I'm very sure it is as we discussed earlier on page one, which is whats coming from your hands Meako matey.
As we discussed with what Sweat contains and how it effects metals, in the Car Painting scene we use different solvents / cleaners for different purposes, obviously the game changed when waterborne paints came onto the scene.
Solvents like High-Strength Degreasers, Silicone removers DO NOT remove fingerprints or I should say more correctly the body fats, sweat/ salts all within the fingerprint residue, nor will protective oils for metals. (think of contaminants sitting under the layer of oil).
In our industry - because of the very same reasons we use both silicone removers to remove any possible silicone and other surface contaminants
but we also use a water borne antistatic cleaner that also has a touch of IPA in the mix - water being the important player here along with a few other goodies, this is the one that removes the body oils/ salts from finger print residue, I have demonstrated this many times and it surprises most people just how Silicone removers do not remove this contamination - it is proven to the point that this is written into processes of the refinish systems.
Meako- what I also started noticing was inside the nail nicks, we have to care for this area as well matey, how many times has a knife enthusiast seen carbon spots/ rust around a nail nick, because it sits in the nail nick and then starts from there, I see this a lot.
After a maintenance check of my knives (I have to with the ambient conditions here), I use Johnsons Baby Oil (Mineral Oil) in the joints and work the blades, punches etc so the oil travels down alongside the Spring/s.
I then use a car-painting product which is a mixture of Meths and Water that I use now - this takes care of the residue from my finger prints, wiping on with a damp micro-fiber cloth that has the Meths and Water, I then use another cloth to dry.
I then Ren Wax all my blades including the Stainless.
I have been heart broken like you my friend earlier on with this very problem.
On my mint knives, I use gloves because of the very reason we have just discussed as its a necessity.
It's a bloody hassle, but with my hands and where I live - there is no other way.
I also explain this to people before when asking permission to handle their knives - especially at knife shows or viewing a mates knives.
Just to go further with the Human finger print residue.......
Back in the earlier days, this was early 1990's, I shifted my business to another premises, I purchased a brand new Bake Oven , and was moving forward, what we did not have in those days were educated Tech Reps who supported businesses like we do the extreme these days, so we learnt through a lot of mistakes and by going to the odd course etc.
Well, we weren't educated
about this very thing - finger print residue! Nobody wore gloves those days, it was almost unheard of.
We used to do a lot of back to metal high-end repaints and the phone rang one day... a customer was telling me about some tiny bubbles, this was a vehicle that we stripped to metal.... yep you know whats coming up don't you!
I asked for the car to come in and I just about fell over - there were exact palm prints in the
tiniest of bubbles where one had leant on the pillar of the car during the final silicone wiping on wiping off - and boy we used to not miss a inch when doing the final degrease, the contamination was in-between the Primer and Topcoats - these were quite costly repaints and quite costly rectification I can tell you!
So, that was our lesson into the introduction of the MUST in wearing rubber gloves during our job, and here's the thing Meako, like anything, when these first experiences happen- they can be catastrophic and we then earn how to avoid it happening again- once we learn how and why of course. We then fix everything up and move on with new processes to avoid such happenings again in the future.
The weird thing is it never used to happen until it did, and this is exactly where you are finding yourself now Meako- and it sucks to see you going through this.
Good luck my friend!
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