Carbon Steel Rust Prevention

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pogo

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Jun 8, 2005
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I am looking for a safe way to prevent rust as in food prep. This rules out chemicals. I have heard food grade mineral oil works. Anyone know if vegetable or Olive oil will work here at preventing rust? Thanks!:confused:
 
pogo said:
I am looking for a safe way to prevent rust as in food prep. This rules out chemicals. I have heard food grade mineral oil works. Anyone know if vegetable or Olive oil will work here at preventing rust? Thanks!:confused:
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Ballistol. Completely non-toxic. :-)

-Connor
 
Vegitable and Olive oil do work, but you have to remember two things about them. 1) they are quickly and easily wiped off the blade if it touches -- much less cuts -- anything. 2) these oils will go rancid fairly quickly in open air, so they are not suitable for long-term storage.

Mineral oil doesn't go rancid, but it is also very easily wiped off the blade.

For long-term storage of a knife that will eventually be used on food -- off-season storage of knives for hunting or camping, the storage of fancy carving knives, table knives, etc. -- a good choice is wax. Carneuba wax is actually a food ingredient (often used to make candies shiney).

Some will point to the labels on products like Ren Wax which caution against eating them. The problem, however, is not the wax but the distilled petroleum spirits which make the wax soft so you can spread it. Once the paste is spread thin, those volatile spirits evaporate leaving the hard wax behind. A tiny bit of that wax that might get into fod from cutting with that knife will be quite harmless.
 
One of my "go to" knives in the kitchen is Grandad's old Dexter carbon steel boning knife. Having been in use for, I reckon, at least 50 years, it naturally has a great patina. I don't oil it or treat it with anything, ever. Just wipe it dry after each use. No problems at all.

If yours is new, I'd just give it a patina treatment and then wipe it dry each time you use it. (It'll take a LOT of reminding before your wife or GF gets in the habit, however. Trust me.)
 
You can get food grade mineral oil at any drug store because it's sold as a laxative. It works very well.

I only use it for fairly long term storage. I use 1095 carbon steel kitchen knives, and as long as I rinse them and dry them all I've ever seen has been some patina.
 
Yes, like mnblade was saying if you don't mind a patina on the blade then as long as it's clean and dry you'll have no problems. My folks have an old carbon blade paring knife and it's the sharpest most popular blade in the kitchen with a beautiful patina.
 
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One of the contributors to rust is obviously moisture. If its a folder you carry with a high carbon blade don't just wipe the blade with mineral oil. Get the insides of the liners and back spring or spacer where the blade is nested for99.9% of its life and coat those also especially if you have already oiled the blade and keep seeing recurring rust on the edge.

It is most likely that you have a small moisture pocket on the inside of the body of the folder that the edge is near and if you oil inside it will help prevent that recurring rusting on the edge. There is a price though because lint will collect more readily if there is excess oil in your knife. It doesn't take much. Just a thin layer is all you need but unfortunately a thin layer is enough to cause hairs and lint to stick to the insides and the blade. It gets to the point that you have three choices.

1) ignore the rust and wipe it off when you see it.

2) ignore the hairs and lint collected from the oil resisdue.

3) go with stainless and retire the old carbon blades.

STR
 
What about silicone spray? I recall seeing a can of silicone spray that said "food grade" or "food safe".
 
Gollnick said:
Vegitable and Olive oil do work, but you have to remember two things about them. 1) they are quickly and easily wiped off the blade if it touches -- much less cuts -- anything. 2) these oils will go rancid fairly quickly in open air, so they are not suitable for long-term storage.
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Olive oil is a monounaturate, you will likely reapply it before it goes rancid, only the polyunsaturates go rancid really quicky because of all the double bonds. If you want something extremely stable just use coconut oil.

-Cliff
 
May seem like a stupid question, buy how do I give it a knife a "patina treatment'? Have a set of Henkle in the kitchen that I worry about, and any info would be appreciated.
 
The "patina" treatment only works on carbon steel knives - aren't the Henkles stainless steel?

Anyway, with a carbon steel blade, rub the blade (or stick the blade in or through) something acidic - a potato, a lemon or other citrus, works well. The surface of the metal will develop a dull, grayish tone. Wash and dry the blade. You're done, unless you want to coat it with oil or was - but that's how we started this, isn't it?
 
You can patina carbon steel with vinegar, as well as other acidic substances.

The most consistent and even patina I ever got was from white vinegar (the cheap 89-cent/gallon kind from the grocery store). I heated it to boiling, then left the A2 blade sitting in it for ten minutes. After soaking in the vinegar, I rinsed with water. The steel had a very even coating of medium charcoal gray patina which then resisted further corrosion from food cutting quite well.
 
I rust proofed an old fixed blade camping knife that I got when I was a kid. I must have been about 12 years old. I melted parafin wax (for canning jams - bought at grocery store) over a candle flame and dripped the molten wax onto the blade. I quickly wiped the blade with the semi-molten wax. The knife has a bit of a patina (It may have been that way before) but also because of the semi-blackened wax (you try to keep wax clean in a candle flame.) But I've had it for over 20 years and have abused it, and kept it wet, and done all the bad things with it. The knife has no rust.

Just a thought.

LJG
 
the white vinegar, followed by the parafin works great. try using a heat
gun or hair dryer to melt the wax. be sure to remove it from the edge so
you don't contaminate your sharpener.
 
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