Are Those Rust? (20150616update)

A

alexlinap23

Joined
Jun 1, 2015
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I was cleaning my new ZT0562CF after few days breaking in. And I found that there are some green stuff around the place where the KVT sits on the blade. Are those rust? I can't easily pushing them off, kinda stuck on it. Or are they glue? I don't think it's necessary putting glue on where bearing sits.

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20150616update: ZT doesn't seem want to reply my question, so I contacted the dealer I bought the knife from, and they replaced a new one for me.
 
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Those look like crystalization forming from acid bath, similar to what you find on the car battery terminals.
I'm surprised too when I took my apart that the bearing chamber is completely dry, no grease.
 
Maybe it's some dried polishing compound residue.

Perhaps you can contact ZT and ask them. I'd be curious to hear what they say.
 
Is it common in Zero Tolerance knives? Or is it just me having bad luck? I found it very difficult to get rid of it, and I really don't want to damage the blade. Is it OK to just leave them on the blade?
 
alexlinap23 said:
Is it common in Zero Tolerance knives? Or is it just me having bad luck? I found it very difficult to get rid of it, and I really don't want to damage the blade. Is it OK to just leave them on the blade?
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I haven't seen that before and I take all my knives apart to clean and Lube, I will check my 0808 that I bought at the same time as my 0562CF to see if any grease was used and also that residue.
 
After searching the internet, I saw some people using boiling soda water to scrape off those acid bath crystals. Could my blade use the same method? Will it damage the metal with some chemical reaction? Thanks.
 
alexlinap23 said:
After searching the internet, I saw some people using boiling soda water to scrape off those acid bath crystals. Could my blade use the same method? Will it damage the metal with some chemical reaction? Thanks.
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Why would you suspect it has been in an acid bath? That blade is not acid washed, it is stone washed.
 
dr_fosg8 said:
Why would you suspect it has been in an acid bath? That blade is not acid washed, it is stone washed.
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What about in the cutting or CNC process? I thought stone wash is like the finishing process. Maybe those crystal crud occur before stone wash.
 
alexlinap23 said:
What about in the cutting or CNC process? I thought stone wash is like the finishing process. Maybe those crystal crud occur before stone wash.
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Exactly, I mentioned that earlier that it could be dried lubricant from the machining process.

I don't think there is ever an acid washed step.
 
It's cut / milled to shape, holes drilled and then acid bath and then stone tumbled and then grinded and then sharpened. I'm surprised to see the acid still remaining and crystallized.

No biggie, use baking soda with water 1:1 and it should dissolve the crystallization, it won't harm the blade, but do check to see if the Steele underneath has any pittings (little holes that are caused by corrosion) - if yes, send the darn thing back to ZT
 
wiredbeans said:
It's cut / milled to shape, holes drilled and then acid bath and then stone tumbled and then grinded and then sharpened. I'm surprised to see the acid still remaining and crystallized.

No biggie, use baking soda with water 1:1 and it should dissolve the crystallization, it won't harm the blade, but do check to see if the Steele underneath has any pittings (little holes that are caused by corrosion) - if yes, send the darn thing back to ZT
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Do you have some inside info on their process? I am having a hard time trying to understand what the need for an acid bath during any machining process might be.
 
wiredbeans said:
It's cut / milled to shape, holes drilled and then acid bath and then stone tumbled and then grinded and then sharpened. I'm surprised to see the acid still remaining and crystallized.

No biggie, use baking soda with water 1:1 and it should dissolve the crystallization, it won't harm the blade, but do check to see if the Steele underneath has any pittings (little holes that are caused by corrosion) - if yes, send the darn thing back to ZT
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Thank you. I'll try it later. Does the water temperature need to be warm or whatsoever?
 
Water temp does not matter, you are just countering the acid with Basic solution, it will generate heat on its own but don't worry, it will just become very slightly warm if any
 
dr_fosg8 said:
Do you have some inside info on their process? I am having a hard time trying to understand what the need for an acid bath during any machining process might be.
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Ok, here we go:, the Steele blank is laser cut to a precise shape of the blade, holes and the recess for the bearing are milled, then acid bath is done to give it a "sand blast" finish (it's way cheaper and the end result is the same for the appearance) and then stone tumbled and the the blade grind machining is done after leaving the rest in stone wash and then polished to lighten the color from acid bath. Benchmade's stone wash blades is the best I've seen, it's a mirror polish with stone wash on it.
Spyderco does it the opposite, they stone tumble and then acid dip and then rings off and done so they look rough which I like because the more you use it the better the finish becomes.
 
wiredbeans said:
Ok, here we go:, the Steele blank is laser cut to a precise shape of the blade, holes and the recess for the bearing are milled, then acid bath is done to give it a "sand blast" finish (it's way cheaper and the end result is the same for the appearance) and then stone tumbled and the the blade grind machining is done after leaving the rest in stone wash and then polished to lighten the color from acid bath. Benchmade's stone wash blades is the best I've seen, it's a mirror polish with stone wash on it.
Spyderco does it the opposite, they stone tumble and then acid dip and then rings off and done so they look rough which I like because the more you use it the better the finish becomes.
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Ok, regardless, OP take care in what you do. What that is, or is not is still a guess at best. You may cause you knives warranty to be void if you do to much.

Beans, no disrespect but unless you do claim to have definite info to ZT manufacturing process your speculating just like the rest of us. You may very well be right but I feel you know no better than I or anyone else on the acid part. But I won't clutter the thread with any more debate on it here.

Also OP, did you contact ZT an attach pics of what you have found? May be best to give them a call. Might be something easily answered by them.
 
dr_fosg8 said:
Ok, regardless, OP take care in what you do. What that is, or is not is still a guess at best. You may cause you knives warranty to be void if you do to much.

Beans, no disrespect but unless you do claim to have definite info to ZT manufacturing process your speculating just like the rest of us. You may very well be right but I feel you know no better than I or anyone else on the acid part. But I won't clutter the thread with any more debate on it here.

Also OP, did you contact ZT an attach pics of what you have found? May be best to give them a call. Might be something easily answered by them.
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Yes, I have contacted them, and also given them the link of the current thread. I'm not taking any action before ZT's official reply, since it's my first ZT knife. Thanks for all your guys' help. I'll be posting update as soon as they reply.
 
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