How can I prevent rusting?

jayz5000 · Jul 25, 2013

Hello all!

I am curious as to how people prevent rusting on their knives. I recently purchased a cold steel spartan and it developed very minor rust spots (maybe even simple collections of moisture) fairly quickly. My question is:

1: How can I remove these spots?

2: How do I prevent this in the future (for all blades not just the cs spartan)?

I frequently see people saying "Just keep it oiled and its good to go!" so I rubbed some WD-40 on the blade after the spots formed and I am just curious if doing this as soon I received the knife would have prevented it. If not is there and oil somebody could recommend that I should use in order to prevent rusting (not only on tactical blades but hard use fixed blades as well)?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Sorry if I sound like a huge knife noob.

fervens · Jul 25, 2013

I've been loving eezox. There was a thread comparing rust preventatives that convinced me to get it. Otherwise, use them, dry them and don't keep them in their sheaths when not in use. I grabbed some scrap vinyl from those roller shades and made cheap storage cases out of that and duct tape.

Grease · Jul 25, 2013

Cover with Eezox for outdoor tools and Froglube for anything that might touch food (eezox is slightly poisonous)

Both will basically prevent all rust, unless you leave them in salt water for a week.

MEJ · Jul 25, 2013

I use tuf-glide on pivots which works great, you can use it on blades as well. I dont generally oil my blades but i have been seeing some rust on my D2 ones. I find that as long as i wash my blades or wipe them down they dont generally develop rust. Though if you live in a humid area you may need some oil, 3-in-1, hoppes, mili, tuf-cloth, mineral for edibles all work.

tatfiend · Jul 26, 2013

I suspect that a lot depends on the humidity of your storage. I live in Reno, NV which is a very low humidity climate and I find that rust on blades and blued guns is a minimal problem, even on carbon steel ones. Houston, Miami and other high humidity areas, particularly if near the ocean, are another matter entirely.

Even so for storage I have bought a spray can of Fluid Film for treating carbon steel items which can be subject to rust. I believe it is supposed to be one of the best rust preventatives available.

Noctis3880 · Jul 26, 2013

Grease said:
Cover with Eezox for outdoor tools and Froglube for anything that might touch food (eezox is slightly poisonous)

Both will basically prevent all rust, unless you leave them in salt water for a week.

Might be worth nothing that Froglube can grow mold whereas mineral oil just seems to evaporate over time.

But if you consider the usual results in a home environment where you're just coating your kitchen knives between uses, mineral oil is typically sufficient(also use it for my wood cutting board and knife handles).

If, however, we're talking about the use of knives for food prep on a fishing boat where they might get splashed with salt water, then I would recommend the Froglube. But for standard protection against humidity away from the ocean, mineral oil will suffice for the most part.

zeroed4x · Jul 26, 2013

If your blade gets stained there is two sure ways to remove the annoying spots.
My number one go to is a product named MAAS metal polish. It's made with jewelers rouge. This seems to work best for me.
The 2nd is Flitz metal polish which would also work. If you get all the crud off the blade with mildly abrasive cleaners like I mentioned,
when you oil your blade it will be more effective at keeping your steel clean.

jayz5000 · Jul 26, 2013

Thanks for the advice. Gonna check out Eezox for hard use knives and froglube for potential food prep knives.

iwouldhurtafly · Jul 26, 2013

Lube up the knife with some sort of oil as everyone here has mentioned. I have been using olive oil on a lot of my blades due to they get used a lot of food prep and I have never had any sort of fettering issue even if the blade was in storage for an extended time. Just make sure everything is clean and dry before oiling... another method to help with rusting is giving the blade a polish... with stone washed and bead blasted knives there is more surface area via the finish so eliminating that can help... I have had some spotting on my CS AUS8A before due to moisture left on the blade. So some got acid etched and some got scotch bright polished and I have not had an issue since.