Cutting Rusty?

[Horn Dog]

I enjoyed Jeff's article in Blade (June 2008). I think folks worry too much about rust, and so we buy these expensive stainless steel knives. I have carbon steel knives that survived WWII in the Pacific. I'll admit, I like nice shiny steel as much as the next guy, but a little rust doesn't ruin a blade. I wouldn't care if the new RC knives didn't have a coating at all, but I understand why they do. Anyway, it was a good down to earth article.

 

[kgd]

I was a little worried at first when ordering my RC knife as it was the first one I had with a coated blade. After having it, I found I really like the coated blade and enjoy the protection it gives. These knives are real users - they scream to be used, and I really don't want to be fiddling with an oil rag out in the field. With the coated blade, the only exposed metal is the edge, which is constantly seeing sharpening so no rust develops. I don't mind it when you get a rust film that can be wiped off, but I really don't like it when you get pitting due to rust.

Horn Dog - are those WWII survivors coated blades? I have to tell you, I was working with my little buck diamond back 420HC in the Arabian Gulf and that little blade would start to pit within about 4 h. Of course the salinity is very high in the gulf.

I am absolutely enthralled with 1095 and the way it responds to sharpening. My 440C knife is a real pain to get sharp and frankly I don't see much improvement of edge retention. The 440C does seem to hold a utility edge for much longer, but for a razor sharp edge I really can't detect much of a performance difference. The big thing is 5 strokes on the white rods of the sharpmarker gets my utility edge back to shaving sharp for 1095. On the 440C it pretty much has to go to the grey rods.

 

[Horn Dog]

Some WWII blades were "Parkerized" with a zinc phosphate coating. The little machete, the Collins #18 that was later called the Marine Raider Bowie had no coating. I didn't start seeing epoxy coatings until about the 1980s. Read the artical it you can. We worry too much about rust.

 

[texastonydobbs]

I enjoyed Jeff's article in Blade (June 2008). I think folks worry too much about rust, and so we buy these expensive stainless steel knives. I have carbon steel knives that survived WWII in the Pacific. I'll admit, I like nice shiny steel as much as the next guy, but a little rust doesn't ruin a blade. I wouldn't care if the new RC knives didn't have a coating at all, but I understand why they do. Anyway, it was a good down to earth article.

:thumbup: Good call HD....