does blood stain a 1095 knife blade?

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wolverine_173

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will a 1095 knife that does not have a coating stain and rust if used to gut/skin an animal?

also if I get blood on the micarta handles will it stain them or smell bad down the road?

and how about a D2 blade?
 
Yes,
Blood will stain most any steel. If left and not cared for. Strangely enough, Salt water has about 3% salt in it and guess how much salt content there is in blood? You are correct! The blood will put a rust or patina on said 1095 steel knife. Many love this "patina" and can't wait to get their carbon steel knives into blood. Micarta just needs a wash up and nothing will effect it or make it smell.
 
It will cause the blade to have a patina if it hasn't been used. I've yet to see blood to cause rust. The micarta should be fine as long as the knife is cleaned. The micarta can be washed with soap and water and not hurt it
 
Yes, i got a drop of blood on the exact center of the tip of my Himalayan Ke Tri somehow and it left a unremoveable stain after only like a minute
And that is probably 5160, much less stain-y
[video=youtube;ynE1EzclxKs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynE1EzclxKs[/video]

Micarta might suck up blood i am not sure, could depend on the type of micarta, my linen ESEE 3 sucks up sweat like a vampire
 
If you don't like stains, don't get 1095. If you look at it hard enough it'll start to rust. Here in MS i've had several rust in my pocket during summer days when I got really sweaty.
 
wolverine_173 said:
will a 1095 knife that does not have a coating stain and rust if used to gut/skin an animal?

also if I get blood on the micarta handles will it stain them or smell bad down the road?

and how about a D2 blade?
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Yes, 1095 will stain from blood. Definitely. I actually like this effect though. I'm not talking about rust - rust is bad. Patina on the other hand is good! It actually is self limiting after a point. The blade gets darker and darker, develops more patterns on it, etc. up to a point, then it just seems to not take on much more patina. You just use the knife, wash it off and oil it up. No worries. I'm not into all the faux "forced" patinas. I like my knives to have an "earned" patina that comes naturally from use and age.

If you get blood on micarta it will not stain it permanently. As you use the knife, the oils from your hand will darken it. If you want it to return to the color it was when new, just wash it with dish soap. Dawn works good because it cuts grease! No worries about micarta handles.

D2 does stain. It stains a lot less than 1095, but it does eventually stain. D2 and 1095 are pretty different steels, but they both are used in excellent hunting knives.
 
D2 definitely stains. Years ago I bought a D2 neck knife. I had never had a D2 knife and wasn't familiar with the steel. It was advertised as "semi-stainless."
One day around my neck in the humid Houston summer and it had a lot of rust.
 
Obviously, the best way is to not get a blade rusted in the first place, but you already knew that!
If signs of rust appear, I start with the gentlest method I can find, like a Scotch pot scrubber pad, some dish soap and a gentle rubbing motion. If that does the trick, them rinse and dry the knife and apply a very light coat of your favorite rust preventative. Everyone has his own favorite, I won't start that war here!
If the pot scrubber doesn't work, try a very fine steel wool (00, 000) and a little oil. Again, rub gently until the rust disappears, then clean the blade and apply something to keep it from rusting again.
If you have actual pits from the rust, you are looking at more work and you will probably never get the blade as smooth as it used to be.
I'm sure other guys have advice on this as well.
 
Micarta is layers of bonding material (like epoxy) and fabric pressed together into a nearly indestructible block of material. You can stain the surface of it, but nothing penetrates into it. A little dish soap is all it takes to clean it up.

Doug C said:
Easiest ?
Grinder.

DC...:D
Click to expand...

Nah, the easiest way is to hand someone $10 and some steel wool and watch them do it. ;)
 
wolverine_173 said:
What's the easiest way to remove rust?
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If it's just surface rust, go to your favorite local auto parts store and buy something called never dull. It comes in a can. It looks like little wads of cloth. Pull off a wad of it and rub it back and forth on the rust. The rust will literally disappear as you are rubbing it. It works much better than double ought steel wool or anything else I have ever seen for this application.

Also, unless you left your knife outside for a month or so, it will be surface rust. It takes a lot of outright neglect to pit a knife blade deeply. If you are cleaning a 50 year old bayonet with lots of pits, you should try citric acid powder. Just mix a little of it with water, soak the blade, scrub it off. It will come off.
 
Blood is acidic, blood has salt, blood has iron - all three will rust carbon steels and eventually stainless steels.
When hunting I don't return the knife to the original sheath so I don't get that contaminated .I make a temporary cardboard sheath. I also clean the blade as best I can with water and paper towels.
 
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