,what? cause the package didn't say, it just said to do it. also how about the blade inside and all the tools? should i oil them? i've never messed with stainless steel blades, which i take this is, so i don't know if i'm supposed to oil them as well. but i'm not sure about stainless steel, when i oil the "hinges" should i oil all the tools to? and how often. as a note, i WILL be carrying this knife everyday from now on.


also, clumsy me, when i tried to oil the "hinges" thanks to gravity, some oil ran onto the can opener, ( it even ran into the toothpick area), but that's ok i wouldn't use the toothpick anyways but i still wiped it off.

i wiped and wiped and the oil smell and feel is still on the can opener. how long must i wait until it would be "safe" to use to open a can of food with. cause i'm sure with oil getting into what ever you are opening up, wouldn't be healthy and i can't seem to just wipe it off, how long should one have to wait.

 

[Arm and Leg]

well, i got a stroke of luck today. i FOUND a brand new swiss army knife laying beside the road. i pulled over to fix the side rail on the side of my truck and lo and behold beside the road i found a brand new swiss army knife still in the package inside a kmart bag. the receipt was still in it, so it must have blew outta someone's vehicle or they pulled over at this spot and got out and must have knocked it out. this is the first swiss army knife i've ever owned. it says on the package it's made by wegner. on the back of the package, it says to lightly oil all the pivot hinges. well, i did this with some 3-n-1 oil.

my question is, how often should this be done? every month, every 3 months, every year,what? cause the package didn't say, it just said to do it. also how about the blade inside and all the tools? should i oil them? i've never messed with stainless steel blades, which i take this is, so i don't know if i'm supposed to oil them as well. but i'm not sure about stainless steel, when i oil the "hinges" should i oil all the tools to? and how often. as a note, i WILL be carrying this knife everyday from now on.


also, clumsy me, when i tried to oil the "hinges" thanks to gravity, some oil ran onto the can opener, ( it even ran into the toothpick area), but that's ok i wouldn't use the toothpick anyways but i still wiped it off.

I wiped and wiped and the oil smell and feel is still on the can opener. how long must i wait until it would be "safe" to use to open a can of food with. cause i'm sure with oil getting into what ever you are opening up, wouldn't be healthy and i can't seem to just wipe it off, how long should one have to wait.

One tiny piece of oil won't kill you.
Be sure to oil it every 2-3 months but not too much because I had mine leaking oil for a week...

 

[PapaLumen]

and they usually come pre-oiled..

 

[Frijid]

and they usually come pre-oiled..

true, but the "oil" on it was rancid looking. plus according to the recipt, it had been laying their since last december, so i figured a little bit wouldn't hurt

 

[Arm and Leg]

true, but the "oil" on it was rancid looking. plus according to the recipt, it had been laying their since last december, so i figured a little bit wouldn't hurt

WOW, so, you're telling me there wasn't any wind for 4 months to take that .9 ounce knife soaring through the skies?!?

 

[Frijid]

WOW, so, you're telling me there wasn't any wind for 4 months to take that .9 ounce knife soaring through the skies?!?[/QUOTE

good point, it may have been dropped elsewhere and blew to this spot. when i found it, the handle of the bag was snagged on a log

 

[Frijid]

Well i just answered my own question about to oil just the hinges or the whole blade. i only oiled the hinges, and after 1 night of being closed, oil got all over the blade and other tools, so i guess when i just oil the hinges, the whole blade and tools get oiled to.

 

[fyrstormer]

3-in-1 doesn't have a very accurate applicator, so it's no surprise you applied too much oil. Try Nano-Oil instead; it has a needle applicator.

Anyway, I very rarely oil my folding knives. Generally speaking, unless they get sand in the pivots, the oil that was already applied will continue to do its job no matter how dirty it gets. The pivots on a Swiss Army knife are not put under a lot of stress, not even by people who might want to claim "oh yeah, well I use mine 20 times a day!" The oil is just there to keep the bits from rusting together.

