The wipe-down knife herein is assembled upon an elongate handle, one end of which is fitted with a generally cylindrical blade-supporting head. The head has a collar and lever arm on one end for securely engaging the handle shaft, and a pair of closely opposed pads and a pivot pin on its other end for engaging a blade-supporting plate. A bracket which grasps the blade at its base is affixed to the blade-supporting plate. The plate is wide and flexible, projecting from the blade support at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the knife's handle. The blade curves away from the blade-supporting bracket at a right angle, such that the plane of the blade's working edge is parallel with the handle's longitudinal axis.