"I love carrying my 'nut but its CV, and even with a thick, dark patina, it still rusts in my pocket my sweat must be deadly haha. I am going to pick up a SS one soon! " Quote from Spoutz, in the Care And Feeding of Peanuts thread.
I hope Spoutz does not mind my quoting him, but he rang a huge gong i my head. His post is so typical of many, problems keeping carbon blades from rusting in hot humid summers. When I read his post, something at the edge of my mind kept itching, like something only half remembered from a long time ago. Like a very distant little buzz that takes a while to become aware of. Only now, while reading an AARP magazine, I saw an ad for Chap Stick, and a thunder clap went off in my head.
Chap Stick!
When I was a kid, None of the grown men would carry a stainless steel knife. Stainless steel had gained such a bad reputation in the years just before and during the war, that it was not to be considered as a knife blade material. And some of that early stuff was indeed junk. My dad, Mr Van, and all the men I knew carried carbon steel pocket knives.
But...
Maryland, land of the Chesapeake bay, the largest salt water estuary in the world, is a hot and humid place in summer. It can get so humid, looking at something just a half mile away can have a haze around it from the moisture in the air. Metal can get a light coat of rust almost overnight. But those old timers had nice sharp knives with carbon steel blades. Some men wiped them down with a dry bandana a couple times day. Others kept a light coat of oil on the blades. Messy at best, collecting pocket lint and dirt.
Mr. Van, our scout master had a great old original Remington scout knife on his belt clip, and it was an object of worship of all the scouts. It was in great shape, with a mild patina blade, in spite of it's long history of being carried in some very harsh places. But Mr. Van had a secret weapon, that I had forgot about until now.
Chap Stick.
It was a summer camp out, and we had got everything situated in the morning we arrived. Tents put up taught enough that a quarter could be bounced off the sides. Mr. Van would not tolerate slack tents in his troop. By noon, it was already hot and sultry. We had lunch, and as we were finishing up, I noticed that Mr. Van, like a lot of us, had used his scout knife during the meal. He'd been carefully wiping the blade off with a corner of a bandana, and as he stood up, he took a small object out of his pocket. Being a good size man, his hands made it hard to see what he had, but it seemed to be a small dark tube, and turned out to be Chap Stick. He uncapped it, made a small mark with the pink stuff on each side of the blade, and after re-capping it and dropping it back in his pocket, passed the blade carefully between his thumb and index finger a couple of times to distribute the thin layer of Chap Stick on the blade. I barely took notice of it then, but it made perfect sense. It's water resistant, non toxic, easy to use, and easy to have on hand. I may use it on my damascus peanut in damp weather. I don't know how I could have forgotten all about that for so many decades. Maybe since my old Buck 301 was stainless, I didn't need to recall it. My generation was maybe the first to loose the built in prejudice against stainless steel blades.
So if you have a problem in hot weather with your carbon blade rusting, try a little Chap Stick.
Carl.
I hope Spoutz does not mind my quoting him, but he rang a huge gong i my head. His post is so typical of many, problems keeping carbon blades from rusting in hot humid summers. When I read his post, something at the edge of my mind kept itching, like something only half remembered from a long time ago. Like a very distant little buzz that takes a while to become aware of. Only now, while reading an AARP magazine, I saw an ad for Chap Stick, and a thunder clap went off in my head.
Chap Stick!
When I was a kid, None of the grown men would carry a stainless steel knife. Stainless steel had gained such a bad reputation in the years just before and during the war, that it was not to be considered as a knife blade material. And some of that early stuff was indeed junk. My dad, Mr Van, and all the men I knew carried carbon steel pocket knives.
But...
Maryland, land of the Chesapeake bay, the largest salt water estuary in the world, is a hot and humid place in summer. It can get so humid, looking at something just a half mile away can have a haze around it from the moisture in the air. Metal can get a light coat of rust almost overnight. But those old timers had nice sharp knives with carbon steel blades. Some men wiped them down with a dry bandana a couple times day. Others kept a light coat of oil on the blades. Messy at best, collecting pocket lint and dirt.
Mr. Van, our scout master had a great old original Remington scout knife on his belt clip, and it was an object of worship of all the scouts. It was in great shape, with a mild patina blade, in spite of it's long history of being carried in some very harsh places. But Mr. Van had a secret weapon, that I had forgot about until now.
Chap Stick.
It was a summer camp out, and we had got everything situated in the morning we arrived. Tents put up taught enough that a quarter could be bounced off the sides. Mr. Van would not tolerate slack tents in his troop. By noon, it was already hot and sultry. We had lunch, and as we were finishing up, I noticed that Mr. Van, like a lot of us, had used his scout knife during the meal. He'd been carefully wiping the blade off with a corner of a bandana, and as he stood up, he took a small object out of his pocket. Being a good size man, his hands made it hard to see what he had, but it seemed to be a small dark tube, and turned out to be Chap Stick. He uncapped it, made a small mark with the pink stuff on each side of the blade, and after re-capping it and dropping it back in his pocket, passed the blade carefully between his thumb and index finger a couple of times to distribute the thin layer of Chap Stick on the blade. I barely took notice of it then, but it made perfect sense. It's water resistant, non toxic, easy to use, and easy to have on hand. I may use it on my damascus peanut in damp weather. I don't know how I could have forgotten all about that for so many decades. Maybe since my old Buck 301 was stainless, I didn't need to recall it. My generation was maybe the first to loose the built in prejudice against stainless steel blades.
So if you have a problem in hot weather with your carbon blade rusting, try a little Chap Stick.
Carl.
Kind of the idea of use what you have that works. But I only do it if I need to. Not all the time.
