Knife Care

Though knives may dif­fer greatly, they share the same ba­sic design prin­ciple. Knives con­sist of three main parts: the blade, the handle, and the guard. There are sev­er­al dif­fer­ent ma­ter­i­als that can be used in mak­ing each part of the knife. Each of these ma­ter­i­al re­quires spe­cial care in or­der to pre­serve the ori­gin­al con­di­tion of the knife.

Steel

Stain­less steel re­quires lim­ited care. Al­though it is a re­si­li­ent ma­ter­i­al, please re­mem­ber that small hair­line scratches are un­avoid­able. Scratches can be re­moved by pol­ish­ing, but this pro­cess re­quires a deep pol­ish­ing that may dam­age the en­grav­ing or carving. If the blade is be­ing used, please ac­cept some fine scratches as nat­ur­al wear. Pro­tect­ing the sheath from ab­ras­ive particles helps pre­vent scratches.

Low al­loy steel and ul­trahigh-car­bon steel like Wootz and bu­lat are par­tic­u­larly sus­cept­ible to rust. Rust can form from the mois­ture in the air, dew, or acid­ic residues from fin­ger­prints. Many an­cient Wootz blades re­main in ex­cel­lent con­di­tion be­cause of routine prop­er care. It is es­sen­tial to take spe­cial care of the low al­loy Wootz steel blades. It is wise to keep the blades in a dry place and pro­tect them by ap­ply­ing a fine coat of wax or an oil based product. Renais­sance Wax is a well known, in­ex­pens­ive, and easy to use product. Simply read and fol­low the dir­ec­tions on the can to pro­tect the steel.

Do not for­get to wipe blood from the steel if the blade is used for hunt­ing or din­ing. Blood is a very strong ox­id­izer and can cause rust spots even on some stain­less steels. Fatty or or­gan­ic residues re­main­ing on the blade may at­tract dirt and host bac­teria. Re­mem­ber – a clean blade is a beau­ti­ful blade.

The carved and en­graved sur­faces of the bol­ster, butt cap, and the handle may trap dust and oth­er tiny particles. Use a small soft brush to clean these sur­faces.

Wood

The wood used in the weaponry is or­gan­ic, nat­ur­al ma­ter­i­al. Wood ages and re­quires spe­cial care. Over time, the nat­ur­al oils and waxes ori­gin­ally used by the artist may de­grade and lose their pro­tect­ive prop­er­ties. To pre­serve the qual­ity of the wood, wax every six months to one year. If the item is be­ing used, more fre­quent care may be needed. Carnauba wax is a com­monly used com­pound to pol­ish the wooden parts. Carnauba wax comes in dif­fer­ent forms and pack­ages. Try not to use “dry­ing oils” like Tung Oil or products con­tain­ing these oils. After sev­er­al lay­ers of ap­plic­a­tion, the dry­ing oil will build up an un­at­tract­ive lay­er and then it is dif­fi­cult to re­store the piece to its ori­gin­al luster.

If the items are stored un­der glass or on shelves, re­move the dust with soft clothes or a soft brush. An an­ti­stat­ic spray is not re­com­men­ded be­cause it can dis­solve or dam­age the wax or var­nish.

Sterling Silver

Please do not use ab­ras­ive pastes or pol­ishes on the ster­ling sil­ver com­pon­ents. Sil­ver is a re­l­at­ively soft met­al and fre­quent pol­ish­ing can dam­age the art­work even if a very gentle ab­ras­ive is used. Some cleansers are non-ab­ras­ive. Al­ways check the clean­er to de­term­ine wheth­er it will re­move the nat­ur­al pat­ina from the item. Pat­ina is of­ten a de­sir­able as­pect of the art­work. Re­mov­ing the pat­ina will leave the piece flat and un­at­tract­ive. There is a range of ap­pro­pri­ate sil­ver clean­ing products avail­able on the mar­ket. If you are un­sure of how to clean the piece, it is a good idea to ask a pro­fes­sion­al for help.

Leather

Some items have leath­er hol­sters, sheaths or oth­er leath­er parts. For the ri­gid leath­er com­pon­ents, you may use reg­u­lar beeswax or par­affin. For the soft leath­er com­pon­ents, use leath­er balms or crèmes. Pol­ish the leath­er with carnauba wax based products. Nev­er pol­ish suede leath­er. Suede has to be cleaned with spe­cial brushes and cleansers. Shoe pol­ishes, es­pe­cially colored ones, are not re­com­men­ded. If you do not know how to clean the leath­er prop­erly, ask a pro­fes­sion­al.