Does anyone know a way to keep wrought iron from rusting or slowing it significantly?

Josh Rider

Josh Rider

Stuff maker
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I just recently did a wrought iron ferrule on a wa handle. It looks great, but I’m really concerned about rust, especially on a kitchen knife. Any tips on protecting it?
 
Put the knife in a jar of olive oil and never take it out. Otherwise it will rust. WI is a very poor choice for a kitchen knife. You could brown the Wii repeatedly rusting it chemicly then buffig with steel wool and repeating many times. It might help slow it down, but won't stop rust.
 
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Food safe paste wax. Provide a small tin to the future owner and say to wax the ferrule regularly. Not sure what OTS waxes are food safe, but if you make a mix of mineral oil and beeswax, it should make a softer wax. you may have to play with proportions. You could also use tung oil, but it may get gummy over time (no idea once it is mixed). Turpentine is sort of safe (as in fine in the small quantities of this mix; it is not a healthy beverage option); you could go lighter on the mineral oil, add some turp and have a soft wax that will dry harder as the volatiles in turp evaporate.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Beeswax-prot...441568&sr=8-7&keywords=beeswax+cream+for+wood

Something like this might help. I use a similar Japanese product. But rust will happen. If it's the ferrule, though, I would recommend blackening it, which will help a lot. Heat to a dull red and rub with a cotton rag (silk is used in Japan, and works fantastically. I use some old silk long johns). Then apply the wax once it's cooled enough.

Edit: This would require an heirloom-type fit for the handle, though.

https://i.imgur.com/DpariRl.jpg

(a blackened wrought iron guard on a ken nata I made a few years ago... A lot of things I would do differently now with the design, but anyway, you get the idea of the look)
 
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Pretty much what everyone else said. Find something that will completely seal it and you MIGHT keep it from rusting. I work with wrought iron a lot, and it rusts like a bastard.
 
Thanks for the answers. I think I’ll leave the ferrule off the kitchen knife this time and use something less prone to rust since this will be washed a lot.
It did look pretty though.
CD9A9F84-87D6-4F90-A3B7-F9E76B3027D1.jpeg
 
Josh Rider said:
Thanks for the answers. I think I’ll leave the ferrule off the kitchen knife this time and use something less prone to rust since this will be washed a lot.
It did look pretty though.
View attachment 960719
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That is optically pretty, But pretty coarse as far as being wrought iron. The best stuff is quite hard to see any grain patterns without bending or good magnification.
As mentioned Browning is the traditional way to reduce rust. Its basically letting it get a fine rust and keep polishing and oiling the heck out of it.
Thats the way firearms were preserved. Keep above the fireplace to be warm & dry and polish it every day.
 
Lieblad said:
That is optically pretty, But pretty coarse as far as being wrought iron. The best stuff is quite hard to see any grain patterns without bending or good magnification.
As mentioned Browning is the traditional way to reduce rust. Its basically letting it get a fine rust and keep polishing and oiling the heck out of it.
Thats the way firearms were preserved. Keep above the fireplace to be warm & dry and polish it every day.
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That’s interesting, I passed on some anchor chain because it had less figure and I preferred the coarse look. I etched for a short time and saw the grain, but didn’t have much texture so I etched until I was happy.

Either way, I feel like if someone requested this on a knife, I’d do it as long as they knew how to take care of it. Otherwise if I sold it as is I have a feeling it would upset a customer to deal with it rusting constantly.
 
I've had good results using FrogLube. It is food safe and it works. Another product to research is the Specialist line that WD 40 produces. I use it on all the machine surfaces around the shop and it is amazing how it keeps rust at bay. It's pricey but it works.
 
I use quite a bit of wrought for integral liners/bolsters of pocket knives. Etched will resist rusting much better than clean metal, as usual. In the kitchen, the best protector I've found, is to heat pure beeswax (not mixed with turpentine or whatever the blacksmith's use for black iron), and melt some on a cotton cloth. Then heat the wrought iron part, so that when you rub the beeswax on it from the cloth, it just smokes a little, at this point rub beeswax all into it, as much as it'll take, let it sit, and wipe off any excess.

I've had stuff hold up in the kitchen like this for years, and I'm mega lazy when it comes to knife care.

For non-kitchen use, I prefer Boeshield T-9, I don't imagine it's food safe technically. I heavily neutralize after etching the wrought, heat the part just to make sure it's completely dry, and apply the boeshield with the part *warm*, but not hot like using beeswax. This'll give you a good base coat, after which, you can use boeshield or ren wax liberally over the whole knife, whenever you clean, etc.

I've personally found properly etched, neutralized, and sealed wrought to be MUCH less prone to rusting than any clean, bright carbon steel. Although the material I use is 2.5" diameter anchor chain. I've had no issues getting lots of pattern/activity from the etch though. I typically etch in 10 minute cycles in the same ferric I use for damascus, maybe 5 or 6 times, cleaning oxides between etched, and leaving it them the last cycle. This gives plenty of contrast, but it doesn't etch as deep as yours is looking.
 
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