Knife rust hours after putting in a leather sheath

S

SpainKnifeDude

Joined
Mar 11, 2022
Messages
3
Hi all,
I am new to the forum and have a question about my knife. For some background, I recently made my third knife, finished about a month ago, and just finished making a (vegtan) leather sheath for it. However, after storing the knife in my sheath overnight, it had spots of rust or orange stuff on it. Now, I understand that most people do not recommend storing knives in leather as over time it can trap moisture next to the blade, but overnight? Moreover, I first thought it might be some of the leather dye somehow rubbing onto the knife, but it was a lot of work to get it off, more than I thought it would take to get the dye off.
Any thoughts?
Picture:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pmq6QpBBSZ84PUXN7
Thanks in Advance!
Avery
 
How prone the knife is to rusting depends on the type of steel and to a lesser degree the finish on it. The environment is also important. I have some blades in A2 which isn't very corrosion resistant, but I finished them to 800 grit and wipe them with a light coat of oil for storage. They are still very bright and showing no signs of patina let alone rust. You might want to work with stainless steel although the heat treatment can be more involved.
 
Good advice. Got an old Pumaster with the carbon I ignored for years. Luckily never a trace of rust but keep it rubbed down with an oily cloth now. Carbon blade I never could get a straight answer on the blade material but the nickel/chrome must have helped avoid rust.
 
Richard338 said:
How prone the knife is to rusting depends on the type of steel and to a lesser degree the finish on it. The environment is also important. I have some blades in A2 which isn't very corrosion resistant, but I finished them to 800 grit and wipe them with a light coat of oil for storage. They are still very bright and showing no signs of patina let alone rust. You might want to work with stainless steel although the heat treatment can be more involved.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice. The knife is stainless steel, though I did have a hard time with the heat treatment and am not really sure if it fully worked. Moreover, I finished the knife with 500 grit and will definitely go higher next time. Does the type of oil matter? Would just like sunflower or olive oil work or does it need to be something specific!
Thanks again!
 
I imagine there is an issue with the heat treat. Stainless steel properly heat treated and free of scale should be quite corrosion resistant. You should check out knifesteelnerds for many useful articles.
Also, there is a difference between using 500 grit and achieving a true 500 grit finish. You appear to still have lower grit scratches present.
You might want to post over in Shop Talk on this forum for plenty of additional advice.
 
I had this happen once. It was a W2 blade made by a very competent smith, the blade was polished to show the hamon (so high grit finish).

I received the knife and took it outside for photos: It was spring and you can see how thick the pollen was in the air (april in georgia) - it was landing on the knife as I took photos

unnamed.jpg

and so I took it inside, wiped it down with rubbing alc. and put a coat of Whal brand blade oil on it, put it back in the sheath and went out to dinner.

When I came home the blade looked like this: its a relative mystery what happened but it seems the atmospheric pollen mixed with the alc or oil and ate at the steel

unnamed-1.jpg
 
mauser9 said:
Good advice. Got an old Pumaster with the carbon I ignored for years. Luckily never a trace of rust but keep it rubbed down with an oily cloth now. Carbon blade I never could get a straight answer on the blade material but the nickel/chrome must have helped avoid rust.
Click to expand...
Those blades were chrome plated. That's why they don't rust.
 
Sounds like your sheath wasn't dry enough after finishing it to add your knife to it. My dad is the leatherworker out of the two of us and I don't let any of my blades sit in the sheath after it is completed until I can bet my life that all the moisture is gone. Oiling your blade before you sheath it for the first couple of times might help too.
 
SpainKnifeDude said:
Does the type of oil matter? Would just like sunflower or olive oil work or does it need to be something specific!
Click to expand...

Do not use olive- or sunflower oil, as they can go rancid.

I use Ballistol on all my knives and it works like a charm. Just make sure to keep it away from any bronze because it will react.

Ballistol can also be used for a million other things :)

ballistol-universaloel-fluessigkeit-D02203687-p1.jpg


have a nice day!
 
I don't know about you, but I know that no single one knife has ever rusted . Not protection on steel like oil . They sit in sheath in a shoe box , some of them are more than a year in that shoes boxes .
All carbon steel , 80crv2 ,52100, 1095 ,15N20 , wood saw steel and M2 ,M35 , M42
 
wait over 24 hours after making the sheath to leave the knife in it, especially if its wet formed, which it looks like yours was.
 
weo said:
How soon after finishing the sheath did the knife get put in?
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Thanks everyone for your advice!
I waited about a day and a half, and the sheath seemed dry to the touch (though I'll admit I was a bit excited to put it in the sheath so it may have been too soon.)
I have kept a close eye on the knife hand haven't noticed any more severe corrosion. however, there have been a few more small spots that may be so I will be trying some of the ideas mentioned.
 
SpainKnifeDude said:
Thank you for the advice. The knife is stainless steel, though I did have a hard time with the heat treatment and am not really sure if it fully worked
Click to expand...
Stainless steel will rust in the annealed state. It only becomes corrosion resistant AFTER a proper heat treat.
 
HSC /// said:
Have a read of this post
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I agree with some of this. Some of the cheaper imported leathers are not rinsed as well as they could be. Other problems can arise too from that deal. Stick with American veg tan and this is an almost a non deal.
SpainKnifeDude said:
Thanks everyone for your advice!
I waited about a day and a half, and the sheath seemed dry to the touch (though I'll admit I was a bit excited to put it in the sheath so it may have been too soon.)
I have kept a close eye on the knife hand haven't noticed any more severe corrosion. however, there have been a few more small spots that may be so I will be trying some of the ideas mentioned.
Click to expand...
Your sheath is dry to the touch on the outside but not on the inside. This is one of the reasons I bake my sheaths in the oven after wet molding. I believe that the baking dries the inside of the sheath better and helps drive the moisture out of the interior of the leather.

Process is in here:

Pancake Sheaths and how I go about them. (PIC HEAVY)

I'd had a couple of requests about more info on how I build Pancake Sheaths. I had one to build for a knife I'd already sold and the customer wanted this sheath instead of what came with it. Thought I'd pictorially document the steps I go through. Here I've grabbed a front and a back...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

I bake just about everything I wet mold, sheaths, holsters, mag pouches, etc and have for over 35 years. I oil directly after baking and then allow the sheath to sit on the counter inside the house (cold out in the shop), overnight. After baking and oiling:

PqIo4Sx.jpg


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Putting a couple in the oven:

CwnczKW.jpg


Wet molded and it goes in the oven:

WCxiQ3e.jpg


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