Photos BRK 3V Rust/Patina - Is this normal?

ScooterG said:
3.5 year old knife that I believe to be 3V. Has a patina but nothing like what the OP is seeing.
Carothers Delta 3V and the 3V in a Demko AD-10 doesn’t even patina like this one.
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I’ve had no staining issues with my Fehrman Peacemaker(F3V) and I’ve had it going on 17 years. It’s been on 2 deployments, plenty of FTXs, camping trips and years of EDC with nary a spot of rust/staining. I merely clean and wipe down with a Tuf-cloth in between uses.
 
CPM3V said:
Definitely a weird issue, I have never seen anything quite like that before. Looking forward to seeing what bark river has to say about it. Hopefully you get it resolved!
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Lol, well damn, with your name, I'm sure you are!

It has been 8 days since the knife was received at BRK - I think that's a reasonable amount of time to have assessed a warranty request. In my info sheet that I'd included with the knife, I also had made sure to include my contact info, and I have not heard anything yet.

I'm going to give them a call tomorrow to see what's going on, and what kind of timeline I can expect.
 
OK - got an update for everyone.

I ended up calling them yesterday because I got slammed at work the day prior and completely forgot. I spoke with Christy in the morning, which works out as she was the one who I'd spoken with initially. She confirmed that they did receive my knife about a week prior, but that the knife was with the production manager Jim, and that it'd take some time for him to check it out. She mentioned turn-around time for warranty work right now was about 4 - 7 weeks.

I told her that was fine, but asked her if she, or anyone had even had a chance to look at the knife yet, and had any insight into the reason behind the patina/rust. She admitted she wasn't the person to answer that, and put me in touch with Jim via social media, who was super responsive, and actually went to grab my knife after I messaged him, and took a look at it right then and there. He reassured me that it was definitely 3V. His plan was to remove the rust/patina first, and then to leave alcohol on those same spots all-day to see if it left any staining or rust again, as that would indicate a problem. His one theory that he mentioned was that it's possible "there were some scratches from a rougher step still in there".

At the end of the day, he got back in touch, and told me that the patina and rust both came off with a fresh buffer pass. He also confirmed that he was not able to make any rust appear with the alcohol that he applied on the blade where the patina and rust had previously been. He let me know that it should be on its way back to me in the near future.

So, i'm not sure if that's a satisfactory ending for those of us who wanted to know exactly why those spots were there, but I'm glad the issue has seemingly been resolved. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it once I get it back and will report anything worth following up on here. Just some final thoughts - I do wish, or think that there should be a slightly more formalized method of tracking warranties as they move through the process. In this day and age of email and instant correspondence, even an automated message that says something like "We've received your knife, and will have an update for you in 7-10 days, and you can expect the knife back in your possession in 4 - 7 weeks" would be helpful. Both Christy and Jim were very nice over the phone, and via messaging, but some method of updating the customer is probably a good idea. I'll reach out to them with the above suggestions once I have my knife back in my possession.
 
the only way to really know is to get a spectrometer analysis ... unless there is an easier way to know for certain?

3v has 7.5% chrome vs only 5% in a2
3v has 3% vanadium vs only 0.25% in a2
 
This is the 10th complaint i know that a BRKT 3v is mislabeled. The other 9 were proven to be A2 and replaced.

Dip that knife in warm vinegar for 2 mins. if it gets great discoloration, then it's definitely and A2
 
This is really interesting. I had a kind of similar issue with a 3v gunny where it kept having odd marks on the blade. Some stroping would remove it, then it would come back again. Turns out after much frustration - it was just some gunk inside the sheath from the factory.,........:eek:. Lol. I agree with others do a rust test/cut test to see if it acts like 3v.
 
brute steel said:
This is the 10th complaint i know that a BRKT 3v is mislabeled. The other 9 were proven to be A2 and replaced.

Dip that knife in warm vinegar for 2 mins. if it gets great discoloration, then it's definitely and A2
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This is a good idea. Honestly I think this has to happen with all manufacturers more than we know. Sometimes it's probably the case where guy grabs from the wrong pile of blade stock, and others I honestly think come from the steel distributor. I think BRK is probably more effected since they are a smaller shop that works with way more steel options.
 
dirc said:
you'd think if they really intended to do this on an ongoing basis, they'd pick a better cheap 3v 'alternative', one which is much closer composition wise - like dc53
http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/dc53.shtml
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Yippee! Another steel chart.....

Do you think brkt is doing this on purpose?

To the OP, I'd be doing my own testing at home. There is no need for a spectrometer analysis to tell the difference between 3v and A2. Corrosion tests, cutting tests, and sharpening are enough. Or go with what brkt says. Use the knife when it comes back and see how it does. Please update when you do.
 
I have a Bravo 1.25 in 3V purchased 6 months ago. I remove it from the leather sheath almost all of the time but last time I did not have my mineral oil with me. It sat in the cardboard sleeve with no oil for about 5 weeks. It now has a definite discolouration and patches and marks that are darker. I am researching it now and read this whole thread. I just don't feel my $600 AU 3V knife should behave that way but... if it cleans up I'll be happy. I intend to use this knife in the bush in the future.

Maybe this video from Survive Knives is relevant?

 
Brendan698 said:
I have a Bravo 1.25 in 3V purchased 6 months ago. I remove it from the leather sheath almost all of the time but last time I did not have my mineral oil with me. It sat in the cardboard sleeve with no oil for about 5 weeks. It now has a definite discolouration and patches and marks that are darker. I am researching it now and read this whole thread. I just don't feel my $600 AU 3V knife should behave that way but... if it cleans up I'll be happy. I intend to use this knife in the bush in the future.

Maybe this video from Survive Knives is relevant?

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Edited out to avoid an argument lol


3v doesn't need to be oiled. I've used it for years, I'm not babying my knives either. The blades almost never get more than a few speckles of discoloration. Under the handles can get a bit more rust if really neglected. 3v has good corrosion resistance in my experience.
 
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Back in the days of Knife forums and their very active Bark river subforum, it was frequently said that sometimes if a belt that was used to grind steel “A” was used on steel “B” it would leave remnants of A on B. If A was carbon steel, it would corrode and cause pitting or rust on steel B even if it was “stainless” or stain resistant.

Maybe it was that
 
I've got a Bark River Canadian in 3V, it's 3 or 4 years old and has had only light use. No rust as you can see. Also had a Delta 3V Kephart that is now my grandson's. It acted like stainless steel too.

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Send it back to bark river. Something isn’t right with that steel. Edited: this is an old thread that I shouldn’t have commented on and I feel like an idiot.
 
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Take it to a local steel place and get it tested. Then you will know the truth. I have owned plenty of 3v and it is very resistant more so than D2 in my experience.
 
The problem is with BRK not 3V. Sorry to say this but to be honest, who knows if it is really 3V. I believe people have even experienced rust on their "Magnacut" BRKs lol. I don't trust BRK at all.
 
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Post a picture, then we can give you a better answer. Almost all of my 3v knives behave almost like stainless (in terms of corrosion), except my white river in 3v. It has mild discoloration because I cut acidic foods and didn't clean it after.
 
SkinnyElectrician said:
Send it back to bark river. Something isn’t right with that steel. Edited: this is an old thread that I shouldn’t have commented on and I feel like an idiot.
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Why? It's still relevant as people are still buying 3v knives from BRKT and the OP may get back to this and give the long term report on what's happened since he got it back!

My update below
 
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