Is this rust developing on my Svord peasant or is it part of the factory finish?

[not_a_virus.exe]

I love the knife so far. Great cheapo user, but upon inspection, I noticed a red tinge on the 'unfinished' part of the blade and tang. Part of me is worried that it's already starting to rust, but then the other part of me can't explain why the grind is untarnished. Wouldn't the grind also start to develop a rust as well? As a carbon steel layman, I know that these kinds of knives take a lot of care to maintain, but if it's already rusting after a day, I'll probably opt out of buying them in the future. Calling all carbon steel aficionados for help. Thanks guys.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Looks like it's just part of the heat treatment scale. You don't usually see that red color, but it does pop up on an example now and then.

 

[not_a_virus.exe]

So I'm safe then? That's good news. I was worried I wouldn't get to test this little guy out for very long. Thanks for the reply.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

15N20 tarnishes quickly, but if it was actually doing so your bevel would be spotted. If you do ever get rust on the blade (and you almost certainly will) just take it off with some fine steel wool and call it good. Eventually it stabilizes with a patina and while it can still rust at that point, it's far less vulnerable to it.

 

[not_a_virus.exe]

As a matter of fact, I got this knife with the intention of forcing a dark patina on it to help alleviate some of the work on maintaining it, and to match the rest of the blade/handle. It's a user and comes unfinished anyway so no need to keep it sparkly.

 

[dkb45]

I have heard from multiple sources that Svord uses L6, but regardless of the exact type my experience with it is that it rusts if you look at it funny. I had mine for a few months of constant spotting before I was fed up and put a high satin on the blade then soaked it in vinegar overnight to patina. Even with the nice heavy patina it was spotting through. I eventually gave it away because nothing short of a layer of Vaseline would stop it from rusting. Midnight you I live in central Indiana with air conditioning, not the swamps of Louisiana. It was tough, held a good edge, and was easy to work, but good lord it was a rust magnet.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I have heard from multiple sources that Svord uses L6, but regardless of the exact type my experience with it is that it rusts if you look at it funny. I had mine for a few months of constant spotting before I was fed up and put a high satin on the blade then soaked it in vinegar overnight to patina. Even with the nice heavy patina it was spotting through. I eventually gave it away because nothing short of a layer of Vaseline would stop it from rusting. Midnight you I live in central Indiana with air conditioning, not the swamps of Louisiana. It was tough, held a good edge, and was easy to work, but good lord it was a rust magnet.

On the majority of their knives (anything not quite thick) they use 15N20, which is very similar to L6 performance-wise.