Light rust after use

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CJBLUEBUCK

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Hello, my 34ot gets a light rusty red color after I hold it for more than 5-10 minutes I even have a late production Stainless Steel that gets rust on the back spring. Any suggestions as to why or how to prevent it? maybe force a patina. Weird that I haven't seen this before as I always use a knife that is 1095 or similar. Thanks
 
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I know that everything is quantifiable and all that but there does seem to be a weird thing with some knives where they're more prone to rusting than their fellow knives with blades that are chemically equivalent, by name at least.

I'm not saying this is the case here, it could be poor stainless, false advertising, bad heat treat, the acidity of your sweat, blade finish, etc.

Use tough cloth for a good dry protectant. I prefer this, it works very well. I live in Florida and am outside and in unfriendly knife environments regularly. Mineral oil is good too but can be self defeating as it attracts dust and debris readily and forces a cleaning quicker in certain knives, with bearings and such.

As far as forcing a patina, that would probably help too.
 
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Traditionals many times employ a "stainless" steel. Whatever that is. I think that's the case here. A lower grade not even mentioned steel that's "stainless".

Not dissing it, it's still a very serviceable and usable knife. Lower end steels usually sharpen very easily and are a dream for little things.

Just use a rust preventative.
 
There is a reason why
kitchen cutlery and diving knives
have traditionally been kept bright and shiny.
Try polishing to a mirror-like finish
the idea is to have a less porous suface
for any rust activation agents or foreign matter to "live in".
But it won't work for steel which already
has production quality problems...
 
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If it gets actual rust on it just hit it with some super fine steel wool or toothpaste. If it just turns dark leave the patina on and oil it. Use mineral oil if you use it to cut food.

Don’t worry about it too much. Just use your knife and enjoy it and a patina will form on its own.
 
You gotta stop eating all that Thai food....... I used to be on a pistol ream with a guy who ate VERY hot peppers all the time and he could handle your stainless pistol for 5 minutes and it would have his fingerprints rusted on it in about an hour (and it didn't matter if it was polished stainless or bead blasted). I've never seen anything like it. Some people really do sweat battery acid.
 
Wipe it down with a light coat of mineral oil.

Towards the very end Schrade did start to substitute stainless steel for non Schrade + knives, but Iirc it was random and they could still have carbon steel back springs.
 
The red color rust is not good. Oil it and rub it. It will become patina. No need to force a patina on a knife that rusts so easily. It will patina itself.
 
Stainless means it stains less but not impervious to it. Some steel will be more resistant to it than others.

Surface finish can absolutely cause issues with rusting as suggested above. If sweat and humidity have a place to accumulate it will. You could mirror polish all the surfaces to help stave it off longer.

Oil can help avoid it. I would suggest mineral oil because it's food safe and affordable. Some use wd40. Anyways it may need to be applied a few times as it won't last forever.
 
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