Fire Steel Corrosion?

C

chewbacca

Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Messages
929
I am not sure it is so much corrosion, as possible galvanic action. I had this army firesteel in the pouch on my BK10, along with a Gerber multitool. They were not in a particularly damp environment, just my garage. When I took the knife out to play, I noticed a lot of yellow dust around the pouch flap, and here is what the fire steel looked like.

Any of you guys seen this before?

FireSteelCorrosion1.jpg

FireSteelCorrosion2.jpg

I saw a similar effect on a firesteel from survivaltopics.com that I had in a steel cooking tin in my psk, but it was not nearly this bad.
 
Yep they will definitely corrode if not used for a while. You could try and scrape some of that off, then coat in clear nail polish and it should be good to go.
 
I've heard that firesteels will corrode. I waxed one that I used for practice-- just rubbed a candle on it. I used a clear spray polyurethane finish on another and I haven't had a problem with either. I was thinking that some of my wife's clear nail polish would work too--- I've used that for the odd quick and dirty sealing job before.
 
tknife,

I'll work on my firestarting skills, that'll scrape it off!

I will have reapply some finish before storing in the future. Thanks guys.

the thing that blows my mind is how deep the corrosion went in the one spot, it actually makes the steel a little hard to use, as the striker tends to catch in that spot.
 
If it's pretty deep, maybe it would be better to get a new one. Just keep that one for practice.
 
You know I've always wondered why they have a coating on them when they are new, I guess I know why now. I don't understand the need to get a new one though, I'd just roll that sucker over and use the other side. I guess coating it after use would be a good idea though.

David
 
I may be wrong here....

But my understanding is that the reason firesteels work is that the metal oxidizes so quickly it becomes hot. So it will corrode--entirely normal and shouldn't be an issue. Just use it and be glad it corrodes so quickly!
 
okbohn said:
But my understanding is that the reason firesteels work is that the metal oxidizes so quickly it becomes hot. So it will corrode--entirely normal and shouldn't be an issue. Just use it and be glad it corrodes so quickly!
Click to expand...

I think you're right, Derrick. :thumbup: I always thought that the corrosion was just an oxide coating that develops when not in use to protect the metal underneath, and that it scrapes off when you need to use it again.

ETA: I could see how those pits could be annoying though chewbacca; it's one of the reasons I switched to flat edge srikers.
 
I left mine in my pants pocket and ran it through the wash... It looks like something has been chewing on it. Still works though.
 
Wipe it down with a Tuff-Cloth after you play with it. After having gone through the same experience with a corroded one as you have, I now use a Tuff-Cloth on all my fire steels, flint strikers, and of course, my knives. Never had any problems after that!

Stitchawl
 
Thanks Scott Free, might give it a go if I ever find corrosion to be a problem on mine. :thumbup:
 
I store all mine after coating with clear finger nail polish (I made my daughter buy it for me:D). The coating comes off quickly with use but does a great job at keeping it from oxidizing. The wet season is coming, maybe I'll coat a small one and leave it outside for a few weeks....

ROCK6
 
i've never had an issue with my firesteels corroding, but for the sake of prevention (its what we're all about here, isn't it?...;)) i went ahead and coated the couple that i use infrequently.

i used bright pink nail polish, to match my nails most of the time...you guys are all sissies that use the clear stuff :eek:;):p
 
I took this one out of the pack and took it into work to show my supervisor. I worked in a metal shop then and with the lazer going plus the outside temp being 100 degrees it was around 112 inside. This is what it looked like after I got off work... AFTER I spent a few minutes scraping on it with my pocket knife. They DO NOT like large amounts of sweat.

picture.php
 
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