No no no no!!! Northfield barlow in the washing machine!!

Campbellclanman

Campbellclanman

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Mar 10, 2007
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FOR A WEEK!

I couldnt find it - this is one of my precious knives - My good mate Paul gifted me this Awesome Northfield Barlow- and I love to carry it - But last Friday at the end of a Training - I was cleaning up and I saw my knife on the mixing Bench - it had a wee bit of paint on it as I used it to open up a container ( Plastic) to get every last bit of a VERY expensive tinter out......

Anyway...fast forward .......

Days have gone by, panic has now set in - I have to be honest - it hasnt been a great week......

Im turning over couch seats, looking absolutely everywhere throughout the Car, in the washing machine Bowl - in EVERY nook and crannie - it was gone :mad: :(

What was I going to do?

How was I going to tell Paul?

I have to admit that I was thinking dark thoughts of the people whom I was training - because the last time I ever saw my knife ( well - in my mind anyway ) was on the bench - after that - the team I was training cleaned up........someone had stolen my beautiful knife - there were lots of comments on the knife when I used it....HOW COULD THEY!:mad::o

Two nights ago -I got home extremely tired, Sue was out shopping for Christmas- i was so so tired I couldnt face that - I would do more tomorrow-but I wanted the chores done before Sue came home, so I emptied the dishwasher - got out of my work clothes - and took the washing down stairs, opened up the door of the Washing machine ( a front loader ) - the Seal of the Front Loader has a very deep ( 1 inch or so ) gully in the middle to trap water before the actual seal ) it hit me - I said to myself - I dint look in here - as I was saying in my mind " Oh Boy imagine if it was in he.......OMG...I TOUCHED SOMETHING!! - IT WAS MY KNIFE!!!! I swear it was like that exactly.....

The wave of absolute surprise and joy turned VERY quickly into horror!!!

The Ebony scales looked good - but all I saw was this encrusted black mass of blade - it was ruined!!! - or so I thought.......

I quickly put the washing on - ran up stairs to my desk where my drawers are full of Mineral oil Bottles, Rags, Bamboo picks, Rags, 0000 grade Steel wool etc... and performed emergency treatment - I almost swiped the table clear as if in an dire emergency holding some animal or person who needed emergency treatment :o

I opened the Blade - No......No..... Oh no...is all I could here my self saying under a strained breath.... it looked terrible - but it was also different to any form of Steel erosion I had seen - it looked as though it was coated with a thick scale of shiny Paint - I scraped and wiped - in parts the scale chipped off in flakes - and I thought......I MUST TAKE PHOTO's .....
so....

The trap...You can see the rust mark where my poor knife lay.....



The result of the damage...( after I had scraped off some scale).......









Up a bit closer...







Shame came over me for taking the thought of theft and holding it to those I was training - I really did feel lousy about that - and still do...

After an immense amount of careful scraping - 0000 Grade Steel Wool ( I didnt want to shine the blade at all= yuk )...
This is as good as it gets other than taking sandpaper to the blades and introducing false patina to the blade-its lost enough Steel as it is through the acidic nature of the strong Washing detergent.. if you look closely - the steel has in places lost layers through a form of acid etching - very similar to the Eastern knives...
Back down to the garage for the 2nd stage cleaning inside the joints and Liners...

As it is now... Scars on the Bolsters from the Bowl scraping while going through the cycle against the Stainless Bowl..:(






Paul - my friend, I am so so sorry for the abuse I have put this stunning knife through - but its back to smooth actions with a thorough WD40, then washing out with warm soapy water ( as if it didnt have enough of that ) - then Air Compressor Air to get out all WD40, Water Grime etc, and a good Mineral Oil Bath... = The walk and Talk is back to beautiful again, the blade is like a razor again, but bears the scars of an almost fatal battle - another week and it would have been toast!

I am quite ashamed, Ive lost one beautiful Ebony PPP SFO of Charlies before-that knife traveled over England and Scotland with me-was with me when I met my good friend Jack - its gone, another just couldnt be, and its not - in fact gained more from this and its something that I have been through with this knife - to make EVEN MORE THE PRECIOUS...

Guys and Gals...check your pockets, twice.

Im terribly sorry to let down the Porch and show that in doing this, I deserve a bit of a hard time :( :(
 
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Haha to be honest this looks pretty awesome Duncan, and at least you've a story to tell at the end. I'm just glad the internals weren't too heavily rusted. Paul is an awesome guy~

Honestly it looks like an acid etch to me.
 
