Care and Feeding of your Becker

Liveitloud

Liveitloud

Joined
Jul 1, 2006
Messages
2,901
Just had some questions about how you care for your blades. I have an Izulu that I have noticed the edge getting some superficial rust. Most of my Beckers haven't seen enough use yet to worry about but I was curious how do you treat your edges to reduce the chance of rust?

For those who have stripped your blades, has patina and or bluing been a good been a good method of protecting the steel or do you have to be more proactive without the coating to make sure you don't get rust?

Just would like to get some basic info and consensus on this blade steel and how best to keep it up. I have been looking at the BK5 with much interest lately but haven't pulled the trigger. It would be a knife I would want to use a lot around camp for food prep (as it is intended) but have some concern about blade maintenance.

Last time we went out camping I was doing food prep with my Wohlwend compact bushcrafter. I was not really killing myself but I wiped the blade down after each use. Sheathed it up (in kydex) and the next morning had a pretty fair amount of rust on it.

I believe the knife is 01. Ended up cleaning it up with some really fine steel wool and flitz.

Anyway, would like some conversation on coated blade treatment, patina treatment and bluing treatment and how you think these hold up.

EDITED TO ADD: I also was curious, to those who have stripped your blades, did you protect the edge at all or just put stripper on the entire blade? I am thinking about doing something with my 11 but don't want to screw it up out of the gate.
 
I've stripped both my 2 and my 14 by just removing the scales and putting them in a stripper bath.

After that I rinsed them off and did a 50 % vinegar, 50% water bath to give them a light patina, don't forget to stop the oxidation with backing soda.

After all is said and done, I keep them coated with a light amount of olive oil.
 
OK I hope I cover all your questions.

First the edge isn't affected by paint stripper. In fact if you try to put something on the edge more than likely the stripper will eat your covering and leaving you with a mess.

As far as protection, a forced patina with vinegar or other acidic foods will give you better protection on s tripped blade than bluing. I've done both and while the blue does add some corrosion resistance, the food patina seems to protect better. That doesn't mean that it won't rust, proper care is still needed but it just does it better.
A little about the bluing. The stuff is poisonous. So when using it on a knife that will be prepping food alot make sure to seal it with something. flitz makes a wax type stuff which prevent wear and fingerprints etc and keeps the blue from getting in your food. I've used blued knife for food prep a few times, but I wouldn't recommend it on a n everyday kitchen/grill knife.

As far as patina wear, the mustard vinegar patina will wear fast on hard use than the gun blue, and is not as easy to reapply. Gun blue if it wears from chopping or batoning you just wipe some on the spot and its near instant, where a vinegar and mustard design will need to be reapplied and you will need to wait some time and your pretty pattern will be wrecked (that's why I stopped doing patterns with mustard and just so randomness now with it so I'm not sad when it gets wrecked).

You should really look at the costs and benefits of stripping. I used to strip all my beckers and mod em because it was fun and a hobby for me, but stripped beckers do require more upkeep. Since a coated Becker only has an exposed edge, the next time you cut something the rust is removed by the friction. A stripped Becker with rust on the spine isn't bad, but requires so flitz/ rubbing compound/ sandpaper to shine it back up again, hencr more upkeep and more oil.
The benefits of a stripped blade, especially the bk5, is less friction and on a cooking knife that makes a world of difference when slicing and dicing veggies and meat although you may not even notice it, that's just me.

Now as of late I've only stripped my bk5 and patinaed it for corrosion resistance, the others and from here on out are goinf to be kept black. After every use with the bk5 I washed it thoroughly including under the scales and towel dried it more than once ( since the towel is wiping small specs of moisture back on the blade) and air dried only after I was sure the towel got 99.9% of the moisture. Rust is gonna happen, just get at it before it becomes an issue and your fine.


Hope that helps at all.
 
the edge on my 1095 & 1095 CV blades will tarnish in the sheath, but I haven't had one try to rust. 2 or 3 swipes on a ceranic rod or diamond stone brings then back to bright and shiny.
tuf-glide cloth (or other silicone impregnated "gun" cloth) is popular with a lot of folks for rust prevention.
 
LECTER said:
I've stripped both my 2 and my 14 by just removing the scales and putting them in a stripper bath.

