corrosion a big deal???

[bdws1975]

Hi all,

I am a big guy and tend to perspire a good amount. I LOVE carbon slippies for edge retention, etc. However, no matter how hard I try, unless I dunk my slippie in oil each time i use it, I get corrosion on the blades.

Is that really that much of a big deal? I know that rusting out is a big deal, but what about just plain old corrosion spots?

If so, should I just switch to SS and be done with it?

thanks ,
Brett

 

[sixgunner455]

Up to you whether it's a big deal, really. It's a tool, not an art piece, unless you are keeping it for that purpose, and in that case, you're not likely to be carrying it around to the point that it gets rusty.

I don't like rust myself, but don't have much trouble with it. If you really want to avoid rust from sweat, then carry your knife on your belt instead of in your pocket, and you should have no more trouble.

 

[bdws1975]

yeah, I really don't care myself. It's just you hear everyone talking about corrosion and rust as evil.

I guess I am wondering if corrosion will affect the use of the knife at all?

thanks again,
Brett

 

[jackknife]

it all depends on what you are calling corrosion. Is it just a darkening of the metal, or real pitting?

I think that in our bright shiny world, spots are seen as a big no-no. In fact, if its just spots of darkening patina, let it go. I don't think your knife is going to rust in the course of a single day. Its just not possable. If the knife is just wiped off with a bandana in the morning, and that night a light rubdown with some mineral oil, its not going to rust.

Brett, look at it this way; There was no stainless steel before the 20th century. So, we have to ask ourselves, just how did the old mountain men keep those carbon steel Green River knives from rusting, or a sailor his big sheepsfoot clasp knife from rusting out on the sea in those old sailing ships? Think of all those old carbon steel knives that were in the pockets of sailors going aloft in a storm, or in the pockets of cowboys pushing a herd of long horns up the trail in rain and sun, or or farmers plowing up the Kansass sod. They sweated, were rained on, and they used thier pocket knives really hard, way harder than we do. Sure the blades got dark, moisture stained and developed a heavy patina. A patina is just a surface discoloration of the metal oxidizing. It won't change the qualities of the steel, but it just may after a time protect the steel from further harm. There is a difference between the steel staining and rusting. As long as its not pitting its okay. It would take some time of neglect and no care to have a carbon steel knife actually pit.

I'd have to say its no big deal. In fact you could say that at one time it was considered perfectly normal. Just like people going grey as they age, or getting a few wrinkles in your face from life. Of course nowadays people use hair dye, get cosmetic surgery, and think everything is supposed to look new all the time. I think that one of the bad side effects of the stainless steel age is that people think everything is supposed to be shiny and new looking forever.

Your knifes not corroding Brett, its just developing charater. In fact, skip the mineral oil for a while, and just keep the blade dry by wiping it in the morning and at night with a dry bandana and see what happens. Let the spots go and see if it all turns into a nice dark patina. Think of it as your knife getting a tan from life experiance and use. You don't want a pale knife do you?

 

[bdws1975]

Jackknife,
I love you man. You have a way of reminding me of my core values and putting stuff in perspective.

I agree. The corrosion doesn't bother me, I was mainly worried about affecting it's use.

Thanks again!

Brett

it all depends on what you are calling corrosion. Is it just a darkening of the metal, or real pitting?

I think that in our bright shiny world, spots are seen as a big no-no. In fact, if its just spots of darkening patina, let it go. I don't think your knife is going to rust in the course of a single day. Its just not possable. If the knife is just wiped off with a bandana in the morning, and that night a light rubdown with some mineral oil, its not going to rust.

Brett, look at it this way; There was no stainless steel before the 20th century. So, we have to ask ourselves, just how did the old mountain men keep those carbon steel Green River knives from rusting, or a sailor his big sheepsfoot clasp knife from rusting out on the sea in those old sailing ships? Think of all those old carbon steel knives that were in the pockets of sailors going aloft in a storm, or in the pockets of cowboys pushing a herd of long horns up the trail in rain and sun, or or farmers plowing up the Kansass sod. They sweated, were rained on, and they used thier pocket knives really hard, way harder than we do. Sure the blades got dark, moisture stained and developed a heavy patina. A patina is just a surface discoloration of the metal oxidizing. It won't change the qualities of the steel, but it just may after a time protect the steel from further harm. There is a difference between the steel staining and rusting. As long as its not pitting its okay. It would take some time of neglect and no care to have a carbon steel knife actually pit.

