AAAAARGH ! RUST.

meako

meako

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
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So I got my Toothpicks out to admire and found ..to my shrieking horror..Black Rust...on some of them..awful crusty black crap.
The pen blade on the Primitive Bone was the worst...turning red!!!!
Cleaned off the worst of it..steel wool and Autosol. Now ...how to remove the black staining.? And How The Hell does this occur? They are in a clean tackle box with cotton material and stored in a drawer...The scary part is that this happened very quickly...I had these out for the toothpick thread about a month ago...no sign of rust back then...
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Any advice welcome
Cheers.
 
That's really disturbing :eek: Can't be rodent urine as you keep that huge snake.....Something to do with impregnation of the cotton material I suppose ? I had a nasty experience with a pocket knife in a sheath from a good source-massive verdigris attack.

Looks like you have to use various grades of paper on that as it's deep corrosion from some sort of reaction.

I daren't look in my cupboard now...:eek:🤯
 
That’s no good Jon.
I like renaissance was for protection.
Might have to give the blades a fine sanding.
Good luck.
 
That does look like some of my worst cel damage, but if it's bone, the gas would have had to come from a nearby knife, which should have damage at least as bad.
That is distressing. What more could you have done, and what happened?
 
meako said:
How The Hell does this occur? They are in a clean tackle box with cotton material and stored in a drawer...The scary part is that this happened very quickly...I had these out for the toothpick thread about a month ago...no sign of rust back then...
Click to expand...

Sorry to see that. I had a similar experience with one of my laguioles recently. Put it away, and when I grabbed it to carry a couple of weeks later noticed pepper spots on the blade. The pepper was mixed with red and left pits. 🤬

I'm gonna use that laguiole like the peasant knife it was meant to be.
 
Yeah, as others have said it could be celluloid off gassing. Look the other Knives that are stored nearby for signs of trouble.
 
Cotton can absorb moisture from the air and hold it against your knives if they are directly contacting the cotton. There may be something better but I’ve had great results with Eezox and Flitz on knives and guns. I have never had a rust problem using these when storing knives or blue guns.
 
I bought a couple of the inexpensive Gerstner style machinist tool chests, they are lined with a green felt or imitation felt. After about a month the side of the bolster in contact with the felt was showing a light red rust, fortunately I was able to rub it off with a cloth and a little mineral oil. Had I not discovered the problem soon enough I'm afraid the problem would have been much worse. I lined all of the drawers with wax paper, problem solved! For sure, ditch the cotton.
 
That's a bugger Meako, I feel for you, I have the very same battle my friend. in fact there are a few knives I have to constantly watch as they can go for it big time like yours if not watched and maintained frequently.
Are the Rust areas in the shape of your fingers? Do you wipe your blades down after handling them- even after cleaning ensuring you don't touch the steel with your fingers.
I learnt this in the Car Painting World decades ago, where my hands are sweaty, so there's Body fats, Sweat that has a high salt content etc- my hands leave a red handprint on steel literally overnight.

But like the others said - take out the Cotton Wool, and if this happened so fast- there must be a Celluloid knife in the midst outgassing surely?
Usually if it is it will affect the exposed steel of the blades of the surrounding knives more-so? ( please correct me if I am wrong there) - I have seen this a lot where there is rust speckling on the exposed part of the blades more than the part of the blade deep in the liner.

Thats just a darned shame, it's heart breaking - it happened to one of my knives gifted to me, it was a Rendezvous Barlow- but the rust was actually inside the liner around a pin, and then when the blade was closed- the etched part of the blade was right next to it and bang! a dark Rust spot half the size of your little finger nail on the limited edition etch. This knife I believe hasn't been right during assembly - rust keeps coming out from in between the Liners / Handles onto the springs - no knives next to it are affected - which tells me the problems were inside the knife waiting to come out.
The rust was in such a concentrated specified area around the pin inside the well- I believe the rust was coming through from in between the handle and liner - alongside the pin and into the well where the blade rests - I have to take that knife out all the time as its non stop.
 
As others have stated, ditch the cotton.
Even the sterile medical cotton will absorb moisture.
If you incyst on cotton, boil it in beeswax to make it moisture proof. Beeswax is less odiferous than soaking in tar. 😇
 
Thank you all for your replies.
OK
Cotton was old cut up t shirt : Gone
Also had some of that white plasticy package foam looking stuff in there: Gone...
They are all bone or wood...
Nearest Cel knife is the other side of the room in an open bowl on top of the chest of drawers...its Schrade Butter & Molasses and not gassed out.
Campbellclanman Campbellclanman Dunc I like your fingerprint theory..I could probably take the Pioneer down to the cop shop for identification of the culprit.20260514_063436(1).jpg
Anyways I'll be buying a new tackle box today...some of these were 2 to a compartment.
Definitely some sort of dessicant/ moisture absorber....those little satchets that come with food sometimes..?
And Yes..these are not users so my cleanliness routine is getting upgraded .
Cheers.
 
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