After that I rinsed them off and did a 50 % vinegar, 50% water bath to give them a light patina, don't forget to stop the oxidation with backing soda.

After all is said and done, I keep them coated with a light amount of olive oil.
Click to expand...

What exactly do you mean when you say stop the oxidation with backing soda?

clich said:
OK I hope I cover all your questions.

First the edge isn't affected by paint stripper. In fact if you try to put something on the edge more than likely the stripper will eat your covering and leaving you with a mess.

As far as protection, a forced patina with vinegar or other acidic foods will give you better protection on s tripped blade than bluing. I've done both and while the blue does add some corrosion resistance, the food patina seems to protect better. That doesn't mean that it won't rust, proper care is still needed but it just does it better.
A little about the bluing. The stuff is poisonous. So when using it on a knife that will be prepping food alot make sure to seal it with something. flitz makes a wax type stuff which prevent wear and fingerprints etc and keeps the blue from getting in your food. I've used blued knife for food prep a few times, but I wouldn't recommend it on a n everyday kitchen/grill knife.

As far as patina wear, the mustard vinegar patina will wear fast on hard use than the gun blue, and is not as easy to reapply. Gun blue if it wears from chopping or batoning you just wipe some on the spot and its near instant, where a vinegar and mustard design will need to be reapplied and you will need to wait some time and your pretty pattern will be wrecked (that's why I stopped doing patterns with mustard and just so randomness now with it so I'm not sad when it gets wrecked).

You should really look at the costs and benefits of stripping. I used to strip all my beckers and mod em because it was fun and a hobby for me, but stripped beckers do require more upkeep. Since a coated Becker only has an exposed edge, the next time you cut something the rust is removed by the friction. A stripped Becker with rust on the spine isn't bad, but requires so flitz/ rubbing compound/ sandpaper to shine it back up again, hencr more upkeep and more oil.
The benefits of a stripped blade, especially the bk5, is less friction and on a cooking knife that makes a world of difference when slicing and dicing veggies and meat although you may not even notice it, that's just me.

Now as of late I've only stripped my bk5 and patinaed it for corrosion resistance, the others and from here on out are goinf to be kept black. After every use with the bk5 I washed it thoroughly including under the scales and towel dried it more than once ( since the towel is wiping small specs of moisture back on the blade) and air dried only after I was sure the towel got 99.9% of the moisture. Rust is gonna happen, just get at it before it becomes an issue and your fine.


Hope that helps at all.
Click to expand...

Thank you both for your well thought out responses. It is sounding like maybe bluing isn't the way I want to go because I do want to be able to use the knife for food prep. For the most part I really do not plan to strip anything but the 11. I like the black finish and really like how it looks as it gets worn off naturally. Gives me some food for thought. Thanks so much!
 
LECTER said:
It neutralizes the acid (from the vinegar) burning into the metal.
Click to expand...

Oh, I get it. You are talking about baking soda right. *slaps forehead*

1066vik I have been thinking about getting a tuf-glide cloth for years. Might just go ahead and take the plunge. Sure couldn't hurt.
 
I just did a vinegar patina on my 2 and had no idea about the baking soda treatment. But, so far so good.
 
What's the method for applying the baking soda... make a paste or something?

Also a lot of people recommend mineral oil to protect blades that are used for food. It's sold as a laxative so it will also keep your blade regular or less viscous as baby oil and will also keep you blade smelling fresh. Don't know about using the
scented stuff for food so I just use the laxative.
 
axesbold said:
What's the method for applying the baking soda... make a paste or something?

Also a lot of people recommend mineral oil to protect blades that are used for food. It's sold as a laxative so it will also keep your blade regular or less viscous as baby oil and will also keep you blade smelling fresh. Don't know about using the
scented stuff for food so I just use the laxative.
Click to expand...


I would like to know the application for the baking soda as well. I have mineral oil here and have been using it on most of my blades and had success with it. It's cheap too.
 
LECTER said:
Not as well as with the baking soda trick.

Trust me, I've had the vinegar continue eating through the metal with only rinsing it off. ;)
Click to expand...

I stuck the knife under hot water from the tap for several minutes rubbing the metal with my fingers, and it worked for me. YMMV
 
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