Light spotting on CV and 1095?

T

The Law

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Jan 8, 2013
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I've got a couple of GECs and a Case knife with 1095 and CV, respectively. Both have little tiny spots on the blade, will this cause pitting? The spots are so small that I can hardly see them, I wasn't sure if this wa a characteristic of carbon steel. The only other knives I've had have been stainless! Thanks for the help!
 
I don´t think that this will cause pitting. These spots are, as far as I know, called "Pepper spots". They should be a natural beginning of patina.

Spots that show pitting are usually bigger than these little spots you are asking about.
 
Not at all trying to disagree with my good mate Andi - but here in new Zealand, my knives that spot-will lead to pitting, its the beginning of rust - keep an eye on them - use Renaissance Wax if Safe Queening them - or use Mineral oil on them if they are users.
 
I know what you mean, Duncan... ;)

I think that pics could help a little bit more. In my experience I´ve never had problems with pitting and those pepper spots. But maybe we are talking about the wrong term here. What I mean are the darker spots that appear sometimes on the blades when there is almost some patina is coming up/through.
 
If you dont want a patina to form, just get a tube of Flitz and you can keep those blades shiny bright!
 
Patina is ok with me.

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The Law said:
I've got a couple of GECs and a Case knife with 1095 and CV, respectively. Both have little tiny spots on the blade, will this cause pitting?
Click to expand...

They'll only cause pitting if you don't do anything about them. I've carried carbon steel knives for many years, including as a kid and young adult in south Florida, not far from the ocean. I never bothered to keep oil or wax on the blades, but instead employed the age-old method of scraping off rust spots with a fingernail, then rubbing a little spit on the blade from time to time following by a wipe-down with a napkin, or cloth, or bit of my t-shirt, or cuff of my jeans. I've found that clean and dry is the most important thing -- save the oil for the joints.*

-- Mark


* This is assuming you're comfortable letting a dark patina form on the blade. If you're one of those guys who wants their carbon steel blade to look shiny and new like a stainless blade, this probably isn't the way to go.
 
Humppa said:
I don´t think that this will cause pitting. These spots are, as far as I know, called "Pepper spots". They should be a natural beginning of patina.

Spots that show pitting are usually bigger than these little spots you are asking about.
Click to expand...

I think that's what the spots are. They are so small that I can't get a good picture of them.
 
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The Law said:
I think that's what the spots are. They are so small that I can't get a good picture of them.
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An easy way to tell, is to use a white pencil eraser to rub the spots. If you get red/brown residue on the eraser, it's rust. If none, it's a safe bet the spots are 'black' oxide, a.k.a. patina. This is how I found some rusty spots on a couple of knives lately (coicidentally, a Case in CV and a Schrade in 1095).


David
 
mnblade said:
They'll only cause pitting if you don't do anything about them. I've carried carbon steel knives for many years, including as a kid and young adult in south Florida, not far from the ocean. I never bothered to keep oil or wax on the blades, but instead employed the age-old method of scraping off rust spots with a fingernail, then rubbing a little spit on the blade from time to time following by a wipe-down with a napkin, or cloth, or bit of my t-shirt, or cuff of my jeans. I've found that clean and dry is the most important thing -- save the oil for the joints.*

-- Mark


* This is assuming you're comfortable letting a dark patina form on the blade. If you're one of those guys who wants their carbon steel blade to look shiny and new like a stainless blade, this probably isn't the way to go.
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear someone else does that. I thought I was the only one, and I kept my mouth shut out of shame. I oil some knives, but just wipe the red rust off most others.
 
I had a knife I got bloody fingerprints on, and put away for two days before cleaning. I was cutting cows, and was too dirty and tired to care, or wash them off till after I had packed up, and gone home.

A little metal polish too the marks away, and now I am sad I cleaned a years worth of patina off. I should have just left them. But the fact that thew were obviously rusty fingerprints took away my good judgement.



Now, I went swimming with my Carbon Opinel and had no qualms about taking the tiny spots off of the edge with my strop. Funny, only place that got them were the non patina'ed edge, where the strop keeps it shiny. The rest of the Opinel blade had no issues. It was wet all day, and was not wiped off, or oiled.
 
I got out my knives last night, and went through them all-checking the blades, and there were two knives that have active pin-head sized spots on the blades-if you run your fingernail over them and you can feel them catch on the edge of your nail-its rust - and its beginning to pit.
I think it depends on the descriptive term used by "spots", there are such spots as "stains" - this can be patina for sure, but dark small pin-head spots need to be checked as Patina does not work like that, it also depends on the atmospheric conditions where the knives are kept, here where I am you have to be on the ball all the time to check you "safe queens".
 
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