Knife Care Important

Timstools

Timstools

Joined
Jan 5, 2007
Messages
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You might recall some time ago I mentioned i was having trouble with corrosion rust on my knives. With some help from a friend I managed to sort out the problem.

What was happening to my more than 20 folding knives and others was that they were tarnishing a little too quickly and a couple of them started to form pitting on the brass. It would have been easily missed but I carefully inspect my knives for even the slightest problem and picked this problem up early.

After speaking with a friend who has a lot of training in the use of chemicals he suggested that the normal metal polish that is used on brass and fittings can often be corrosive and cause rust if it is left behing on the surface after polishing away the tarnish. He said many people dont realise that many of these polishes need to be removed with warm soapy water so that they dont continue to eat into the surface over a period of time. These polishes often contain rust inhibiter (on label) which are corrosive and must be removed.

I was recommended to me that I wash them in warm soapy water. After washing there appearance was very different indicating there had been something over the surface which had been removed. It was then important that I reomved every last trace of water out of the back spring etc, there are two ways to do this use a air compressor or WD-40 (stands for Water Dispersant) both are effective. I didnt have a compressor so I used another type of WD40 with the long straw hose on it to get into the tight spaces. I worked it into the back spring and the blade mechinsim through moving it. It worked well. I then wiped all of the residue off and applied a final coat of Longlife CRC to every knife applied with a light oil soaked rag over the entire surface. It set slightly so it wont run but still can be rubbed off easily. I was very pleased with the end result.

If you have any brass ,nickel or carbon steel on your knives inspect them regularily keep fingers off the brass. If its a user it doesnt matter much but if you have a lot of knives and have invested some money in keeping them mint then keep an eye on them.
Regards Tim
 
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Tim, thanks for the heads up on this! I'm glad you got to them sooner rather than later! Depite the problems with the metal cleaners, do you have a lot of humidity where you are?, I'm guessing where your located it can get very hot and humid, that also can effect the storage condition of knives. I've had a few in drawers not covered or wrapped and tarnishing and rust development on blades will happen in no time at all, all my knives were moved to another part of the house where the temp is more even. Also in the drawers and other storage I have included some silica gel packs, which seem to keep the moisture at bay somewhat.

Russell
 
Yes, thats a good idea, no it is not a hot humid area down here on the little island at the bottom of Australia but i did have them in small bedroom which is a bad idea because of body humidity. The area they are in now is much dryer but Im still not taking any risk on them.

Ive found it takes such a long time to clean the tarnish off them all so the CRC longlife on them should slow that down or stop it altogether. Ive found even a salty finger print can permanently etch into the surface on a nickel silver bolster. Not good.
Regards Tim
 
Everything I am reading here is good advice. I am blessed to live in an area of very low humidity and very clean air. In many areas, not only is humidity a danger, but there are chemicals in the air which turn to acid when encountering humidity or rain, etc. One is sulfur dioxide, which combines with humidity to form sulfuric acid, or acid rain. I have driven home from work in a different city, past a coal-fired power plant, on a dry sunny day, and the SO2 in the air as a pollutant caused the sweat and moisture on my face and eyes to become a low grade acid which burned my eyes so much I had to pull off the road for a little while. These air pollutants are dissolving statues, gravestones, etc. all over the world, in addition to hurting living things. Also, in addition to being salty, sweat is weakly acidic, and will rot out the neck on cotton shirts and jackets before the rest of the fabric shows weakness. If you really want to put your knives, guns, etc. at risk, store some celluloid in there and close it up good and tight. By the way, elsewhere on BF, Bernard Levine provides a lengthy discussion of celluloid by another author, if my memory serves me.
 
Thanks Tongueriver that is fascinating.

Here is an example of what can happen, this is in less than 6 months more than likely just a few months. Dont cough or sneeze in the direction of your knives, you might think Im joking but I have done this a number of times and the small moisture droplets will form into corrosion, this is not the cause of this one, something else on the surface was corrosive on it and not visible to the naked eye. This is what prompted me to take action.

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1of1anniversaryLB7.jpg
 
That was a interest link thanks Dale here a little more info in form of a quote:

Yes, I know all of that being a chemist by training When it came into being as the "first plastic" it was regarded VERY valuable. And in the early days, it would be locked up in the safe at night to keep someone from stealing it. It was a magic material and, in those days, was quite unique. There are a lot of odd stories about it in the early days. In those days, the Germans were the "princes of chemistry" and did most of all the originally significant chemical things.

Bayer of Bayer aspirin was one of those early German 1800's chemists. Bayer Chemical now (its corporate name) is huge----larger than DuPont or any other chemical company in the world. Since the Free World was always fighting Germany, the company changed its name to its present form (Bayer)---it was originally Baier. They wanted to make it sound less German sounding. The did have a spotted past. The manufactured the poison gases used during World War One for Kaiser Wilhelm and then made the gas for Hitler that was used to gas Jews in the concentration camps.

The celluloid family of compounds was made by mixing nitric acid with ellulose ----either from wood (saw dust) or cotton fiber. There were many forms and modifications of it. As it decomposes with time, it liberates a lot of bad chemicals that rust things and burns.
Click to expand...
 
I would not leave WD40 on any metal as it will discolor and leave a varnish like coating. It's not recommended for firearms either.
 
Good advice Bill I would not leave it on either but wipe off, if it remains in back spring and parts where it cant be seen that will do no harm. There are a few products that are good to use as a final easily removable coating, just have to be careful which one to use and using nothing on brass is not advisable in any climate where brass comes in contact with hands as it is a very corrosive material.
One i had recommended to me recently by a custom knife maker who used to work in the custom Buck workshop and now has his own knife making business is "Johnsons Paste Wax", its recommended for wood and metal so there should be no concerns with crossover on to other parts, and i had it recommended to me for the large timber and brass handle of a bowie knife he made for me. He said he had been using it for 30 years, although i have not used it myself i have been searching everywhere trying to find some over here in Australia but so far have been unsuccessful. My longlige CRC is good but the finish is not a gloss.
Keep in mind its not to remove tarnish but to protect surface. if tarnished then remove tarnish, clean and protect.
Regards Tim
 
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