5160 rusting

stabman

stabman

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Sep 17, 2007
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Just wondering 2 things.
1) How easily does 5160 rust?
2) What's a good coating to use on the steel, something which will give a coating like Busse has?
 
1) Not any worse than 1095 or O1, but neither of those steels are considered all that corrosion resistant. I have my RD-9 which is made of that steel and I have not seen any evidence of rust even with most of the coating gone.

2) I don't think there is anything you can put on it to match the powder coats used professionally. I could wrong. Even those coatings always wear with use.

3) Easiest thing to do is just to apply a coat of oil before storing it for any length of time. I like to use mineral oil (baby oil at shoppers drug mart). In the field, I don't worry about corrosion. I just let it happen and then clean up the blade when I get back.

4) 2nd easiest thing to do is to force a patina on the blade. Like coatings, a patina will scratch off or wear under heavy use, but because it doesn't have much physical thickness, it doesn't get snagged like industrial coatings so the wear marks tend to be more even and doesn't affect slicing as much. You can do a vinegar soak and then sharpen it afterward or use mustard to put a coal patina design on the blade. The patina are excellent at combating corrosion.
 
I've had my RD7 (5160 satin) for almost 4 years now and no rust problems. I wipe my blade with "Tuff Cloth" when I get them and after every use and it leaves a nice protective coating on them ;)
 
Wax.

Car wax would work nicely, also Johnson's paste wax, Renaissance wax, etc.
 
Cold Bluing works too. And it is easy to apply. Also, if you scratch off part of it, or rust interrupts it, you just steel wool away the rust and clean up the blade, and blue the parts that are now exposed. Continuing to do this will give a variable sort of appearance, which after a time will be chaotic enough to be considered art by some. Perfect for a working blade.

And don't fear rust and corrosion, these simply mean that you are actually a knife user, not just a collector.

And Kaboom for Tub and Tile applied with a Brass Brush works wonders at removing rust. Wonders.

Marion
 
Here's the result of a lemon juice.

SANY0437.jpg~original

SANY0437.jpg~original


I like it.:)
 
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I favor a combination of these suggestions: either blue or patina, then use Johnson's paste wax as a protector. I've been using paste wax on my knives and blued guns for 20 years now with good results.
 
Dantor said:
I've had my RD7 (5160 satin) for almost 4 years now and no rust problems. I wipe my blade with "Tuff Cloth" when I get them and after every use and it leaves a nice protective coating on them ;)
Click to expand...
Thats awesome!
I almost bought one, but I went spec plus gen 2 instead. Im hoping mine will resist as well as yours!
 
Dry it off after use, and wipe it down with some rust preventive (BreakFree CLP works for me) if you're going to store it. But I never treated my 5160 lawn mower blades and they held up just fine.
 
Such an old thread yet......I.....can’t......resist.....NO......AARGH!

I love making blades from 5160, but it does rust easy if not cared for IMHO. I just use mineral oil on my bare blades and has always worked fine plus it doesn’t go rancid and is edible so don’t have to worry about residue!

Also if anyone cares since op is long gone....air cure cerakote is a decent home finish. The bake on is a bit better but takes more equipment. I would say it holds up the best for stuff we can do at home that I have tried. Mustard or hot vinegar are easy patina inducing methods too.
 
My Voorhis had orange rust spots all over its 11.25" blade after using it under rain, and got into this condition after an hour in its sheath, before the rain actually stopped long enough to wipe it off...

The spots ate surprisingly deep into the metal in that short time (due to being sheathed), to the point a quick worn 600 sandpaper sanding would not fully erase the spot outlines, and the edge had lost all its phonebook paper cutting ability in its spotted area.

A baked-on Cerakoat proved an adequate solution, although the micro-bevel of the edge is still exposed, but that is a much smaller surface to wipe down (and also not touching the sheath when sheathed, since it "floats" in mid-air), especially compared to all the rest of that huge blade. Sheath contact means no air circulation, and that promotes rusts in minutes.

0-1 is worse in my view, as my Randall caught one dark stain from just rinsing dust off under tap water(!): This never happened with 5160, but again Cerakoating solved the 0-1's staining problems.

Gaston
 
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