Carbon Steel Maintanence (Again!)

I

IMightBeWrong

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Feb 17, 2011
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516
I've seen it discussed here and there, but I still haven't seen it answered to my satisfaction quite yet. I know I need to oil my carbon steel blades. I usually keep a good coating on my fixed blades and store them, but I've been carrying my 1095 GEC for the last few days and I'm curious: If I want to keep it looking as polished as possible, no patina, how should I take care of it? I've got it coated in vegetable oil right now. Does it need to be kept in the coating? What if I oil it and wipe most of the oil off? Does that defeat the purpose, or does it sort of serve as "brushing your teeth" to keep the knife nice? What exactly would you guys recommend for keeping carbon steel looking brand new?

Just a note, one of the reasons I'm asking is because I want to buy a carbon steel Dovo straight razor at some point and I want to learn to take care of carbon steel well before I spend the money on that and start putting the blade on my face. I know some will recommend a patina, but that isn't what I want. I want to learn how to keep it shining! :)
 
I would stay away from food grade type oils...will sour, start to get tacky, and start to grey the blade. I personally use triflow. Another point is if you actually intend to use the blade, you will need to give it a good work over eventually. Petro to move the rust, sandpaper and paste to restore the finish. If you don't want to deal with maintenance maybe go stainless?
 
I like tuffglide. It's a micro-bonding "dry lubricant" that leaves a pretty good film on steel even after wiping and is great for lubricating worn-in folders.
Wouldn't call it food safe, but if you're using it for food prep, you're better off allowing the patina to form.
Incidentally, I'll be getting a dovo in soon to try single blade shaving. Basic stuff, keep it dry and lightly oiled and don't store in a humid area.
 
No, triflow is a mechanical light oil, called triflow. Food grade could use mineral oil. Really is going to come down to taking the plunge and just try it. I'm relatively new to this, and learned the hard way with my khukuri. Took it camping in the rain for 3 days...looked like a rusty leaf spring when I pulled it out a week later. Rinsed with gasoline and rubbed with steel wool. Used fine grit sand paper to get the tricky spots clean, polished with mothers and a rag to finish it up. Looks like brand new again. Now I know, always wipe moisture off after every use, and always oil after heavy use. But, knowing I can bring it back to brand new, I am not afraid to be hard on it. It can be fixed, just gotta try.
 
mineral oil, food safe and will not go rancid, baby oil is the same thing 'cept your knife could smell like a powdered baby:), for me its mineral oil, i wouldnt use anything else if you intend on using it for food prep, cheap too, doesnt go rancid, etc
gene
 
You may have seen my post about the horrible patch of black patina/corrosion that appeared on my 2011 forum knife.
Since taking the good advice that was posted I got it cleaned up nice n shiny.
I also got to thinking-ever seen old railway tracks that no train has run on for years -how they are brown and rusty looking? What about the mainline tracks? nice n shiny.
I'm thinking that regular use will keep this from happening again. No-one oils the tracks do they?But then the forces involved with trains running on them are different to knife use.
Just a thought anyway.
cheers
 
IME, for a user, you need to choose between a) food safe or b) shiny.

If you want something that is food safe, allow or force a patina. This will minimize the risk of destructive red rust from forming. Patina is good. More importantly, patina is just the normal, expected and well maintained end state for food safe carbon steel.

If you want shiny, most of the suggestions above will work.
 
pinnah is right, imo.

But just to add a little something - if you use to keep the blade oiled and take it away from foodprep almost your sweat might cause patina. When in the pocket the oil fil will get rubbed away and when it comes in contact with sweat almost there can be patina spots on the blade. Just a little tale of my experience - I used to carry my GEC #66 Serpentine Jack as often as I could. The backspring never came in direct contact with acids of fruits, vegetalbes. Now the backspring is as black as the blade. I carried it through summer and now I have paina all over the backspring and the blades.

If you want to keep your knife patina free - put it well oiled in a display then there´s no chance for any patina, except of a very humid air in generl (but that´s another thing).
 
The oiling isn't as important as the drying before re-sheathing. It can also help to swamp the blade with oil before putting it back in the sheath. The oil will transfer to the inside of the sheath where the leather touches the steel. It is often the points where water has been transferred that rust a blade.
Regarding straight razors, there's no sheath to worry about, so your main issues are wiping dry after use, (I usually use paper towel or toilet tissue) and storing it in a dry place (not sitting in a puddle). You shouldn't really need to polish it, but pretty much any proprietary metal polish would be OK.
 
