Help! How to remove coating/finish on Ontario RAT3?

W

whc

Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
9
Just the other day I found my RAT3 (thought I have lost it), well happy to find it I saw some small point of rust not far from the tip. While trying to remove the rust some of the coating/finish on the blade came off and revealed more rust underneath (all the way to the other side of the tip), don't know if it was me not taking good enough care of it or manufacturing fault, have not used it allot (even though it is about 8 years old, spent most time in my drawer) and already rust under the coating/finish on the blade.

Anyway took some of the coating off, and used some rust eater and polished the part of the blade (both side of blade tip) to remove the rust.

Now I am beginning to think, that it would not only look better taking off the coating/finish completely (don't mind worn down coating from use, but this just looks bad IMO), but maybe there is more rust underneath the coating I need to take care off.

So any help is appreciated how to take off the finish/coating. It is the D2 version if that matter, and after how to protect the blade, giving it some patina or whatever is best for protection.

Any other recommendations is also much helpful, tried painting the tip, but just looks off (black tip and rest is grey). Else I could just leave it as is and then coating will peel off in time anyways? But what if there is more rust underneath that coating/finish, that would not be so good, could also be a fun project modding the knife a little :).
 
whc said:
Just the other day I found my RAT3 (thought I have lost it).........While trying to remove the rust some of the coating/finish on the blade came off and revealed more rust underneath (all the way to the other side of the tip), don't know if it was me not taking good enough care of it or manufacturing fault
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Since you couldn't account for its whereabouts, I'm guessing you might have neglected it a bit. That's okay. It happens to the best of us.

Maybe I am missing the question but it seems like you would like to strip the whole thing? Go to the hardware store and get a paint stripper. I've done it on an Esee 5. Fantastic results.
 
craytab said:
Since you couldn't account for its whereabouts, I'm guessing you might have neglected it a bit. That's okay. It happens to the best of us.

Maybe I am missing the question but it seems like you would like to strip the whole thing? Go to the hardware store and get a paint stripper. I've done it on an Esee 5. Fantastic results.
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Yes whole blade. Did you treat it with anything after?, seen people using grapefruit, sennep, vinegar and likes for patina/protection, thinking how easy would it rust after the coating/finish comes off?

Have used it about 5-10 times, wiped it clean and stored warm indoor, so strange it would rust IMO (non of my other blades have any rust on them). If I am not wrong, the coating/finish is there to prevent rust, right?
 
whc said:
Yes whole blade. Did you treat it with anything after?, seen people using grapefruit, sennep, vinegar and likes for patina/protection, thinking how easy would it rust after the coating/finish comes off?

Have used it about 5-10 times, wiped it clean and stored warm indoor, so strange it would rust IMO (non of my other blades have any rust on them). If I am not wrong, the coating/finish is there to prevent rust, right?
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After stripping, sanding a bit, and a polish I did a forced vinegar patina. Granted, I don't use this Esee 5 (it is more of a novelty to me than a using knife) but here in the humid sticky summers of the northeast, carbon steel (1095, A2, sr101) will rust inside my house.

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No rust after doing the patina.
 
That looks nice Cray. I did the same thing to an Izula II that I used to own. Paint stripper works real fast. Then I chose to do a splotchy mustard patina with a light sanding afterward. Sold it eventually as I wasn't using it but never had a problem with rust.
 
craytab said:
After stripping, sanding a bit, and a polish I did a forced vinegar patina. Granted, I don't use this Esee 5 (it is more of a novelty to me than a using knife) but here in the humid sticky summers of the northeast, carbon steel (1095, A2, sr101) will rust inside my house.

fN7LESEh.jpg

sSCo8gYh.jpg

NXOzpZ5h.jpg

zn9PGoih.jpg

A2OsROhh.jpg

Gg5davYh.jpg


No rust after doing the patina.
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Great work, looks nice :).

Will try this on my RAT3 one of these days, what paint/epoxy remover did you use?
 
Jasco paint stripper in an aerosol can. Lowes carries it in Stock. Works in about 15 minutes.
 
Got the time to do it today, got some paint remover, very thick jelly mass, instruction said up to 2 hours, so that was I went with. Overall very happy with the result, no need for patina, just took the coating off and have done nothing else to the blade, seems to not be polished steel underneath the coating as I was expecting, this was exactly the result I was going for and the only thing I had to do was to take the coating off.

Easy process, keep it in the paint remover for 2 hours, use steel wool and rub the coating off, it comes off very easy, and leaves this fine patina, only drawback it on the tip where there earlier where some rust I polished off, the blade does have another color, no big deal.

Any how here is a few images of the process.

Before:
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After 30 min:
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After 1 hour and 30 min:
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After a good steel wool rub:
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Finish result:
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Overall happy I did it, looks good IMO :). Thanks for the help!
 
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That worked out great.

It would be a good idea to force a Patina on that 1095 or it will do it on it's own...
 
A number of years ago I also stripped the coating off of my D2 Ontario RAT3. Easy and it looks just like yours.

The only problem (which isn't bad) is that the thickness of the coating removed was enough to make the knife rattle in its plastic sheath. Does yours?
 
PB Wilson said:
A number of years ago I also stripped the coating off of my D2 Ontario RAT3. Easy and it looks just like yours.

The only problem (which isn't bad) is that the thickness of the coating removed was enough to make the knife rattle in its plastic sheath. Does yours?
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Yes there is some rattle, did not notice before, bacause the handle is slightly slimmer now I guess. Don't remember if it rattled before though.

How has your RAT3 held up without the coating, rust or other issues?
 
I used to just take off coating with sandpaper, but walked by CIRTISTRIP at Walmart the other day and got a big bottle for $7-8. Completely amazed by it. No vapors, no burning on bare skin, and it works very fast and does it clean. One glob on toothbrush did the whole BK9. Even Busse coating comes off like nothing. This bottle will probably last me for life too.

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whc said:
Yes there is some rattle, did not notice before, bacause the handle is slightly slimmer now I guess. Don't remember if it rattled before though.

How has your RAT3 held up without the coating, rust or other issues?
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It's held up fine. No rusting issues except for a few tiny dots if I forget to wipe it off really good. No pitting. Mine is quite thin and cuts wonderfully as long as I don't abuse it. Simple camp stuff like firemaking is what I use it for mostly. The D2 holds an edge quite nicely.

I had two identical RAT3 knives, stripped one and it definitely made it thinner which caused the slight rattle. There's plenty of retention in the sheath to keep it from falling out. No worries there. Just something to notice.

I should have measured the thickness before I traded the non-stripped one. Oh well. A few thousandths...
 
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