Dilemna.

T

TheDoggyGuru

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Ok, so here's the deal. I've been using my Peanut exclusively for months now, and it's handled all my needs. However, I think I'm relying on it TOO much lately. I seem to dull BOTH blades pretty good by the time I get home at night. Today at work, I needed it to cut some boxes, after having it tackle a bunch of other chores, and the blades were really really dull. I had to take out my Leatherman and cut with that. It seems I'm sharpening them every night (stropping isn't helping anymore either). I'm guessing maybe it's the steel I'm using. My Peanut is the Bone Stag one with the shiny SS Blades. Is this steel too soft? Is it the same as the unpolished Tru-sharp? I'm debating on whether to switch to my SAK Cadet for a while (another small, inconspicuous workhorse) and see how that holds up. I have CV knives, like the CV Soddie Jr., the CV Mini-trapper, and the CV Pen knife, but I keep rusting them all up. I think I have very acidic sweat. Plus, wrestling gators and walking around all day with damp pockets doesn't seem to help either. All my CV blades, patina or not, rust up big time. So, what should I do? Should I give the switch to the SAK and see how that holds up to the heavy use I'm giving it? Should I go with say the CV Soddie and just work through the rust issue (my only concern with the rust is I use my pocketknives for food as well)? Should I buy a D2 steel blade and see if that holds up better? WHAT DO I DO, WHAT DO I DO?!?!?
 
Could be that you need to take the D2 road...but not sure who makes a Peanut in that? S&M offer versions of the Peanut but I think they are in 420HC.

I understand your concerns about rust&food prep only too well:barf:
Maybe it's just that you subject your Case Peanut to such gruelling and repeated tasks? I don't think True Sharp is too soft or a True Blunt in fact.Perhaps you just need a Deputy Peanut to rotate the burden a bit? Or maybe a Tiny Trapper?
 
Check out Spyderco. They make a number of good, solid folders in an extremely rust resistant steel (I think designated H1). Pacific Salt, etc.

A quick visit to your local Spyderco sub-forum...a search or two...and you'll have all the info you need to get just the right folder.

Good luck, and keep us posted.
 
Hey guy, just do what the rest of us confirmed knife knuts do-carry a couple of knives!

While I like my peanut enough to have experimented for a week carrying nothing else, most of the time I have a sak plus some sort of other knife on me. It may be a peanut, but it could be a soddie, or maybe a basic work knife like an Opinel.

Sometimes if I have something that day really demanding, like moving someone and I know there's going to be lots of tape, twine, big rolls of bubble wrap to slice off pieces, and cardboard boxes to break down afterward, I've been known to drop a Stanley sliding blade utility knife in my pocket. Its kind of a "right tool for the job" kind of thing.

Go ahead and try the cadet for a while, see if its a bit better at edge holding than the true sharp peanut, and give us a report. I'd be kind of curious myself.

Just out of curiousity, try giving the CV soddie a mat scotchbrite finish, and wipe down with a drop of mineral oil rubbed on with just a finger. Don't make it a directional finish, just rough it up with some green scotchbrite in a random back and forth and circular pattern. Put a very small drop of mineral oil on your index finger and gently rub the index finger and thumb together to spread it on you finger tips, and rub down the blade and go for it. Just close it up and drop in your pocket. See how it will be that night at the end of your day.

If you are at present wiping it down clean and dry first thing in the morning as you leave for work, is it actually rusting by the time you get home from work? Or is there some dark stains that may be a natural patina forming. Is there something actually forming on the blade surface that will not wipe off with a clean rag?
 
A small stockman will give you one more blade and really isn't alot bigger than the peanut. I love my Vic. Cadet but my small Queen D2 stockman will out cut it by a very large amount. D2 isn't stainless but resists rusting much more than 1095 or most carbin steels.
 
jackknife said:
If you are at present wiping it down clean and dry first thing in the morning as you leave for work, is it actually rusting by the time you get home from work? Or is there some dark stains that may be a natural patina forming. Is there something actually forming on the blade surface that will not wipe off with a clean rag?
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Well, it's interesting. It doesn't stain black. By the time I get home, or actually sometime during the day itself, I will see a line of brown rust right along the line of the blade that sticks out of the handle when closed. It's like whatever is exposed to my sweat gets rusty, whether there's a patina on it or not. I just removed all the Patina off my CV mini-trapper, and it's nice and silver right now, so I may just go for the natural patina on that one (I had previously given it the vinegar treatment) and see how it works out. I have no mineral oil. Should I try some vegetable or corn oil on it? Again, my main rust concern is when I use it for food prep.
 
