Bark River Highland Special A2: did I ruin it?

J

jayp

Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
16
Hi Guys, forgive me if this was asked before:

I cut up a backyard thick plastic above ground pool with my A2 Highland special. The knife got wet during the process, and was immersed in standing water for about 30 min. I washed it off with fresh water afterwards but did not oil it. It developed several rust spots that I noticed the following morning. I got some rust remover containing phosphoric acid and applied it. The blade discolored (which I don't mind) but is quite dull now. Can I still strop it to a sharp edge or did I neglect my knife beyond repair?

Thanks
 
A2 can, will, and does rust. Why would you use acid rather than polish out the rust spots? Kind of like putting your dinnerware in an autoclave after dinner. Your knife is dull because the acid has eaten away at the apex of the cutting edge. It will need to be resharpened and some new maintenance routine applied going forward.
 
RevDevil said:
A2 can, will, and does rust. Why would you use acid rather than polish out the rust spots? Kind of like putting your dinnerware in an autoclave after dinner. Your knife is dull because the acid has eaten away at the apex of the cutting edge. It will need to be resharpened and some new maintenance routine applied going forward.
Click to expand...

Should have came here before dealing with the rust. It should have been obvious to use polish instead of acid. Guess I'll get out the strop and compound, or will more extreme sharpening methods be needed?
 
You will need to start with sandpaper, 1000 grit should do. If the knife still has a factory edge then 320-400 might be needed to correct any factory misgrinds. Once you have re-sharpened the edge you can use your strop to deburr and polish the edge.
 
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