Rusted Knife- Kershaw BOA

[LY2000]

I have a knife that fell into a humidifier and it got rusted pretty bad and also has white, hard gunk on it. It got hot steamed for about a month. I want to restore as best as I can. Looks relatively easy to take apart this serrated folder. I'm thinking of soaking it in WD-40 and taking a SOS pad to it. This is a nice knife though and I don't want to remove the black finish if possible (but won't be a big deal if I do). I want to remove the crap and lube it for easy opening. See the specs below. Thanks-

This Kershaw Ken Onion Boa, Model 1580ST, has a ti-nitride coated S60V440A stainless steel 3.25 inch serrated blade with a 6061-T6 aircraft aluminum handle. The Speed-Safe torsion bar allow this knife to be opened with one push. When closed this 4.9 oz Kershaw knife is 4.75 inches long

[BUDC]

I used battery acid to clean SS props -- works great but they were never rusty. Are you sure the rusty areas are on the stainless/Aluminum? Could be other parts - springs, rivets etc that are rusty and the acid will do no good for them. If its rust stain from other parts or from the dehumidifier you should be able to get the most of it off with steel wool.
Good Luck, and careful if you use the acid -- like rubber gloves and eye protection at least.
budc

[LY2000]

Thanks BUDC. I think the rust is on the rivets etc.

[mgribbin]

Send it back to Kershaw. They may replace it. I had broke the tip off of one of the kershaw knives I have and the spring broke for the speed safe opening and they sent me a new replacement knife.

[SafetyFirst]

Maybe a little late for you to use but here is a good link to a site that has some different remedies
http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infcleaning/infmineraldeposits.html