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Some people do a patina like that on purpose. You found the knife. You may now stop beating yourself up.
 
Chin up Duncan, be very thankful finding it when you did. Amazing the amount of metal that was lost!
 
I'm sorry Duncan but at least you found it and it is still a very nice usable knife. Don't feel too bad, I think this happens more often than we will admit, last week my wife saved me from putting one of my Case red bones through the wash, luckily she checked the pockets.
 
Lesson learned eh Duncan?? :rolleyes:
Glad it turned out to a positive end my Friend :thumbup:
I also know how it feels to believe that a knife is gone and then have it turn up....right where I left it. :confused:
It is a good feeling! And a humbling one!!


Dave
 
Cheers guys - Jamie- yeah - but dont forget - that valley is full of water at the Bottom all the time - and my poor knife was submerged under that all the time- so it must have gone through the cycle before it sat on a piece of clothing and being thrown against the door to fall into the gusset, so there always water there any hardly seen anyway.
 
Oh no! I'm glad that you found it though. It looks like there are some rivers and valleys in the surface. If you don't like the new look, you could regrind the blade or have someone do it for you. Krein does regrinds but it would require shipping to the USA and back. Is there someone in NZ that does regrinds?
 
When you decide to force a patina, you don't fool around! Looks like the ebony held up pretty well. As long as you can put a good sharp edge on it, it should work fine for cutting things.
 
Thank You Dave- nice to "see you - must ring soon " - I need to catch up with quite a few friends via phone - been too long.
 
Now it has some real character, and the wood looks good.

I thought those were blackwood, not ebony.
 
Duncan, what sort of wash detergent do you use ? not looking for brand name, but some are labelled as "deep cleaning" or "mild for delicate fabrics" etc.
What i'm trying to find out, is it just the average strength laundry detergent that eats steel that fast ?
I know that dishwashers do not use a detergent, but some sort of abrasive chemical. I thought laundry detergent is a type of soap, but soap don't eat no steel.
Any chemists to esplain this ?
kj
 
Wow, that was almost a tragedy! Like someone said to me a few times, you've just officially made the knife "yours" As long as it cuts, it's still doing its job, just like an old soldier! Although I have to say, you just put any concerns i had about the ebony on my #38 right to bed, so thanks for that!
 
Ryouchijtx said:
Haha to be honest this looks pretty awesome Duncan, and at least you've a story to tell at the end. I'm just glad the internals weren't too heavily rusted. Paul is an awesome guy~

Honestly it looks like an acid etch to me.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Acid etching was the first thing that came to my mind as well.
I actually like the way it looks. If cuts and works… Continue on :thumbup:
 
Lambertiana - I stand corrected - me in my simple ways - Black Wood = Ebony :-), but you are correct my friend.

Jake- No I dont want it re-ground, if I did - I would seen it to Krein - but there would still be eaten parts that would still be there - so as long as it takes a good edge-which it does - then thats the way my Barlow and myself will go buddy.

Jay - lol - yeah thats one way of making a knife yours isnt it!,

KJ, I just think because it was submerged in ater that had a detergent in it? I can explain because we do buy the more gentle detergent - I personally think its more the nature of the Carbon submerged rather than the actual detergent? I just dont know and you raise a good question my friend.

DAN - you got it friend :thumbup:
 
Iron is reasonably stable in alkaline environments when it comes to red oxide formation. And most laundry soaps are alkaline. You apparently set up the perfect environment for formation of black oxide, which folks often call "patina".

Congrats on your persistence! I'm not certain that I would have found a knife in that resting place!
 
This makes me want to pick up one of these barlows, just to muck it up a bit. Very cool. Looks like a happy accident.

Glad you found it!!
 
Don't feel bad Campbell. Been there done that but in my case it involved tar and maybe some J B Weld.

z2R7SpV.jpg


A little spit and polish and it cleaned up pretty good at this stage.

TT8Wdbb.jpg


I got it cleaned up even better but don't have a picture of it all bright and shiny. Sarah has it now.
 
Sorry to hear a sad tale about a knife, but it could have ended worse. Think of the story this knife has to tell now. Some day you can pass this knife on to someone along with the story of what it went through.
 
I love the look of an old, aged, pitted blade.

You have a new, aged, pitted blade! No excuse not to use it and use it hard now.
 
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