Carbon steel care?

FoxholeAtheist

FoxholeAtheist

Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
2,315
Okay, this is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but I have no clue how to care for non-stainless knives. I own one of the old Blackjack Mambas that I bought... 17 years ago at a gun show, and have been basically scared to use for anything since I didn't want it to rust away to nothing. Now that I'm a bit older (not a 16 year old kid anymore), I'm thinking that it's stupid that I have this really nice knife that I've done nothing with, and would like to possibly use it as a camping/snowshoeing knife. So, please, if anyone could give me some advice on techniques, products, etc, for caring for the knife, that would be grand. Even better would be if you could give it in two sections... one for while I'm using it, and one for when I'm back at home.

I'll attach two pictures, one of the overall knife, and one showing the corrosion/patina/??? on the handle. Anything I need to do to stop this from going further?

Thanks in advance!

mambascarfMedium.jpg



mambahandleMedium.jpg
 
What you see in the handle area is almost certainly from handling the knife .... your skin containing salts, and likely being either base or acidic, which gets deposited on the steel. Over time this can result in quite a bit of pitting since once the process starts the steel can continue oxidizing. Simply wiping off the areas touched afterwards with a lightly oiled cloth or one treated with silicone goes a long ways towards preventing this.

In my experience it really doesn't take much to keep a carbon steel blade in good shape. Just remove any material (sap, blood, etc.) that might have gotten on the blade, make sure it's dry, and give it a little oil. Some oils are better than others for sure - fulloflead's tests that hardheart linked to are great, BreakFree for example is an excellent protectant - but if you keep the blade dry/clean and don't live in a really tough environment (lots of humidity, sea air, something like that) even inexpensive mineral oil will do a good job of preventing rust and corrosion.

Remember that no oil or wax is going to hold up when the knife is used and will get rubbed off quickly. I've had small rust spots start forming while using a knife, but continued work actually tends to keep removing the rust, and it almost always wipes right off when you're done. Like the slight pitting you got in the handle area, the real concern is if you let rust or corrosion get started, and then give it time to work.

Over time your "working" carbon knives will probably develop a patina, usually dark in color from ferrous oxide and other compounds, as opposed to reddish-orange rust which is ferric oxide. Think of this patina kind of like bluing on a firearm or other steel, it helps prevent further oxidation.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks much, both of you. Looks like I'll be picking up a Marine Tuf-Cloth, and possibly figuring out a way to carry it with me.

I assume that this same method would work on a Gransfors axe, should I get one of those.

Thanks again!:thumbup:
 
Yeah, and most axes are super easy to care for because it's only the edge you're dealing with. They also do a good job of self-cleaning with every chop.

I've never used Tuf-Cloth but I've heard very good things, believe they have something that works chemically to prevent rust and corrosion.

Bet in another 17 years that Mamba's going to have some real character .... we'll be expecting more photos then. ;)
 
oh I thought the bluing of my steel was because I used my knife to cut chicken and something messed up the steel! what a relief :D
 
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