cleaning a leatherman

**jrock24** · 06-17-2008, 04:45 PM

I used mine over the weekend when we were sand blasting some graffiti inthe local mountains, and it got alot of grit in it. Its bad enough that every time I open something its like scratching a chalk board. I dont want to use water, it might mess it up- so how do you all clean your mulit tools?

**Rick** · 06-17-2008, 05:53 PM

You can use compressed air. Either the kind you use on your computer keyboard or from a compressor if you have one.

**Ole WV Coot** · 06-17-2008, 06:01 PM

Blow it out, spray with WD-40 spray again until dry. I am partial to Break Free for my carry pistols, don't leave an oily mess. Little dab of that helps.

**crashdive123** · 06-17-2008, 06:33 PM

Or, you can take it to your local auto mechanic. Ask him to use his solvent dip tank, and then blow it our with compressed air. When through, oil thouroughly.

**Ridge Wolf** · 06-17-2008, 06:48 PM

Those are put together with a little star socket. If you have one of those and are mechanically minded enough to put it back together, I would at least loosen those screws so you can get the grit under the tools assortments.

Watch out for flying springs!

**jrock24** · 06-17-2008, 06:49 PM

I dont have compressed air, but I am going to go to the gas station and use their machine. Thanks guys.

**dragonjimm** · 06-18-2008, 05:54 AM

open all the blades and throw it in the dish washer its stainless steel
another ideal is to find a jeweler with a large ultrasonic cleaner and dip it in that for a few minutes once its dry treat with a little WD-40 and carry on.
Mine regularly gets tossed into the ultrasonic at work to get clay, grit and lime out of it
the last one i carried had a really cool color to it cause some idiot put acid in the tub and didnt mark it.

**klkak** · 06-18-2008, 12:30 PM

Spray it out with "Brake Clean" , Put it in the dishwasher. Put a drop or two of lite machine oil on the blade pivot area.

If you are afraid water will hurt it, then it ain't a Leatherman.

**Rick** · 06-18-2008, 02:08 PM

Uh, Klkak, you put brake clean in your dishwasher very often do you? That might be why everything tastes funny. Just a guess.

**Assassin Pilot** · 06-18-2008, 02:29 PM

Just use water first, and then dry off most of the water and watch as WD40 does the pivots / tight areas. That's how I clean all my pocketknives. Temporarily being exposed to water isn't gunna ruin any knife thats worth owning.

On the topic of Leathermans, I just got the Leatherman Skeletool. It's pretty nice and has the basic things people would need. Not really designed for camping, mainly for maintenance work I'd say. For camping all it has is the blade and bottle opener (unless pliers are used during camping) and lacks a can opener. Also, it has a lot of holes to let dirt get into as well as water.

I would recommend it or everyday garage jobs though, as it has decent pliers and the screwdriver has replaceable bits / a bit kit (also, an extra bit is stored in the handle). Then it has the belt clip and carabiner that also doubles as a bottle opener for those days when it gets hot in the garage.

But warning to all of you: I've heard a few bad reviews on the internet of getting crappy ones, so make sure the one you get isn't one of the sour lemons (manufactured poorly for whatever reason) as this particular design seems to have more than its fair share of them.