My Carbon Steel Rant

[Ernie1980]

I live in south Texas, where the humidity is off the charts. Although I get an occasional spot on my carbon steel blades that needs to be cleaned off, the trade off it worth it for me because of the edge and patina that carbon steel will get. However, if you want to steer away from carbon steel Queen's D2 is excellent! Just find a dealer that will let you be choosy or buy off the exchange here.

 

[willard0341]

delete

 

[Buzzbait]

I have knives in BG42 (the absolute best steel in a slipjoint I've experienced)

I'd be all over BG-42. I have a Buck110, and a Sebbie in BG-42. That steel really ticks off all of my boxes. Relatively easy to sharpen at a higher RC. Good edge holding. Stainless enough for my purposes. It's close to perfect for me. It's too bad that you don't see it used much anymore. I'd take it over S30V any day of the week.

 

[kamagong]

I'd be all over BG-42. I have a Buck110, and a Sebbie in BG-42. That steel really ticks off all of my boxes. Relatively easy to sharpen at a higher RC. Good edge holding. Stainless enough for my purposes. It's close to perfect for me. It's too bad that you don't see it used much anymore. I'd take it over S30V any day of the week.

Might want to add this to your list then.

It's the Queen/Dan Burke Rancher. Or if you prefer multi-blades you can keep an eye out for the Queen/Burke Cattle King. Uses the same frame as the Rancher, but it's a cattle knife. In addition to the clip main there are also spey and sheepsfoot secondaries.

 

[Henry Beige]

There is a charm to carbon steel that is lacking in most stainless. I liken it to preferring Harleys over Hondas and Yamahas. Sure it will be more finicky and require more maintenance but you develop a relationship, in a sense. A bond occurs that can be difficult to explain but is there nonetheless...

Regardless, I hope that your dilemma can be resolved soon for you.

I take your point, but that is a terrible analogy. Carbon steel - charm.
Harleys - zero charm. Carbon steel knives can be very competent knives. A Harley is at best a marginally competent motorcycle. I could go on, but that would be inserting my rant in the middle of someone else's.

If you want motorcycling's analog to carbon steel, try a Brit bike.

 

[waynorth]

I feel bad for anyone who lives in a knife "rust belt".
I live just paces from the salt water on the north-west coast, but humidity is low, and I never have rust problems. I do wash my hands thoroughly when I am handling knives just to keep natural sweat/salt down to a minimum. I have opened a couple of knives after a show, that had clear corroded fingerprints on them!! Now I wipe them after people hand them back!!!
Case/Bose collaboration knives would likely be my choice if things changed.

 

[Pàdruig]

I take your point, but that is a terrible analogy. Carbon steel - charm.
Harleys - zero charm. Carbon steel knives can be very competent knives. A Harley is at best a marginally competent motorcycle. I could go on, but that would be inserting my rant in the middle of someone else's.

If you want motorcycling's analog to carbon steel, try a Brit bike.

Ha! I wondered how long it would be until someone decried my analogy (longer than I expected, to be honest) . There are fans and critics of just about everything under the sun and just like as with knives, motorcycles are certainly no exception.
We can certainly agree on the merits of carbon steel and leave the motorcycle debate for another place and time. (Though I think you will find me not so narrow minded as I am a fan of more than a few companies, some even being British. )

 

[Pàdruig]

I feel bad for anyone who lives in a knife "rust belt".
I live just paces from the salt water on the north-west coast, but humidity is low, and I never have rust problems. I do wash my hands thoroughly when I am handling knives just to keep natural sweat/salt down to a minimum. I have opened a couple of knives after a show, that had clear corroded fingerprints on them!! Now I wipe them after people hand them back!!!
Case/Bose collaboration knives would likely be my choice if things changed.

I used to help a friend of mine who ran a booth at some local gun and knife shows a few years back. One of his biggest pet peeves was when folks would literally hand a blade back completely covered in greasy prints. Some knives it can be unavoidable, especially folders, but there aren't a lot of reasons to paw over a fixed blade... He always had a ready rag or two to commence with the rather pointed wipe-down. It is rather amazing to see how much of an impact a random fingerprint will have on high carbon steel in general.