TDG, have you ever tried a simple belt pouch to carry your carbon knives? I know it may not be practical for some of the smaller blades but it may work with the sod buster or trapper. It would keep the blade out of your pocket and away from your sweat. If you removed the sheath before entering the water and put it back on your belt after your out, it would solve the wet pocket thing also. I know belt sheaths are not all ways practical, but it was just a thought. Joe
 
I've tried the pouch thing, but it doesn't ride well in my pocket, and I already have a pouch on my belt for my Leatherman. I like having my knife in my pocket. However, I don't like feeling something in my pocket, so whatever knife carry needs to be small, which is why the Peanut is a perfect fit for me. Maybe I'll just have to make a ritual of passing it on my ceramic rods a couple of times every morning before going to work. It'll be my "bonding" time with my knife everyday. Sounds like it could be fun.
 
TheDoggyGuru said:
I have no mineral oil. Should I try some vegetable or corn oil on it? Again, my main rust concern is when I use it for food prep.
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Sure, for the short term any vegtable oil should do as well as mineral oil. Just do that drop on the fingertip, and spread it around on the blade VERY lightly, don't wipe off, and see what happens. It is indeed a dilema.

A few years ago a bud and myself went up to see the National Military edged weapon museum in Intercourse Pennsivania, (yes there really is a town called that, and no, I don't know how it got its name. Its even in the Amish country in Lanchaster county:eek: ) and they had a collection of 1700's seamens knives. Big sheepsfoot stag handled clasp knives with great old yellowed stag handles. The old blades were a medium grey color. I can only speculate that those old sailing ship sailors must have used some kind of oil on thier knife blades while out at sea under canvas. That MUST have been a tougth environment for carbon blades!
 
Cutting up boxes will take the edge off practically anything short of diamonds. I use a utility knife with disposable/snap-off blades rather than wreck my carefully hone EDC, at least if I know I'm going to get into that.
 
Well, JK, I'll try the oil treatment. It frustrates me to no end to know that for centuries, sailors carried Carbon steel knives and did ok, yet mine gets all rusted up right away. I don't really mind the rust. What I DO mind is the thought of cutting up some fruit or steak with a rusty blade. That doesn't seem too healthy. I HAVE to figure this carbon thing out. Maybe I just won't use anything but carbon until I've learned more about it. Practice makes perfect, right?
 
LOL. Thanx alot, Carl.
Anyway, I'm going to give my Case CV Soddie Jr. It's naturally blackened from using it on pears, apples, and mangos,and it's a sodbuster. It's MEANT to be a workhorse, so we'll see how it holds up. And DAMN IT, I will NOT use another knife until I have mastered the care and use of a carbon steel slippie. Call this a project, or experiment, or learning experience. In the end, I'm either going to have a much better understanding of Carbon steel, or I'm going to have one severly rusted knife.
 
Random thought on carbon steel blades and the issue of rust. Were carbon kitchen knives 'seasoned' like cast iron skillets? I understand cast iron skillets will naturally develop a glaze over time. It reasons then that maybe knife blades need to 'seasoned.' Is this making any sense? Thoughts?
-Jay
 
jay...close, but not quite.

Carbon steel blades form a layer of oxidation or patina. What makes it different than rust, I dunno. But it is.

Cast iron skillets, with use, develop a layer of oil/bacon grease/fat that fills in any tiny holes on the surface of the cast iron. Filled in holes = perfectly smooth surface = no stick.
 
I think you need to add a small sharpener of some sort to your EDC load. There are lots to choose from, I carry a fine DMT diamond sharpener in my wallet or some sandpaper on a piece of cardboard (which is not only very light and slim but dirt cheap).

One of the good things about Case's stainless is that it's easy to sharpenm take andvantage of that.
 
Franciscomv said:
I think you need to add a small sharpener of some sort to your EDC load. There are lots to choose from, I carry a fine DMT diamond sharpener in my wallet or some sandpaper on a piece of cardboard (which is not only very light and slim but dirt cheap).

One of the good things about Case's stainless is that it's easy to sharpenm take andvantage of that.
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Good point, Franciscomv. Do they sell smaller ceramic rods? I find I personally have the most success with them.
 
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