I cut a tomato! Help!

R

rfincher86

Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
7
So last night I cut a tomato with my sod buster jr. and today I wake up with spots on my blade, what is the best way to clean this or will it even be possible to get rid of the spots?

IMG_20130719_231623_249.jpg
 
It's called patina and you want it there, it protects the blade from rusting. It's a layer of oxidation.

Most don't know this but stainless steel has s layer of oxidation too, you just don't see it.
 
You can use a metal polish to remove it, but knifenut1013 is correct. Carbon steels love a good patina. It protects against worse forms of corrosion and is kind of a badge of honor among carbon steel enthusiasts. Cutting things like tomatoes will accelerate the process.
 
Patinas are great, it gives her character. I have taken to forcing them on my carbon steel blades. Looks classy!
 
Don't worry about it. Happens with carbon steel when you cut anything acidic (and don't immediately wash the blade).
 
Personally I like a patina on a knife. If you want to remove it I would try a polishing product called Flitz.
 
Yeah leave it, if you want to remove it a bit of fine metal polish like flitz or similar found at your local walmart will get rid of it. It'll just return every time you cut something that contains acids/salt/water, which is most of nature. In the future after cutting something acidic like that wipe the blade down dry as soon as the task is finish, preferably rinsing with water first. Once you get into the habit (and you should, even with stainless steel) you'll find it actually saves you cleaning time because you won't need to remove weeks of built up sugars and gunk on the blade from use. If the blade is kept clean and dry it will patina more evenly and over the years you'll end up with a blade that has a layer of black shiny patina similar to gun blueing.
 
IUKE12 said:
Spots on blade=patina=character. Cut more tomatoes:)
Click to expand...

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Use the heck out of it, and soon, the blade will develope a nice mutted gray finish that will protect the blade in the same way a coat of blue does a firearm. It will look better as well too.
 
Thanks for all your replies! This is my first carbon steel blade that I have bought new. I have a Old Timer 12OT that was given to me but it already had the patina on it. I'm glad to know it is normal! I will definitely be cutting more tomato's.
 
One thing you might look for, on that blade, just to be safe. I bring this up, because I recently noticed it on a couple of my Case CV knives.

Sometimes a little bit of red rust will hide among the black spotting on a blade. If it's there, it'll slough off much more easily. An easy way to check for it, is to lightly rub the spotting with a white pencil eraser and look for the color of the staining on the eraser. If you see some brown/orange/red, that's a little bit of rust that needs to come off. Some light buffing with metal polish like Flitz or Simichrome will clean that up. The black oxide 'patina' won't do any harm, though. It's much more durable, and will remain after the red rust has come off. The patina can be cleaned off with more 'elbow grease' while using the metal polish, if you really don't want it there.


David
 
Make sure you cut other fruits and vegetables also because, if you don't, they will become jealous...and you know what happens when fruits and vegetables become jealous. It ain't purty.
 
The spot near the tip looks a bit red to me. I would scrub that off with a scouring pad.

Actually, carbon steels and natural patinas don't sit well with me.

I have a kind of OCD where everything has to be nice and symmetrical. So if it was me, I'd polish it all off and dip the sucker in some ferric chloride solution to blacken the whole thing nice and evenly:thumbup:.
 
When I read the title of this thread, I thought your concern was for your cut tomato. I was going to suggest tomato paste to repair it, but I guess now I'll never get the chance to work in that corny gag.
 
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