Is my esee ruined?

K

Kahlilkennedy

Joined
Jun 9, 2020
Messages
3
I gave my esee 4 a rinse in some apple cider vinegar as per the recommendation of a friend for about 2 days and when I decided to take it out it was coated in black stuff and rust more than it had been before. What’s going on and how can I fix this?
 
Vinegar is an acid and soaking steel in acid will cause corrosion. Is that what you wanted?, a rust finish? Browning was a rust finish on very old muskets, it was slightly more rust resistant than bare metal, and being a textured surface, it could hold oil better than bright steel.

You did not state whether your ESEE was 1095 or 440, but as long as the steel is not pitted, you will have a usable knife. It is up to you whether you want to polish the thing back to shiny. I think that is a waste of time for a 1095 blade, as they all tarnish with use.
 
Kahlilkennedy said:
I gave my esee 4 a rinse in some apple cider vinegar as per the recommendation of a friend for about 2 days and when I decided to take it out it was coated in black stuff and rust more than it had been before. What’s going on and how can I fix this?
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Apple cider vinegar is great for forcing a patina, but two days is a long time. Like John said, you’d normally heat the vinegar and dip the knife in it for a few minutes, not days.

You say it had more rust than it had before. Were trying to force a patina, or remove rust that was already on the blade? I guess vinegar could maybe be used to remove rust, but again, two days is about 1 day, 23 hours and 55 minutes too long.

helobite said:
It is up to you whether you want to polish the thing back to shiny. I think that is a waste of time for a 1095 blade, as they all tarnish with use.
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I never bother with removing patina from 1095 — I like it, and prefer letting it do its thing — but rust is another matter. I’d do something about the rust from his blade, or it’ll just get worse.
 
btb01 said:
I never bother with removing patina from 1095 — I like it, and prefer letting it do its thing — but rust is another matter. I’d do something about the rust from his blade, or it’ll just get worse.
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Looks awful, so what

AvbHWCE.jpg


the edge is easy to touch up and in time, the whole blade is brown.
 
btb01 said:
Apple cider vinegar is great for forcing a patina, but two days is a long time. Like John said, you’d normally heat the vinegar and dip the knife in it for a few minutes, not days.

You say it had more rust than it had before. Were trying to force a patina, or remove rust that was already on the blade? I guess vinegar could maybe be used to remove rust, but again, two days is about 1 day, 23 hours and 55 minutes too long.



I never bother with removing patina from 1095 — I like it, and prefer letting it do its thing — but rust is another matter. I’d do something about the rust from his blade, or it’ll just get worse.
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Yeah, red rust would be best removed... I recommend 'Evapo-rust'... Amazing stuff!

It has helped me in the past... Here is a post where I showed an example of what it can help to do...

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/a-6-flea-market-project-knife.1665240/#post-19043834
 
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Try first scraping it with a piece of plastic or something then scrubbing it with steel wool and wd40 first to see what happens.

To me it kind of sounds like the rust could be flash rust from not neutralizing in baking soda after the 2 day soak.

The vinegar should have left a dark dull grey finish under the black crud once that's removed from the surface.

That has been my experience every time I've soaked an old knife or an old axe or hammer head in vinegar before I decided I didn't like doing this.
 
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