Blood & Steel

O

oldscrimmer

Joined
Nov 23, 2007
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205
I'm sure somewhere in these discussions this question has come up or been asked directly, but I so far have not found it if it has.

What do you guys know about how blood (animal) effects the edge of a knife? I have been told that it tends to decay the micro-edge of a knife during use, along with perhaps salt, or other body fluids. Is there any truth to this claim? During the field dressing of a deer I experienced a dulling effect in my edge only in a localized area of the edge, which under a magnifying glass appeared as a bright spot. I called the maker and he mentioned that the blood caused it.

Now to dispell any thoughts of how the knife is cared for....I'm meticulous about my knives and this particular one did not cut heavy bone, was not used to "chop", was cleaned thoroughly after use, and did not cut any hair. The steel was D-2 at approx. 60 Rc.
 
Yes blood causes rusting of steel. I cringe when I see TV shows where the hunter pokes the deer with his rifle to see if it's dead. They can find the end of the barrel rusted !
I've been using stainless steel knives for years so I don't have the problem. That's the only solution though cleaning the knife immediately will help.D-2 is at least "semi-stainless" so it shouldn't be too bad.Did you cut bone in the dressing ? Was there dirt in the hair ? This is a big problem with pigs.
 
Being a hunter, I'm quite familiar with steel rusting....I own a Ruger No. 1, love it, but you gotta keep sweat off of it. As I mentioned in my post above I do not cut bone, hair, or chop with the knife, and it is cleaned after every use. I have other tools with which to chop etc. The deterioriation of the edge took place during skinning and meat cutting, I guess that's why the maker said it was the blood which caused the bright spot in my edge. It makes sense that body fluids might cause some microscopic deterioration. I was just wondering if anyone else had the problem, or if they had any first hand info about their own knives. I wouldn't have noticed this one because I touch up each of my knives after each use, except I just happened to turn the knife into the light before setting the bevel on the stone and I saw the bright spot, almost like it had been struck on something.... rolling the edge. Thinking back on the events of the day, I found nothing I had done which could have made this spot. (Maybe it was something in the leather sheath that did it?????)
 
Rusting an edge and dulling an edge are two different phenomena, though they can become related with the passage of some time.

If I understand what you experienced, Oldscrimmer, I suspect it had nothing to do with blood. Not enough time had passed.

When you were skinning the deer, didn't you have to use the knife to free up some spots on the underside of the hide? Didn't you have to cut through some fatty tissue that was preventing you from pulling the hide off smoothly? I'd suspect that caused the dulling.

The dull spot that you mention...Was it the spot on the knife that you used to free up some sticky places that wouldn't pull free with just your hand?
 
Now that you mention it, I did use the knife to remove membrane, fat, and such. However, there wasn't much time elapse from dealing with the deer until I had it cleaned and oiled. I figured that the maker was just blowing smoke anyway, he knows how particular I am with my blades, I knew him personally. I probably did it myself, not realizing it had been done until the bright spot appeared. Since there doesn't seem to be many here who have had any problem, I'd say it was user error somewhere in the process.
 
Screw industrial strippers-if you want to take the finish off of something, smear it with deer's blood. There was a pretty sweet gun shop where I was in Florida and the owner bought a Nagant revolver in an estate auction. He showed it to me-the barrel and cylinder were naked metal but the bluing by the grip was mostly in tact. This, he told me, is how he knew it was a legit special police revolver, and that it was used to execute people under Stalin's flag. I'm not sure if a stainless knife would hold up better than 1095, but one thing is for sure-after skinning with a HC blade, I will be cleaning it meticulously.
 
Oldscrimmer--Was the area of the knife edge that dulled the same area that you applied to the fat, membrane, tissue on the underside of the hide?

The only other thing I can think of is that when you cut the slits to put the gambrel though, you went through enough hair to dull the blade a bit...

Off topic, but, speaking as a hide tanner, I hope deer hunters realize that one hardly needs a knife at all to skin a deer. After a few initial cuts, deer hunters ought to put their knives down and pull the hide off with their hands. A few places may be resistant enough to warrant a brief freeing with a knife edge, but most of the time a fist, or edge of a hand, or piece of wood or anything NOT SHARP, is all that's needed.

If a guy is just going to throw the hide away, it doesn't matter how many knife scores get left on the underside of the hide, or holes get poked through it for that matter, but it sure adds a lot of work if you are going to tan the hide and make something out of it. Those knife scores on the underside of a hide are next to impossible to pumice out and when you do, you have thinned the hide in those spots more than is prudent. The holes left by knives need to be sewed up. It's a pain in the ass...
 
Blood on steel is disastrous! It can cause coughing, sleeplessness and loss of appetite. Some have reported rashes, headaches and vomiting. Other symptoms include clots and death. Consult your doctor if you experience an erection lasting more than 4 hours.
 
mete said:
Yes blood causes rusting of steel. I cringe when I see TV shows where the hunter pokes the deer with his rifle to see if it's dead. They can find the end of the barrel rusted !
I've been using stainless steel knives for years so I don't have the problem. That's the only solution though cleaning the knife immediately will help.D-2 is at least "semi-stainless" so it shouldn't be too bad.Did you cut bone in the dressing ? Was there dirt in the hair ? This is a big problem with pigs.
Click to expand...
D2 actually rusts worse than anything else I have ever used.
 
CaptInsano said:
D2 actually rusts worse than anything else I have ever used.
Click to expand...

Really? My field knife (CPMD2) has never had a single spot of rust. I don't really care for it properly, either. I rarely oil it, and I've left it wet for several hours.

I've had some surface rust on my D2 Outcast, but it was from a weekend of backpacking through brush in the rain.
 
I sharpen my knlves to an "invisible" edge....that is no light reflecting off the edge under a 10x glass. When I see a shiny edge starting to appear with the 10x glass......micro rounded, not rolled, it is time to resharpen.

Check your edge with a 10x magnifier and you will probably find it's not rolled but rounded off.
 
Did it get really dull? I have gutted many deer with A2 and O1 steel and they go through them and come out still shaving sharp. I just scored a Dozier about 6 weeks ago and want to see how well D2 does on a deer. I don't get that worried about an edge to use a magnifying glass though. As long as it shaves arm hair it's good to go for me.:)
 
Nice discussion, thanks guys! I will watch however, the erection problem Knife Outlet!!!:jerkit:

Just to dispell the Dozier theory...the knife is a Jimmy Lile and you're right, Bob wouldn't "blow smoke". :) When I started this thread, the thoughts of the knife and Jimmy's response to me about the blood/steel thing came to mind, so I thought I'd ask my fellow users what they have experienced. As most of you know that situation happened a long time ago as Jimmy Lile passed away many years ago. I haven't experienced the same problem with any other of my knives, my A2 is perfect along with my other D2's.

I do have another question....what's the difference in D2 and CPM D2?
 
CPM D2 is an improvement over standard D2 as it is made with Crucible Partical Metallurgy which means easier sharpening, better wear resistance ,keener edge and tougher.
 
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