1095 steel and rust

Recon1 said:
I can't say as I own a knife with any rust build-up on it. If I ever did it would mean that I am spending too much time indoors (probably on bladeforums).
Just keep 'em wiped down and don't store them in the sheath if you can help it.
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Keeping it in a Kydex sheath wouldn't cause the same problems as in leather would it?
 
I always soaked my leather sheaths with oil.Gun oil usually.I live in a pretty damp climate so rust is something that I keep my eye on.That said i left a RAT-5 in the box of my 4 wheeler for 11 straight months with no protection other than being in the sheath and no rust at all.Maybe luck maybe not.
 
rkwallace said:
What about CLP?
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Called CLP (Cleaner, Lubricant, Protectant) in the military and it does a good job (especially rust protection). This is expressly designed to hold up thru high rates of fire by automatic weapons. Great stuff...

Jonathan
 
I like to use the same oil I put on my Katana (as the Samuari did) and other swords, Ninhonto Choji Oil. It's really mineral oil with a little bit of clove oil for fragrance. One thing about mineral oil is that it's consumable so if your cutting up some food your not going to take the chance of poisoning yourself and it does not turn rancid. Mineral oil is used on cutting blocks for the same reason.
 
My Dad gave me a Sheffield bowie when I was 8, now I'm 52 and it has acquired a nice patina. I don't know if they even had 1095 then but it wouldn't surprise me to find that it was. I can't say I've ever cared for it much, maybe 20 years ago I may have wiped it with oil, I don't know.
I think that these ESEE's will be about the same. Our grand kids kids will still be playing with them.
 
DBRideout said:
I like to use the same oil I put on my Katana (as the Samuari did) and other swords, Ninhonto Choji Oil. It's really mineral oil with a little bit of clove oil for fragrance. One thing about mineral oil is that it's consumable so if your cutting up some food your not going to take the chance of poisoning yourself and it does not turn rancid. Mineral oil is used on cutting blocks for the same reason.
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Same here. After Iai-jutsu we clean the swords and oil them with Choji.
Olive oil works good too on my izula btw. But i do prefer choji oil. Need to get a large bottle since the one in my sword cleaning kit is quite small.
 
one of my izulas sat outside on a bag of mulch for 3 days last week during a steady dose of rain. [i have 2 others thats why it took awhile for me to look for it] and the blade was perfectly fine. a little rust on the edge that disappeared with a few swipes of a croc stic. i think the over zealous oiling of blades is unwarrented. im in the process of stripping one of them and polishing the blade. i will intentionally not oil this blade and report on the results at a later date. but i think it'll be fine.
 
I love 1095 rust or no rust. rub a candle or paste wax on it after use and it will help protect it. rusty 1095 is still a hell of a steel.
 
As long as there isn't enough rust to stick between my teeth, I'm not going to worry about it. :D

If it gets that bad, I'll probably use either 3-in-1, or Ballistol. On the knife, not my teeth.
 
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1095 has actually been a good influence on my kit. When I bought my first ESEE I started carrying a small plastic phial of cooking oil in the organiser in my day pack to protect the steel. I'd never done this before, but it's been really useful for lots of different applications and I wouldn't travel in the outdoors without that little bottle now.
 
i may have stated this before but i use mineral oil and no rust. living in the south it gets humid as hell. so far so good on the rust issue. plus you dont have to worry about cross contaminating food you cut bc it doesnt go bad and its non toxic
 
i used to have a USN Mk2 (made from 1095, like a Ka-Bar) that i found backpacking. as we were leaving camp it was off the side of the trail, with the blade stuck in the ground up to the hilt.

no clue how long it had been there. the blade had some rust and pitting, but i pulled the whole knife apart and cleaned the steel up. didn't refinish it with anything and made a custom leather sheath for it.

unfortunately, that blade got stolen several years later, but it never had any serious problems from it's time of neglect.

a modern knife, w3ith scales that can be unbolted instead of stacked leather washers, and a coating on the blade (unless you remove it) ummm... i'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. it's a tool, and i have no problem with tools that show marks from their use. pay a little attention to it and rust should be minimal.

if you're stashing it in your truck or BOB, just check it periodically. BOBs need to be repacked in most cases anyway to change clothes for the season, rotate batteries, rotate food, etc. if it gets a little rust on the edge, BFD, either use it, or sharpen it and it should be fine.

i can't stand some of the low carbon, soft stainless knives that are always shiny, but never hold an edge well.
 
I had an odd thing happen.
Not being particularly thrilled having exposed 1095 via the laser (?) etchings on the ESEE's, I have cold-blued all of them. Has worked great, except for one knife. My RC-3, after cold bluing and sitting in the drawer a couple of days, developed a light sheen of red rust over the cold-blue. NONE of my other ESEE's have had that happen, and even my stripped ESEE-4 hasn't had that happen.

The only thing I did differently on that RC-3 is I cleaned the etches with alcohol before I did the bluing.

After finding that, I put some mineral oil on that blade's etchings, which brought the bluing back out, and no further red rusting has appeared. Incidentally, there was no rusting of the exposed edge on that knife; just the etches. So I guess it had to be the alcohol....
 
My Izula finally rusted! I've only had it about a week and a half, but I chopped up a blue gill for bait, and it was fairly humid this weekend. I touched it up on the Sharpmaker when I got home and the edge is polished/rust free once again. The ant logo and text is the slightest bit brown, however. I like it likes this, though. Gives it character and makes me proud to be an Izula user.
 
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Like someone stated earlier, whatever little surface rust that may form when not in use goes bye bye after some use in the mountains. which is where I like to spend most of my time anyway. not that I need one but the rust makes a good excuse to head into the mountains for a day or so. :D
 
the natural oil on your skin is a rust inhibitor.. how about a little vegetable oil on it? more natural, no chemicals to interfere with the blades coating....

if in a survival situation and the blades all you got it would be most important to keep it from rusting the cutting edge as this will make it dull, pending the environment in which one was 'surviving' it would be interesting to compile a list of natural resources that could be a rust inhibitor kinda like 'Aloe' is used for burns, bites etc.. I just wander about its properties?

Rob
 
+1 on the Tuf cloths.

I used to EDC a little Rem oil for my Glock in the EDC carry bag...but after abusing it one day with just under 1000 rounds w/o cleaning it (ran out of ammo:)
...I decided the remoil could be moved to the BOB...all I'll need is the Tuf Cloth in the EDC/get home bag.

Tuf Cloth would work just as well on the Izula or HEST that I carry daily.
 
solocanoe said:
+1 on the Tuf cloths.

I used to EDC a little Rem oil for my Glock in the EDC carry bag...but after abusing it one day with just under 1000 rounds w/o cleaning it (ran out of ammo:)
...I decided the remoil could be moved to the BOB...all I'll need is the Tuf Cloth in the EDC/get home bag.

Tuf Cloth would work just as well on the Izula or HEST that I carry daily.
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Glocks don't need no stinkin' Rem Oil. :D
 
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