I'd have to say its no big deal. In fact you could say that at one time it was considered perfectly normal. Just like people going grey as they age, or getting a few wrinkles in your face from life. Of course nowadays people use hair dye, get cosmetic surgery, and think everything is supposed to look new all the time. I think that one of the bad side effects of the stainless steel age is that people think everything is supposed to be shiny and new looking forever.

Your knifes not corroding Brett, its just developing charater. In fact, skip the mineral oil for a while, and just keep the blade dry by wiping it in the morning and at night with a dry bandana and see what happens. Let the spots go and see if it all turns into a nice dark patina. Think of it as your knife getting a tan from life experiance and use. You don't want a pale knife do you?

 

[bdws1975]

Pitting:

I have several really small dots on my blade that I cannot seem to get off with either flitz or a corrosion eraser. Is that pitting or is it just corrosion spots.

Thanks Jackknife and others!

brett

 

[Zeasor]

Pitting:

I have several really small dots on my blade that I cannot seem to get off with either flitz or a corrosion eraser. Is that pitting or is it just corrosion spots. Thanks Jackknife and others! brett

Probably pitting. Take a sharp fine needle and slide the point gently accross the dots to see if you can "feel" the pit.

 

[bdws1975]

so is pitting really all that bad for a knife? it is a functional issue or just aesthetic?

thanks for having patience with my ignorance. Just trying to learn some more.

thanks all,
Brett

 

[jackknife]

so is pitting really all that bad for a knife? it is a functional issue or just aesthetic?

thanks for having patience with my ignorance. Just trying to learn some more.

thanks all,
Brett

A few little pits here and there are not going to affect anything. Most all old well used carbon knives from the last century have some. Its just aesthetic, not affecting function at all. In fact, look at it this way, a little mineral oil rubbed on the blade will get into the tiny pits and stay there when you wipe it off. It will never get any worse then. Think of it as just age spots.

 

[bdws1975]

A few little pits here and there are not going to affect anything. Most all old well used carbon knives from the last century have some. Its just aesthetic, not affecting function at all. In fact, look at it this way, a little mineral oil rubbed on the blade will get into the tiny pits and stay there when you wipe it off. It will never get any worse then. Think of it as just age spots.

perfect!!! I am totally fine with that. I love this knife and would hate to part with it. it's my carving knife, my english muffin cutter, etc

as a matter of fact, I've been carrying it since I decided to give up on the one year experiment.

Funny.

Brett

 

[siguy]

last summer i carried a CV trapper by case in my pocket while i was doing some pretty physical stuff. i sweated alot and the air was pretty moist. the exposed parts of the blades began to turn slightly orange. after i noticed that, i hit those areas with some fine steel wool (just to smooth out the surface, the patina stayed). i also made it a habit to take my knife out of my pocket before i went and got dirty.

i did try using a cheap mystery stainless blade clipped insdie my waist band, up against my skin for a day. at the end of the day there was some surface rust and one or two of teh screws had some pitting. no big deal. don't carry a knife clipped against your skin.

i had a simliar experience with a carbon opinel to my trapper in the same environ. i treated it the same.

i am slowly getting used to not pampering my knives. i am adjusting to letting them get ugly. my main concern is keeping the pivot clean at this point.

 

[db]

For me it depends on what color the spots or pitting is. Reddish rust color is bad and should be removed. Gray blackish blue colors are fine and I don't do anything to it.

 

[jlubas]

i think im even more radical than some people commenting here... dont get me wrong i like SS blades but there is nothing more i love than a high carbon blade with a well used patina. In fact my favorite is a carbon steel blade tempered in a coal forge to give it that real dark marked up look. I say let it go, wipe it off and use that well aged beautiful knife with pride.

