Replacement or Repair of Cattaraugus Kitchen Knife

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PaleDeer

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Apr 4, 2005
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arial3Black
I am trying to get a replacement for my favorite kitchen knife.
It is 14" overall. Blade length is 10". Width at Handle 13/16ths tapering to 9/16 of an inch. The handle is wood (cherry, I think) 4 inches long.
My grandmother gave the entire set to my mom. She them for over 50years then was given a new butchery set for her 50th Anniversary.
The Cattaraugus set was offered to me, but I only wanted this particular knife.
I've had it for 15 years. I have photos but don't know how to post them
My knife gets more rust after each use and is becoming harder and harder to clean. Can someone help me? I really love this knife.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
Howdy,

The Cattaraugus that made your knife is long out of business. You might find a replacement on Ebay if you look long enough. As for repairing the knife, you have a number of options.

A) Pay a knife maker to clean it up for you.

B) Gently clean off the red active rust with extra fine steel wool and oil. A carbon steel knife will always develop a blue-black color with use, this is natural, and isn't harmful. The active red rust is. To remove it,

First coat the blade with mineral oil and let it sit. This will loosen the rust.

Next, wipe the blade with a rough cloth like canvas. If you're lucky, the rust will wipe off. If not, just polish off the the rust with the steel wool. After that, just remember to keep the blade lightly oiled with mineral oil or cooking oil, and you're good to go.

C) If it's really badly rusted you might want to repolish it. That involves working your way up through various grits of sand paper. This has a few bad points.

It removes most of the history that comes with age. Also if the blade is pitted and you do not polish out the pits, it leaves a very ugly finish. This type of refinishing might remove a bit of material, thining out the blade.

The one good point it has, is that if you take the knife to an extremely high polish the more rust resistance it will have(you'll still have to oil it though).

I'd personally go with option B.

HTH:).
 
Dear Bob Bowie,
Thank you for your help.
I will try option B first. I'm afraid if I do too much cleaning it may wear away what little finish left.
Many thanks for your your reply and kindness :) .
 
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