Cold Steel Natchez Bowie stains

[Danke42]

I have a couple knives with sheaths, and I never store them in the sheaths. The sheath can absorb and trap moisture, so it's an invitation to rust.

I live in a humid climate (Seattle), so I also keep a couple dessicant packs in my knife chest. A few bucks will buy you a big pile of them, and they seem to do the trick.

I save desiccant packs and keep them in so much stuff!

 

[The Mastiff]

The only sheaths I worry about are the leather ones that are tanned and leach out corrosive materials. I try to make sure the knife is dry before putting it away but other than that I store my stuff in sheaths mostly. When I wax my knives it not only seals off the blade from oxidation but it has also done a pretty good job of passivating the blade. I can take a new ( essentially new, it may have been made years ago but just sat in a box) and wash it with soap and water, or oil and a cloth and there still is dust and gunk in the grooves of the steel from when it was finished. Carbon/even most stainless steel dust from tooling gets trapped on the blade between the microscopic grooves and stays there even when washed and wiped down. The magnetic charge from the grinder/buffer turns the blade magnetic enough to help the dust stick. ( why parts at machine shops are dipped in special solutions to passivate them but step often gets skipped with knives for some reason) The waxing can take a clean looking blade and make the rag begin to turn black from the dust you couldn't have seen without a good microscope. The wax also polishes off water stains and dark spots like the OP referred to. So you have a clean knife that is looking good and will store without corrosion. It also helps with the mess of oils and the resulting fingerprints that always have you wanting to keep a rag handy to get rid of fingerprints and smears from handling.

I do wax the edge too. Just carefully. I prefer wax to all the above methods for care of the steel. The fact that it looks better and is less messy is a side benefit I can't feel bad about either. Naturally you will want to do further maintenance when camping, etc. but it still is worth the time I put into it. ( less than 5 minutes usually). Not all wax is completely waterproof but the ones I use are the best I can tell.

Joe

 

[Makael]

Deleted

 

[b00n]

Flitz worked well to get the patina off my copper pm2 handles for what it's worth. (Removed it because due to the clip it looked stupid. now waiting for a proper clipless patina)

 

[The Mastiff]

Flitz is good, yeah. I go to that next if the wax micropolishing won't get it. Generally I look for products that won't change the finish until it's time and I intend to do just that. That is when I want to refinish the blade and not until then. Flitz, Mothers Mag and the like do a good job of getting gunk and stains off that aren't pits or real rusty spots needing to be done properly which will eventually end up with a refinish. Next after that would be very fine steel wool. It usually won't damage the finish. And so on. When I get to sandpaper I always go the wet dry stuff and do it with water. Like stones ( even diamond) it cuts better wet.

Joe