Knife blemish

M

moon5252

Joined
Mar 10, 2026
Messages
5
I had a knife that was made for our upcoming reunion. The maker (private party) left the knife in a buckskin sheath. I put the knife in my safe. Last week I took the knife out and as you can see, it has a blemish. I tried x-fine steel wool with oil and it did not touch it ... it almost appears to me (a novice) that the blemish is inside the blade .... looking for a way to safely remove the blemish without harming the blade. https://1drv.ms/u/c/47c53b51731cc997/IQC4-_Uftr-LTZ3GxtBU99VzAYLm6WHGycQFx8owX44zgFE?e=eRDb0j
 
I’d say send it back to the maker and have the scratches polished out. In going so, the blemish may come out as well. At least the maker can feel to see if it’s just on the surface or deeper. That could be from the sheath if the blade wasn’t coated with some type of rust free oil or wax
 
Ajack60 said:
I’d say send it back to the maker and have the scratches polished out. In going so, the blemish may come out as well. At least the maker can feel to see if it’s just on the surface or deeper. That could be from the sheath if the blade wasn’t coated with some type of rust free oil or wax
Click to expand...
Thank you ....
 
Yes, it looks like rust and maybe some pitting as well. The rust might be in the bottom of the pits, which would explain why the steel wool wasn't touching it. If it's pitted, the blade would need to be sanded to the full depth of the pits to remove them, and then re-polished.

If it came from the maker in pitted condition, I'd send it back.
 
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I can't see the knife, it says I need to log into the site.

I agree with Bill and Obsessed, if the blade is pitted, send it back. No amount of polishing is going to fix that.

If it's just a rust spot, and you already tried steel wool, try some Evaporust. Harbor freight is usually the best place to find it.

Try putting some on a Q-tip and then placing it on the rust spot. Let it soak for awhile, if it lightens up the rust spot, keep the Q-tip wet. If you can't keep an eye on it, place the knife in a glass tip down. Fill the glass up high enough to cover the rust spot. Let it soak while you're out or overnight. Be sure to rinse off the blade and apply oil when done.

If it's not pitted, you got lucky and hopefully the rust is gone. Just remember to keep oil on a carbon based blade.
 
Don't store you knife in a leather sheath unless the sheath is sealed with something like SnowSeal to prevent it from absorbing moisture. If you're going to put any knife away for a while, make sure it's protected with a rust preventive: BreakFree CLP is good (there are quite a few other similar brands), so is plain old Vaseline.
 
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