How do you clean your multi tool?

I have read a great deal about this but I always read conflicting advice. I have a victorinox multi tool, the huntsman I think, I clean it/oil it occasionally, but after a while it seems to have gotten very dirty. My question is,

how do you clean your multitoool?

I have even read about putting them in the dishwasher, but also warnings not to do so, so I am a bit confused.

Wipe it off, soap & water, alcohol, WD40.

If you use water let it dry and wipe and spray it with something like WD40 and wipe it off with a cloth. If using oil you don't need to drench it. And if it is made of stainless steel as most are it wont rust. You could even use a silicone gun cloth.

Soap and water, scrub brush if needed. I rinse in the hottest water I can stand, then wipe dry. The residual heat will completly dry the tool. I never use WD40 on knives.

Yea you can clean a knife with almost anything the biggest thing is make sure its dry and not dripping wet with anything. I have even used brake-cleaner, carb & choke cleaner, starting fluid if the knife is really nasty greasy or dirty & gritty. Just when you done just make sure its protected with something so it wont rust or corrode.

I use 409 and a soft rag, sometimes mineral spirits. I haven't tried the dishwasher, interesting idea though. I apply a light coat of gun oil before putting it away.

Good thread. Any specific tips for cleaning sap off a knife?

I know mineral spirits will work, same for white gas (Coleman fuel), I'm sure. If it's a knife you are going to use for food prep you may want to try alcohol or some other kitchen safe cleaner that will not leave behind a residue as mineral spirits does.

I like all the recommendations above but I also use compressed air after washing-buy it in a can otc at places like K-mart for computer cleaning.

WD-40 is great for removing water but it IS NOT a good lubricant.

I often use baseball glove leather conditioner on knife joints because it is very thin, a decent lube and I have more than I need since I don't play baseball anymore.

Mineral oil is another decent lube, cleaner and good for bone handles to prevent cracking.

Storing your equipment? Ren-Wax it. It works on knives, paper, leather, cloth etc, etc, etc-museums use it exclusively-so can you.

Corrosion-X is the absolute best for preventing/removing rust [with some elbow grease.

hot water and soap

for lubrication, use gun oil ... remington oil (which can be found at wal-mart and most major sporting stores) is probably the best. gun oil is very viscous and designed to function well in dirty environments. also a great rust preventative.

second option is dry silicone spray which is used for lubricating the guide wheels on a garage door.

My water heater is turned up rather high, so i use the dishwaser and put WD-40 on right after bringing it out. Mine gets kinda nasty at time and that always worked for me.

I've found that compressed air throught a pinpoint nozzle gets most of the heavy dirt out of the joints. My multi tool is held together by Allen screws, so I regularly disassemble it to clean and lube the hinges. I too like to use a SMALL amount of gun oil - even if the tool is stainless steel. Too much oil just attracts dirt, making the problem worse.

I've used diesel fuel to clean rust off of hand tools and hand cable winches. Should work on most anything. Just dump the tool in it and let it sit for a day or so.

About the only cleaning I do is washing the jalapeno slivers off the blade after cutting my jalapeno-jack cheese. :)

I think good old soap and water work best. Dry it off and use some vegatable oil to lube it.

Works well for me since I find myself using it to cut edibles.

Mechanic's hand soap is good for sap.

I did find out the hard way it is better to not uses the kind with grit in it on your car.

Tom D said:

I've used diesel fuel to clean rust off of hand tools and hand cable winches. Should work on most anything. Just dump the tool in it and let it sit for a day or so.

Regular unleaded gasoline works also. The cleaning agents that are added to diesel and regular gasoline are great at getting rid of gunk on tools . The grease monkey's in my high-school (myself included) would do this to clean anything from small engines to tools that were accidently dropped in the lube used for ball joints (on cars) ... but I digress.