 

[bdws1975]

i think im even more radical than some people commenting here... dont get me wrong i like SS blades but there is nothing more i love than a high carbon blade with a well used patina. In fact my favorite is a carbon steel blade tempered in a coal forge to give it that real dark marked up look. I say let it go, wipe it off and use that well aged beautiful knife with pride.

agreed! thanks for the encouraging remarks. I am going to do that!

Take care,
brett

 

[ElCuchillo]

Ok, so, being relatively new to this rust/corrosion/carbon steel thing, whenever I've carried my CV Soddie here in Florida, by the end of the day it develops brown spots on it. Is this rust? Or are these the markings that eventually become patina? Is it toxic if using the knife for food stuff?
Maybe my next experiment will be to carry a carbon knife for a year and see if I can learn more about it.

 

[Ben Dover]

Keep your blades clean and dry, and don't worry about them.

Ben

 

[dscheidt]

it all depends on what you are calling corrosion. Is it just a darkening of the metal, or real pitting?

I think that in our bright shiny world, spots are seen as a big no-no. In fact, if its just spots of darkening patina, let it go. I don't think your knife is going to rust in the course of a single day. Its just not possable. If the knife is just wiped off with a bandana in the morning, and that night a light rubdown with some mineral oil, its not going to rust.

Brett, look at it this way; There was no stainless steel before the 20th century. So, we have to ask ourselves, just how did the old mountain men keep those carbon steel Green River knives from rusting, or a sailor his big sheepsfoot clasp knife from rusting out on the sea in those old sailing ships?

Rust can start forming in remarkably short amounts of time. Some people have sweat that's more corrosive than others. It's entirely possible for a carbon steel blade to develop visible rust spots in 12 hours.

What did people do before they had stainless steel? They spent a lot of time doing maintenance. picking out the rust, keeping things sharp (smooth surfaces rust slower) and oiling. They also mostly had instruments made of different sorts of iron, too. A steel edge, and a wrought iron body was common on lots of tools. Wrought iron is pretty rust resistant, and what rust that forms tends to be
"black" -- magnetite, which provides a level of passivation, preventing further corrosion.

There's a reason that there aren't many knives -- almost none not targeted at knife fiends -- made of anything but various stainless steels these days.

 

[yoda4561]

Rust isn't a problem until pitting develops. The brown spots on your blade are likely just surface rust, but if left unchecked will likely develop into pitting. Wipe the blade with a lightly oiled patch or paper towel, the rust should wipe off and leave a grey/blue spot. This is called patina, and over time should wind up covering almost the entire blade. It's also possible that the brown spots are a form of patina themselves. There was a time when "browning" was a form of steel finish as opposed to blueing, and indeed left the metal looking a brown (not rust) color.

 

[shecky]

I'm with yoda. Surface rust isn't a big deal as long as it's taken care of in a timely fashion. I've found that with stainless, even if it rusts, it never seems to go any further than just the surface rust and pitting. The stainless blade won't rot away, like carbon steel left unchecked.

 

[bdws1975]

I hate to be contrary, but there are LOTS of knives made of non-stainless steel. Spend some time around here and in the makers forums and you will see new knives everyday with carbon, non-stainless steel.

I also highly doubt people sat around and groomed their knive all day before stainless. I have some 75+ year old knives and they are corroded and wellused.

Hate to argue, but I am not sure you're right on your points here.

Brett

Rust can start forming in remarkably short amounts of time. Some people have sweat that's more corrosive than others. It's entirely possible for a carbon steel blade to develop visible rust spots in 12 hours.

What did people do before they had stainless steel? They spent a lot of time doing maintenance. picking out the rust, keeping things sharp (smooth surfaces rust slower) and oiling. They also mostly had instruments made of different sorts of iron, too. A steel edge, and a wrought iron body was common on lots of tools. Wrought iron is pretty rust resistant, and what rust that forms tends to be
"black" -- magnetite, which provides a level of passivation, preventing further corrosion.

There's a reason that there aren't many knives -- almost none not targeted at knife fiends -- made of anything but various stainless steels these days.