Prbajtor is right. I have used a 1095 steel custom blade to clean Salmon for years. As long as I dried it after use the staining was minimal and the blade still looks great! So for food use knives, I say just keep it dry.
 
I am a two season knife guy now and have been for years.

Everyday during the summer I sweat through my pants in my job. Unlike most here, I can seem to generate rust spots on the blades I use during the day with my sweaty grimy hands (then retire back to my pocket) in about 12 hours or so. It depends on what I am doing, but after carrying my carbon knives for about 40 summers of construction work here in south Texas, that has been my experience.

I switched to stainless for the summer months and love it. NO maintenance of any kind, no penalty for missing the swipe of oil at night (sorry... wiping a dirty carbon blade on dirtier pants soaked with sweat doesn't do much responsible maintenance) and no worries if I forget and go home and crash without doing any knife maintenance. The knife is ready to go when I am.

BUT, it is a real treat for me to go back to carbon when our weather changes. It is like having new knives to use. Out come the old favorites, knives I have had and used on site for years.

If you want your knives to look new all the time, there are plenty of good stainless knives out there, including some that are near stainless in performance and corrosion resistance. Buy those knives and keep them buffed up. I have a good friend of mine that feels like a good buff on the wheel is what any knife needs and about every six months or so he renews the surface to take away any staining or scratches. That is his idea of "maintenance" and he thinks I don't take care of my knives because I don't buff out all traces of use.

To each their own, I guess.

Robert
 
I like shiny knives, including my carbon steel. What I try to do is:

Always use mineral oil every day at the end of the day. Put the oil on the blade and in the joints. Wipe off the excess with a paper towel or tissue, use the oily tissue to wipe the inside, bottom of the spring and back of the spring. If you don't use the knife regularly, pull it out every couple of months, see how it is and maybe put on some more oil.

Always rinse your blade after cutting lemons, fishing for pickles, cutting apples, spreading mustard, etc. anything that is acidic. If you can't rinse, then wipe clean, and if you can't rinse and really want to make sure, wipe the blade with some spit and then dry. When you rinse, rinse the whole knife if you were messy cutting your lemons. Dry blade, outside and inside.

You'll still get patina, but hopefully no pits or real dark black. Flitz takes it off pretty quick.
 
It's all much ado about nothing. I've been shaving with a straight razor for the past seven years or so. Other than the shank, there is little patina. Not bad for a tool that is constantly exposed to water. Just make sure to dry your straight thoroughly after use and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

- Christian
 
Thanks for all the replies! I'm looking forward to buying that Dovo. It sounds like maintaining carbon steel isn't such a scary thing as long as you pay attention to the blade. Just keep it dry and clean after use and apply oil when possible, and if that fails keep some supplies around for polishing back up every now and then?
 
IMightBeWrong said:
Thanks for all the replies! I'm looking forward to buying that Dovo. It sounds like maintaining carbon steel isn't such a scary thing as long as you pay attention to the blade. Just keep it dry and clean after use and apply oil when possible, and if that fails keep some supplies around for polishing back up every now and then?
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I've got a Dovo Black Star. I don't think you'll have trouble keeping it rust-free :)
 
From my experience, if you don't want a patina, don't use it for food preparation. But when you use it for cutting cardboard, wood etc it's quite easy to keep it shiny. Just wipe it clean and dry after use, and the occasional mineral oil treatment (especially for storage). The more problematic area is the backspring because it is exposed to sweaty hands.
As for the straight razor, I just clean mine with hot water after every use and dry it and never had a problem (I even keep it in the bathroom where it's quite humid). I also suspect that the shaving soap helps, because it leaves some kind of greasy coating on the blade which isn't too easy to wash off.
 
If you like shiny and want to use the knife with food, I'd suggest getting a stainless steel blades knife. Way to much work to keep carbon shiny unless you just cut the occasional thread.
 
Thalestin said:
If you like shiny and want to use the knife with food, I'd suggest getting a stainless steel blades knife. Way to much work to keep carbon shiny unless you just cut the occasional thread.
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This is indeed starting so sound like the way to go for a food knife. I'll give the carbon a shot for a while, though. I'm also going to stick with olive oil for now even though it can get tacky, but I'm going to clean and change the coating every evening and see how it holds up. I'm curious if I can keep it shining even with food prep as long as I clean it every night before it goes in the drawer. If not, at least the one I'm trying this with wasn't super pricy. I planned on making it a user anyway.
 
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