Removing rust from a blade

J

JohnQ

Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Messages
12
I have a couple of blades I neglected for a month or two and they've rusted. Its very minor, but I like to keep my blades in tip top condition. I've used some house hold oil and scrubbed and scrubbed, but to no avail. I'm hoping there is some kind of chemical some of you might suggest to remove rust without damaging the blade. I've heard of rust pads, how hard are they on the blade ? Any info you might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated.
 
Try the first rust remover you can get at Ace. Spray and let the blade soak a little.

Alternatively, you can try Tuff Cloth. More expensive, but it will leave protective coating on your blade for the future. This is what I use ....
 
Try Flitz polishing compound if you live in the US or Autosol polishing compound if you live in Europe.

They are almost identical in both color and smell, so I guess they both contain a similar chemical blend. However, the Flitz is more expensive.

Good luck with your polishing :)

~Paul~
 
Another one for Flitz. I had a rusty wakizashi shipped to the shop last week... it was bad! But a little flitz and some good old elbow grease, and it's looking brand new. ...but minus the rust. Flitz is good because it's not really an abrasive. It just sort of sucks up the rust like some sort of magical rust sponge.
...I've been dringking
-KC
 
brasso, semi-chrome, metal-glo, flitz all work well for removing surface rust. A little bit more (deeper) and you may need to use a buffing wheel with some jewelers rouge and water, or you can use one of the metal polishes mentioned, with it, or without it (jewelers rouge). Be forewarned though, a knife that has deep rust will leave some nasty pitting. Slight pitting can usually be taken care of with 400 grit emery cloth and hand rubbing (using a little water, or brasso), usually. Then you can buff the blade back to normal with some jewelers rouge and water.

Hope this helps some.
 
For $3.49 you could buy one of the little rust erasers from Smokeymountainknifeworks and clean it up. They work well in my opinion on 1095, 01 or some other high carbon steels.
 
Those rust erasers do work well, but they WILL leave scratch marks on your blade. Try Flitz on an old wool sock first.
 
Has anyone tried CLR? I haven't, but I'm wondering if anyone has - and can recommend it, or dismiss it (e.g. too damaging, etc.)...
 
edb said:
Has anyone tried CLR? I haven't, but I'm wondering if anyone has - and can recommend it, or dismiss it (e.g. too damaging, etc.)...
Click to expand...

**Edited - misread - thought you said CLP.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I've not had any luck hunting some down locally, though. Guess I'm gonna have to order it. Thanks again.
 
Hit a mom & pop hardware store if you've got 'em in your area. They carry all of the off the wall good stuff.
 
One more question guys, is this stuff safe on a gun blued blade ? Flitz, brasso, etc ? If not, got any alternatives to the aforementioned products ? Thanks again.
 
I have a stainless S&W Tactical .45. It gets tiny bits of pit rust all the time because I have excess moisture in my bedroom. About once every month or every other month, I'll get it out, and rub off the rusty parts with a nickel. It actually works. It takes some time, but it will remove rust. I don't know how or why it works, but it does. My hypothesis is that the nickel is harder than the rust, so it scrapes it off, but it's not harder than the steel that the gun is made out of, so it won't scratch it. I learned this trick from a good old guy at my local gun shop. Now, your steel on your knife may not (probably for sure doesn't) have the same properties as the steel on my .45, but I think it's worth a shot. Just rub the rust with a nickel using about as much pressure as you would in erasing a pencil mark from paper. It works every time for me.
 
I have used Flitz metal polish for many years on my firearms and blades. And they do an outstanding job on cleaning, polishing and preserving. It does NOT remove the bluing on firearms. But rather cleans off all the surface gunk, including light rust. Be very careful with other polishes such as Metal Glo and Simichrome. While they may be great for stainless and non finished steel, I have not used these on blued firearms. If anyone has, please let me know the results! :D

You may want to look into a common hardware store product called "Never Dull". It is a polishing wadding that contains a large wad of cloth (cotton?) that is soaked in semi moist chemicals. You can pull/ off pieces as desired for whatever size application you require. It will clean up light to moderate rust quite efficiently on stainless or chromed steel. A buffing afterwards yields a sparkling shine.

N2
 
Flitz, or any polish (never dull, etc.) will rub bluing off, be careful! You may try a little, but be forewarned that it can really damage a finish.

Instead off that I would try a very fine steel wool and some oil to help cut the abrasion down. That's what I use to use on my old 10/22 I used to squirrel hunt with.
 
I have no idea how it would work on good steel that has been treated but for other rust applications I have used naval jelly in the past. Seems to work fairly well and can be had at the local hardware store. Just a thought and maybe someone here can add some wisdom to my more-often-than-not bad idea. :D
 
With a chemical "polish" such as Flitz (which is non-abrasive), rubbing past what it takes to get the polish worked into all the surface irregularities, does no good. What does help is time. Put the Flitz on, work it into the surface, and then let it sit for a few minutes. There's a chemical reaction going on here. Rubbing won't accellerate it once you've got the two chemicals (the rust and the Flitz) in contact. But time will allow the reaction to progress.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top