If you really want to do it properly, open all the folding bits and scrub the entire knife package with soapy water and a toothbrush. Then let it dry for 24 hours, then oil VERY SPARINGLY in the pivot areas.

 

[P_A_S_1]

true, but the "oil" on it was rancid looking. plus according to the recipt, it had been laying their since last december, so i figured a little bit wouldn't hurt

Just curious, did the receipt show purchase with a credit card? If so going back to the store you may have been able to return the knife to the original purchaser which would have been a very nice act. Solely your choice of course.

 

[Arm and Leg]

Just curious, did the receipt show purchase with a credit card? If so going back to the store you may have been able to return the knife to the original purchaser which would have been a very nice act. Solely your choice of course.

Although that would be nice to do, $10 wouldn't do much harm, and, most likely the store wouldn't do anything about it and they'd just put it back on the shelf.

 

[Turtles]

If it gets dirty (you'll get pocket lint and all kinds of stuff down in there), scrub it down with hot water and soap, using a toothbrush like fyrstormer noted. Dry it with a hair dryer or let it air dry for 24 hours (turning it over and shaking it a couple of times over that span). There's no need to oil the stainless steel blades of the knife, since stainless isn't going to rust.

The joints should be oiled every few months, or once a year, or whenever they need it. Do not use WD 40 (will leave a gumy mess) or Johnson's Baby Oil (parafins will build up, leaving a gummy mess), but the main ingredient of Johnson's baby oil, pure mineral oil, is great since it's food-safe. Victorinox (parent company of Wenger) has a small bottle of Multi Tool Oil with a needle drop applicator that's excellent, and also food safe. Ballistol is also excellent. It takes an incredibly small amount of oil to lubricate the pivot points, but if you over-oil it it's not a problem, won't hurt anything.

I use mineral oil or Vic oil. When I use mineral oil I apply it by dipping a toothpick into the oil and transferring the oil to the joints. One drop on each tool pivot is sufficient.

I collect SAKs the way some people collect torches.

 

[Slazmo]

Here in Aus we have a company Inox that sells MX3 or MX5 oil that comes in a 15ml pinpoint dropper - akin to a syringe needle but not sharp. After owning a few Vic's for a number of years - a little oil goes a long way and looking after them is paramount! These knives are stainless steel and aluminium with a brass pin. I was given one that suffered "SEVERE" electrolysis from this reaction from dissimilar metals. Use a good quality lubricant with a anti corrosive property - Inox is available in the States, saw something on their US based website.

Another thing DO NOT leave them in a hot car or in direct sunlight! The side plates will buckle and pop off - I have had one that I adored for many years but was left in the sun and the side plate pooped off and could not be fixed.

 

[Turtles]

You can order brand new, factory fresh replacement scales (sides) off eBay (Swissbianco or Central Valley Wholesale, but with CVW make sure you request factory new and not new takeoffs which require glue, unless you want to glue them), or simply send the knife back to Victorinox and they'll replace the scales for you. Victorinox will also clean and repair anything else that's needed with the knife under the lifetime warranty.

 

[fangle]

Heh. I've had my Victorinox Camper knife for over 30 years and I don't remember ever oiling it. I do clean out the pocket lint from time to time. That knife isn't in daily use now but it served through Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and EDC long after that - not a display only shelf knife!

 

[TEEJ]

Hey, I lost my bag with a Wenger swiss army knife in it last December....

Thanks for finding it!

 

[Russel]

[...]If you really want to do it properly, open all the folding bits and scrub the entire knife package with soapy water and a toothbrush. Then let it dry for 24 hours, then oil VERY SPARINGLY in the pivot areas.

My preferred method of oiling a knife hinge is to dip the tip of a small flat blade screwdriver about a 1/16" (1.5mm) into some 10w oil then touch the screwdriver blade to the blade pivot you want to oil. The oil will wick into the hinge. That way you can control the quantity of oil going into the pivot.