OTF Knife Maintenance: The Six-Step Process

Maintaining your OTF knife is crucial if you are owning one. To make it highly practical and functional, you need to clean it on a regular basis. However, taking care of it is exceptionally easy. Since OTF knives come in various shapes and sizes, while discussing maintenance of your knife, we assume that you own one of the great knives. Let’s walk through some of the important steps to help you easily clean and maintain your knife. 1 Release Your Knife We suggest you to discharge your knife before opening up your OTF. To release your knife, all you need to do is fire it at close range but make sure you are not near to any human or valuable thing. You may want to use a piece of paper to get the job perfectly done. As soon as it is fired at close range, the blade will release from its mechanism and glide independently in and out of the handle. If you discharge your OTF in the right way, the trigger will not discharge or withdraw blade. 2 Get Your Tools Rights To maintain your OTF knife, you will be requiring a few essential items. The very first thing you need is a 2 mm metric or 5/64th standard bit. Afterward, grab a light lubricant and a rag. 3 Open Your OTF Use an appropriate bit to detach the screws that can hold the handle. 4 Eliminate Inside Components Once you detach the screws, you will disassemble the knife and isolate the individual components. Remember the major internal components including spring, slide, and blade. Make sure you separate these individual components very carefully so they can be easily cleaned. 5 Clean Every Part To clean your knife, you may want to try a few light lubricants. Many people prefer using the WD-40 rust proof spray which is quite effective in cleaning knives. Though if you have any other light lubricant, you may use it. However, make sure you are not using a thick lubricant that will primarily limit the blade path and doesn’t fire the knife properly. In such cases, it’s important to clean all components again or you may either use no lubricant or a very light lubricant that doesn’t restrict the blade path. If the technique still doesn’t work, you may contact a knife manufacturing company to help you with knife cleaning process. 6 Reassemble Your Knife Once you have cleaned all parts, it’s the right time to reassemble every individual component. From hunting and camping to slicing fruits, you are free to use your OTF. Just do it safely!