Recommendation? Rust under full tang fixed blade scales - Would a patina help?

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Nov 12, 2012
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Hey guys,

I've just noticed a rust spot peeking out from underneath a screwed-on G10 scale on a fixed blade I haven't used for a while. After taking the scales off and cleaning everything, it looks like a bit of apple juice or some other fruit got in between the scale and the tang, causing a bit of surface rust. Easily cleaned up, no pitting yet, so no big deal... but what if I'd left the knife in my car for a few months?

So I'm wondering if there's a way to deal with this that doesn't involve epoxying the scales permanently to the blade, and how you guys deal with it. I gravitate towards knives with screwed-on scales because I like the look, but this is making me rethink epoxied + pinned handles...

My idea: Why not just patina the entire blade, tang and all, without the scales attached? Ideally, the patina on the area under the scales would provide some degree of protection from things like a drop of fruit juice running in there when slicing an apple.

If not... what're the alternatives? Would a liberal coat of mineral oil help? Wouldn't that go rancid under the handle scales after a while?

Any great ideas?
 
Patina by itself won't prevent more rusting. It slows it down a little bit, more so with the type of rust resulting from exposure to simple moisture (water or humidity). Fruit juices and other more acidic things will still be aggressive enough to induce rusting, whether the steel is patinated or not. More so, if the juice is trapped against the steel by the handles, or worse, absorbed by the handle and held in place against the steel that way.

Mineral oil never goes rancid. It's chemically inert, so it doesn't oxidize at all (oxidation is what causes rancidity). Food-based oils (vegetable, olive oil, etc) will oxidize and go rancid, however. They'll also become somewhat acidic in doing so, meaning they'd also be a risk for more rust, if left in place too long without cleaning & replacing it with fresh oil.

With pinned scales, you'd likely do best by epoxying the handles in place to keep moisture/liquids out, if they're not already epoxied by the maker. But at least with the screwed-on scales, you still have the chance to periodically remove them and see how it's holding up. That's where a periodic cleaning and application of mineral oil or some other rust-preventative could be helpful.
 
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Mineral oil doesn't go rancid--it's a synthetic. I'd personally suggest taping the blade at the scale line and giving it a spray of clear lacquer or using a thin coating of clear nail polish. Makes for a thin but stable barrier.
 
Mineral oil doesn't go rancid--it's a synthetic. I'd personally suggest taping the blade at the scale line and giving it a spray of clear lacquer or using a thin coating of clear nail polish. Makes for a thin but stable barrier.

That's a good idea. I'd forgotten about lacquered finishes on some knives. I have an old Western fixed blade with a brass guard, given to me by my father about ~45 years ago. The brass guard had a lacquered finish on it, which kept it from tarnishing or going 'green' with verdigris for all this time, save for some small areas where the lacquer had been worn off.
 
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I use spray lacquer on a lot of agricultural tools. The stuff dries hard in, like, 10 minutes, and it puts a nice coating on the metal surfaces that don't experience significant wear. Regular use keeps the wearing parts clean, but the lacquer keeps the non-wearing parts from rusting in storage.
 
You guys are awesome, thanks for the quick help! I'm going to try a thin coat of mineral oil first (entire blade + tang, then screw on the scales), and then see if my better half has some clear nail polish I can steal.

Do you guys treat all your fixed blades with screwed-on scales in a similar way? Or is a little rust under the scales something most people here just live with?
 
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