Maintaining high-carbon steels

MissesMeow

MissesMeow

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I’m a stainless guy. Always have been, always will be. And yet … I’ve lately found myself entranced by some high-carbon-steel fixed blades, specifically the Winkler Belt Knife and some Lon Humphrey offerings.

Two things about me: I hate the idea of rust on my expensive knives almost as much as I hate work or effort of any kind. My ideal life is to sit back, do nothing, and watch my knives not rust. So I’m scared to pull the trigger on one of these bad boys.

So, I guess my question is: What kind of effort is required to maintain rust-free high-carbon steel? When it’s not in use and sitting in a drawer, do I have to oil it every day? Once a week? Less often? And is there anything else I should do besides oiling? Pray to ancient gods? Blood sacrifices to forge demons?

Thanks for any info.

P.S.

I’m well aware that not only has this question probably been asked and answered innumerable times in these hallowed forums, but I could probably find the answer with 30 seconds of Googling. But where’s the fun in that? Where’s the human connection? Where’s the possibility of a grizzled mountain man calling me a pu$$y for preferring stainless steel? No. I want to handle this the old-fashioned way: by asking thousands of strangers with only a few taps on my handheld space phone that connects to an invisible, global communications network.
 
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MissesMeow said:
I’m a stainless guy. Always have been, always will be. And yet … I’ve lately found myself entranced by some high-carbon-steel fixed blades, specifically the Winkler Belt Knife and some Lon Humphrey offerings.

Two things about me: I hate the idea of rust on my expensive knives almost as much as I hate work or effort of any kind. My ideal life is to sit back, do nothing, and watch my knives not rust. So I’m scared to pull the trigger on one of these bad boys.

So, I guess my question is: What kind of effort is required to maintain rust-free high-carbon steel? When it’s not in use and sitting in a drawer, do I have to oil it every day? Once a week? Less often? And is there anything else I should do besides oiling...
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Grasshopperglock said:
Growing up. Every bigger knife in the kitchen was carbon steel. The Ontario stuff. Mom got some gift set of those stainless with aluminium handle knives. You know the ones. But all the workhorse knives were carbon steel.


We didn't have a dishwasher unless you count me. They were washed, let dry, and stuck back in the drawer.


I read something about carbon knives imparting a taste on food. Maybe that's what I'm missing from my childhood (?).
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Stainless steel knives were real "jetsons" when they first appeared, I'll bet
 
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Grasshopperglock said:
I'm a child of the 80's. Stainless was still exotic. With most stainless being junky. Carbon steel was still king.
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I'm both underwhelmed and overwhelmed by stainless. All I hear is S35VN (no wait) S45VN (no wait!!) S90v (waitwait!!l) oohhh... magnacut.. *wiggles fingers*
I used O1 exclusively for a bit and was perfectly fine with it
 
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ShaiHulud said:
Reminds me of my sawback bowie from maxam knives, I'd trust my butter knives over debris from that company
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Any kid playing war out in the field by the stock pond and old barn. Had a Rambo knife. Parents didn't care. They're the ones who bought them. The steel was so soft. It was considered safe.

Now, if some kid took Mommas carbon steel kitchen knife out to play. Someone was getting their a$$ whipped. That was straight up dangerous.

The Rambo knives were everywhere. I had one as did all my friends. It was fashion.. Blade length was illegal as hell back then but nobody cared. They were junk.
 
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Grasshopperglock said:
Any kid playing war out in the field by the stock pond and old barn. Had a Rambo knife. Parents didn't care. They're the ones who bought them. The steel was so soft. It was considered safe.

Now, if some kid took Mommas carbon steel kitchen knife out to play. Someone was getting their a$$ whipped. That was straight up dangerous.

The Rambo knives were everywhere. I had one as did all my friends. It was fashion.. Blade length was illegal as hell back then but nobody cared. They were junk.
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Kephart said something insightful about bowie knives noting them as murderous looking and unwieldy, maybe fit for Billy the kid but not real useful in wilderness survival --- the actual words are of course probably different, I'm working from memory
 
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ShaiHulud said:
Kephart said something insightful about bowie knives noting them as murderous and unwieldy, fit for Billy the kid but not real useful in wilderness survival --- the actual words are of course probably different, I'm working from memory
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Most people during my childhood carried a traditional. Stockman was popular. Of course , carbon steel.

