Pepper, Pitting and Patina

[ottolenghi]

I was gifting a GEC 93 to a friend, but when I pulled it out it had a fair amount of pepper spots or rust on the backspring. I had never used the knife and bought it recently, but I should have used a bit of ren wax.

I used flitz polish and a microfiber cloth to clean off the rust on the backspring and it looks good. However, if you look hard enough there are slight black little markings into those areas.

Is this considered pitting? Seems smooth to the touch. Are these areas that will actively rust again rather quickly? Would it seem like I gifted something defective if gave this to him?

What's the take on the remaining hard to see black markings on the spring?

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Carboniferous]

I'd say it's pitting if you can feel it, but also minor pitting on a gifted GEC wouldn't exactly bother me much lol, definitely wouldn't call it defective.

As far as I know the remaining black patina should be *more* resistant to rust?

 

[mrknife]

depends on how much they know about carbon steel i suppose and their opinion of it. long term storage can be a big problem for certain environments. i store all my gecs in cigar boxes

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The 'pepper' spots at least indicate the beginning of pitting, even if it's too shallow to feel by touch. If any rusting at all occurs, that's the steel's iron being changed to the damaging form of iron oxide (red rust). When that happens, the iron forming the damaging oxide becomes loosely bound to the rest of the healthy steel and flakes or sloughs off, leaving a void (pit) behind. The pepper spots would need to be removed with somewhat more aggressive polishing or sanding/grinding down to the depth of the pits, if the goal is to make it look perfectly pristine again.

Having said that, if the 'pits' are just gray or black, with no red or brown left in them, they won't cause additional harm so long as you take measures to prevent further rusting of the steel by oiling or using some other form of protectant, and keeping the steel as clean & dry as possible. Pits will tend to collect more dirt, etc. And the dirt will absorb and hold moisture or other acids, etc. which can accelerate rusting over the longer run.

 

[brownshoe]

…Is this considered pitting? Seems smooth to the touch. Are these areas that will actively rust again rather quickly? Would it seem like I gifted something defective if gave this to him?

What's the take on the remaining hard to see black markings on the spring?

Thanks for your help guys!

It’s not pitting. Flitz will remove it with a lot of extra effort. It’s not defective, just not pristine. What’s really hard to remove is “pepper spots” on the inner side of the spring. I got a Sunfish Forge knife that had been refurbished by the maker for a $100 off when I pointed out spots on the inside of the spring to the dealer. It’s not really possible to remove all of them on the inside. He had it priced as a collectible, not a user, which it was and still is

 

[ShaiHulud]

Makes me curious how people took care of their carbon steel slipjoint knives back in the day, I would guess it got so much use that it patina'd all over along with some rust and the damage stayed at a minimum or just stopped. There's a lot more collecting now than then so idle knives need more maintenance and preventative measures

 

[Maximumbob54]

Makes me curious how people took care of their carbon steel slipjoint knives back in the day, I would guess it got so much use that it patina'd all over along with some rust and the damage stayed at a minimum or just stopped. There's a lot more collecting now than then so idle knives need more maintenance and preventative measures

Until I was given a Victorinox I always had my el-cheapo Kamp King. Carbon steel everything but the stamped bolsters and plastic scales. I was religious about wiping it off and it still was in a constant phase of rusting and staining. It looked like if you cut yourself you would have to remove the limp and call for an old priest and a young priest. Until stainless became common I'm guessing that's what most carbon steel knives looked like.

 

[ShaiHulud]

Until I was given a Victorinox I always had my el-cheapo Kamp King. Carbon steel everything but the stamped bolsters and plastic scales. I was religious about wiping it off and it still was in a constant phase of rusting and staining. It looked like if you cut yourself you would have to remove the limp and call for an old priest and a young priest. Until stainless became common I'm guessing that's what most carbon steel knives looked like.

I avoided anything tool and carbon like the plague, now I have a mixture of them all, they all get used, thrown together in pockets, I'll use mineral oil until a good patina forms on the carbon blades, then after just rinse and dry off. I spent too many years babying my stuff and it interfered with their use, I'm too old to care about that now. I have a case peanut carbon and a swiss classic getting romantic in one pocket while fighting with my wallet, and I think the pen blade on the peanut has a slight wobble lol . The knives will cut for a long time until they physically can't

 

[waynorth]

I think a #93m is a nice knife to get for a user, or just to have! A little patina makes it interesting!
If your friend collects pristine mint knives only, give him a different knife!!