 

[afishhunter]

Soak a rag in mineral oil. Put it in a ziplock bag. Use it to wipe down your blades when you put them up. Gun and knife owners in the south and on the coasts have been dealing with it for decades.

I suppose "for decades" is true enough ... but "for centuries" might be a little more accurate.

 

[NDirish23]

I get occasional rust spots on my knives. Most of them can be attributed to my own stupidity, but I live in the northeast and a few times humidity has given me a rust spot. Thankfully they were on user knives so it really doesn't bother me.

 

[traumkommode]

I empathize with you, here in Hotlanta, GA. Fortunately, I've never had a knife get orange rust, but the blades saw daily attention. As much as I like the fun of patina, I favor low-maintenance knives.

Come to think of it, I've briefly owned some A2 and it was not nearly as quick to patina as 1095.

 

[pholder]

place them in a zip lock bag and put a few pieces of charcoal in with them, the charcoal will absorb the moisture

 

[totkst1]

I live in eastern NC where you can sweat like a pig at a poke in December. I've never had any issues with rust on my guns or my carbon steel knives but that may be due to storage and upkeep. Lite coats of oil at very minimum every other day and for longer term storage I will put a coat of frog lube or renaissance wax and then store it with some of the desiccant that you can buy from your local big box stores

 

[mrknife]

i live in nyc and its always fluctuating. some days i remember a knife, some days i dont. but this cigar box keeps my users safe so far. my stored away gecs are kept oiled and wrapped back in the wax paper.

 

[jc57]

Certainly hot and humid where I live/work. No problems with rust on my Case CV knives. I've been carrying a Case Chestnut CV Mini Trapper this week and just leave it out on my desk at home. Though I do put a little mineral oil on them now and then, and always put a drop in the joint and rub excess onto the blades before I put them up in the drawer for a while.

But in general I prefer stainless.

 

[brownshoe]

And there's the rub. What constitutes proper care, and when is it just not worth the bother? The thought of pulling out my knife rotation every single night, and coating all of the the blades with oil sounds ludicrous to me. Most of my users have 3 to 4 blades. That's not me owning the knives. That's the knives owning me. I just got lucky yesterday, that I had a 2-blade and a single blade knife left out. The two GEC knives had carbon steel liners, which also rusted.

And my pile of users changes from week to week, sometimes day to day. It's just too much upkeep for a reasonable person, IMHO. If I only owned one or two knives, it might be okay. But I'm not that guy.

Well I agree that it's not worth it. I have very few carbon steel slipjoints because I am lazy and like shiny knives Liquidate the rusting ones and get the Case Bose pattern of your dreams or a custom. Go traditional, but 21 st century stainless. There are even some pretty good 440C vintage Queen, Japanese and Taiwanese knives from the 70s on.

 

[cwood8656]

I agree completely. I decided this year to stop buying GEC knives in carbon steel. I love their knives, but I just am done with worrying about carbon steel. I have three left in my small collection in 1095, and the last three knives I have purchased were all stainless. The last, a Case/Bose collaboration knife that I've carried every day since I got it two months ago with no worries. I plan to only buy stainless knives from here on out.

 

[knarfeng]

My views on buying expensive knives with carbon steel blades is likely well known to all. I hunt for knives with blades made of upgraded stainless the way some of the folks here prowl the antique shops seeking their treasures. There are traditional knives being made with such alloys. And they aren't always pricey. You just have to find them.

Also, properly done 440A with a hardness of 57-58 is not to be sneezed at. The US Uncle Henry knives in Schrade+ are very decent. Even the Taylor-Schrade line are not bad.

 

[A.L.]

Unless you (not pointing to OP, just in general) intend to just keep your carbon knives pristine, I don't think that rust spots are really that bad thing. Yes, they look a bit nasty for a while but they all kind of nicely mix to the patina along the way. More important is to keep the joints and insides oiled up and maintained.

However, I have sort of developed a taste for stainless these days. I just somehow prefer the clean blade (not counting the scratches.. me like scratches!).

 

[Will Power]

My solution.

GEC Cyclop's Works 68 White Owl, Light Tan Bone. Something many of us wish GEC would invest more time in...

For a 'Rant' This thread has remained instructive and amusing The elephant in the room being that many enthusiasts of Traditional knives yearn for something other than rust-on-a-stick....