The old-school didn't use some huge knife to field dress a deer. First deer I ever experienced getting gutted. Was Dad using the biggest blade of all 3". Gutting, skinning, and quartering. Using a traditional stockman style knife.

People owned bigger fixed blades. But it was usually only something they'd pull out for conversation.


And there's nothing more pretty then a patina on a well used carbon steel knife.
 
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Grasshopperglock said:
Most people during my childhood carried a traditional. Stockman was popular. Of course , carbon steel.

The old-school didn't use some huge knife to field dress a deer. First deer I ever experienced getting gutted. Was Dad using the biggest blade of all 3". Gutting, skinning, and quartering. Using a traditional stockman style knife.

People owned bigger fixed blades. But it was usually only something they'd pull out for conversation.


And there's nothing more pretty then a patina on a well used carbon steel knife.
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Yes to Patina
I think a fixed blade OAL 9.75" with 4" cutting edge will serve pretty much everyone
Maybe a small groupie to act as a caper or neck.
Type in just about anywhere "native indian trade knife" to get an idea what was used, and put up with then see how we today scrutinize everything under a microscope
 
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Most of my knives are carbon slipjoints. They are in a trey on the kitchen table so me to enjoy watching them. It's a matter of time before another unauthorized use and neglect to make a knife covered with very dark spots, and few times even with orange rust. Pointless to educate - she would not listen. So, that's one of the dangers to have carbon knives.
 
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Feed a healthy diet of balistol and as few fingerprints as possible.

If stained or rusted, Flitz Metal Polish and type 0000 steel wool.

This has been my routine maintenance for high carbon steel medieval style swords for years. Affordable and never fails.

You may find the ritual joyful!
 
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There are all sorts of carbon steel knives out there. For the most part it's just try to wipe them down after using, store in a dry place (I regularly toss silica gel packs into the drawers I store my knives in), and when not carried don't leave them in their leather sheaths (some leather sheaths seem to be fine and others tarnish things pretty quick). Wiping them down with a thin coat of mineral oil isn't a bad idea either, for your carbon steel knives or your axes. Some carbon steel knives are pretty corrosive resistant and other ones you feel like you need to be wary about condensation forming if you breathe on them once the coating wears off. A lot of it comes down to what you use it on too, since a lot of vegetation out there can be pretty acidic and make a mess of a stainless knife, let alone one with less corrosion resistance. If you're not just working with wood you're familiar with, you probably need to rinse your knife and then dry it off, to ensure you don't get any surprises.

53028073467_72fb2f9fb3_b.jpg
 
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The terrible irony of this whole discussion is that it just occurred to me that one of my top-two steels of all time, 3v, is not stainless. Of the “big three” knife-steel properties—toughness, edge retention, corrosion resistance—toughness is my top priority, so I love 3v. And this is also why I’m attracted to the high-toughness carbon-steels. So maybe I’m not as much of a stainless guy as I thought! 🙃
 
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The Grendels said:
There are all sorts of carbon steel knives out there. For the most part it's just try to wipe them down after using, store in a dry place (I regularly toss silica gel packs into the drawers I store my knives in), and when not carried don't leave them in their leather sheaths (some leather sheaths seem to be fine and others tarnish things pretty quick). Wiping them down with a thin coat of mineral oil isn't a bad idea either, for your carbon steel knives or your axes. Some carbon steel knives are pretty corrosive resistant and other ones you feel like you need to be wary about condensation forming if you breathe on them once the coating wears off. A lot of it comes down to what you use it on too, since a lot of vegetation out there can be pretty acidic and make a mess of a stainless knife, let alone one with less corrosion resistance. If you're not just working with wood you're familiar with, you probably need to rinse your knife and then dry it off, to ensure you don't get any surprises.

53028073467_72fb2f9fb3_b.jpg
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I normally don’t like the look of Kepharts but those two are nice! Not sure I’ve ever seen a black blade on a Kephart. Looks great!
 
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