Do the sheaths cause rust?

Sharp Knives 86

Sharp Knives 86

Joined
Oct 27, 2009
Messages
783
So awhile back I noticed what looked like a small rust spot on my WWII. Nothing major and I was easily able to get it off with some fine grit sandpaper. I put the the knife back up where it's been sitting for about a month and noticed the rust was back in the exact same spot, I also noticed my Chiruwa Ang Khola had a similar rust spot in the same area of the blade. Again nothing some fine grit sandpaper couldn't handle (though on my CAK, because the blade is polished, you can kinda see little "spots" where the rust was but they're not pits). So as a little experiment I stored my CAK without it's sheath and my WWII in the sheath and after about a week, the CAK has no rust but the WWII has rust in the exact same spot again. So my question is can the sheaths cause rust? If so is there anyway to prevent it?
 
Interesting, I know the sheaths do retain water. Have the gotten wet? Do you live in a really humid area? Maybe you should put more oil on them when you store them
 
All organic materail contains moisture to some extent and therefore could be said to "cause" rust on a blade. Wood tends to couse less rust on a knife than leather, if the wood is dry. I would, as you have already, leave the knives out of the sheath for a couple days, to let the moisture evaporate, and put a heavier coating of oil on them before storing them in their sheaths again.
/Thomas
 
The sheaths are not wet and I have never gotten them wet. I live in northern CA so it's pretty dry here atm. Like I said the weird thing is they rust in the exact same spot.
 
It sounds like you are describing the small blackish spots which I've seen on several of my high polish khuks. It seems like it isn't rust, at least in my case. It looks more like a small carbon explosion or crystal type growth which appears out of nowhere. I believe this came up in the archives also and was puzzling. I don't really worry about them anymore, since i'm pretty sure it isn't a bad (red) rust anyway. I do think it's a good idea to allow the sheath to totally dry once received however, just to be safe. Take care.
 
A quick thought: have you tried cleaning out the inside of the sheath? If it's in the same spot, it could be that the inside of the sheath is simply dirty or has something moisture-retaining on the inside.
 
This is a known problem and we are doing our best to figure out what is causing it and fix the problem. Not an easy task when you cant easily have physical contact with the sarki and his shop.

In some cases this may be rust. It could be that the temperature changes between nepal and the states has produce some type of moisture reaction. It is curious to me that it is always in the same spot/s and re-appears.
On the ones i have seen with this apparent problem, it doesnt appear to be rust. Upon examination and removal, my best guess is that it was laha or some other epoxy. As the Hide is glued over the wooden scabbard, I'm guessing that it is leaching thru the wooden inner scabbard and getting on the blade or seeping thru between the halves.
 
jdk1 said:
It sounds like you are describing the small blackish spots which I've seen on several of my high polish khuks. It seems like it isn't rust, at least in my case. It looks more like a small carbon explosion or crystal type growth which appears out of nowhere. I believe this came up in the archives also and was puzzling. I don't really worry about them anymore, since i'm pretty sure it isn't a bad (red) rust anyway. I do think it's a good idea to allow the sheath to totally dry once received however, just to be safe. Take care.
Click to expand...

Yes!!! That's exactly what I'm talking about.
 
Yes. Leather sheats attract moisture and cause rust in carbon Blades.

Regards,

Andre Tiba - Brazil
 
Sharp Knives 86 said:
Yes!!! That's exactly what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

I’ve seen that on at least three khuks. The spots always seem small. I consider them character marks for the most part. I think I read in the archives that someone surmised it could be an area of carbon coming up from under the polished over area. I’m no metallurgist, so I can’t say whether that makes sense or not. That does kind of describe the marks though. Sort of like a tiny drop of oil seeping from a crack. A few popped up on my new M-43 shortly after it arrived and I panicked. I even emailed Jay about it, but we came to the conclusion they were harmless and I don’t mind them at all anymore. Mine are definitely not rust and I stopped worrying about them. I’m sure Flitz would polish them out if you wanted. I’d love to know what they are, but I don’t worry about them. They’re like little khuk birthmarks:). Take care.
 
We do see this very often. From the highlands of Nepal the khuks flew across the globe to Yangduland i would expect moisture to sip in.
Khuks/knives from Reno often coated with a layer of oil/grease and i would drip more baby/mineral oil into the wooden sheath (Had seen someone experienced did that). If pitting on the area i would use Flitz and very fine sandpaper on it. I found little "scars" like this attractive as it's hand made. I used my khuks and don't expect mirror finish after that so i either patina it or go generous on the baby oil.( for food preparation i tend to use stainless )
Staying very close to the coast a weekend routine of re-oiling is essential. For safe queens i usually flitz it and pack it with multiple bubble wraps (i do stupid things too) and stash inside my Khuk-safe with packs of silica.Cotherion suggested spraying WD-40 on a disposable non-porous plate, cover it overnight ( it tends to solidify) and apply on the surface. A little bit of economical measure.

For hard-use bush whacking tools i made kydex sheath for it. Trust me, those purple juices from the thorny vines here are a lot more corrosive than the moisture from BirGorkha. So Chop on!

Something entirely off the track :
I bought a TI-89 calculator when i studied in Western NY (cold!) and brought it back here. Poor thing went kaput as i forgot to remove the batteries; the moisture from the components and leached deposits from batt. seeped into the PCB .Total heart-break for a college survivor.Things happen folks.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top