Is there anybody on here that has used carbon steel blades in long term trips,or any military guys/gals that have used their carbon steel or semi stainless steel blades in more humid areas? How did you deal with keeping rust at bay if at all? Thanks
BreakFree CLP, available at most sporting goods stores, departments, and gun shops. Widely used by folks with fine firearms. Reasonably priced. Used on M16's in Vietnam and ever since. Here is a test article. If it works on guns it will also work for knives. It is synthetic so will never gum up or dry out like oil. It has multiple properties, hence Cleans, Lubricates, and Protects against corrosion.
Rust Preventatives for Firearms
by Robert P. Firriolo
I am an anti-corrosion fanatic and a lubricant nut, ever in search of the best product to prevent rust and keep moving parts moving, whether on guns, on vehicles, or around the house and workshop. Maybe that's because when I make an investment in a firearm, a hand tool, a car, or whatever, I want it to last.
Over the years I have accumulated numerous products that claim to lubricate and prevent rust. Some are dedicated gun-care products, and others are household and automotive products.
So far, I have rarely been disappointed by one of these products so far as gun maintenance is concerned. But then again I will have to admit to being somewhat scrupulous about cleaning, lubing, and wiping down my guns with good a preservative to prevent rust.
Recently I was inspired by a home test performed by a fellow member of the Curio & Relic FFL e-mail list. This industrious chap tested a few products he had on hand to see how they prevented rust, and reported back to the list over the course of a week or so.
As fine a job as he did, he really didn't have too many products on hand to satisfy my own curious nature. After all, if all of the products I have used weren't tested, I wasn't happy.
Thanks to all of the recent rain we had where I live, I found myself one summer weekend running my own tests. My goal was simply to see what products, when applied as I use them on firearms, would stave off rust the longest.
Test 1: Single Dose Exposure
The first round of tests was designed to test the effectiveness of a relatively heavy coat of preservative with a single, heavy dose of salt spray. I figured this gave the products a fair chance to see if they could ward off moisture as might be encountered on a wet hunting trip or during a day where one's concealed carry handgun rides against a sweaty body.
The first test used 1½ inch bright finish nails, thoroughly cleaned with steel wool to remove surface oxidation until they were all shiny. All of the nails were then degreased with Kleen Bore Gunk Out spray, wiped with clean paper toweling while still wet, and then spray degreased again and patted dry with clean paper towels.
Thereafter, the nails were handled only with forceps that were cleaned and degreased. The test products were applied directly to the nails from the bottles or cans. If the product was a liquid, it was dripped from the top of the nail down to the bottom, making sure all sides were coated. Products in spray form were applied by spraying the nail as it was rotated, to ensure full coverage.
Whether spray or liquid, I purposely used more than enough of each product to ensure full coverage. Between applications, the forceps were degreased to prevent cross-contamination with other products while handling the nails.
After each nail was coated, the excess product was blotted off with a piece of clean paper towel. The object was to keep the nail wet, but not dripping, with the test product. Two polished, degreased nails remained uncoated with any product to serve as controls.
The products initially tested were:
Kleen Bore TW25-B Break Free CLP
Break Free LP Shooter;s Choice Rust Prevent
Birchwood-Casey Sheath Remington RemOil
Eezox WD-40
Kano Kroil 3-in-One Household Oil
Sandaro Industries; Bore Cote Miltec-1.
Sandaro Industries; Arms Cote
Each of the nails was placed on a sheet of wax paper that had been divided into a numbered grid with magic marker. Each nail had its own section of paper where it was not in contact with any other nail.
A saturated salt solution was then prepared in a clean spray bottle. In this case, Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (which is not iodized) was added to the water in the bottle until salt crystals started to precipitate out of the solution. A little more water was added to dissolve the precipitated salt, which got me pretty close to a saturated solution. I figure this was about as severe a test solution as I could concoct.
All of the nails were sprayed down until a small puddle formed around each one. Ambient temperature was a mostly constant 75°F, and relative humidity was around 65%.
The salt-sprayed test nails were allowed to air dry, and the results were observed periodically. After 22 hours, the test was stopped because the uncoated control nails had almost completely rusted, and 22 hours represents a generous amount of time between an ordinary exposure to moisture and one's opportunity to clean the exposed firearm.
The results appear below, in order of my subjective ranking of best-performing to worst:
Best:
Break Free CLP: No rust, bright.
Break Free LP: No rust, bright.
Eezox: No rust, bright.
Sheath: No rust, slight darkening.
Very Good:
TW25-B: Trace rust freckling, slight darkening.
RemOil: Slight rust freckling on bottom.
3-in-One Oil: Trace rust.
Bore Cote: Trace rust on bottom.
WD-40: One small area of rust.
Good:
Rust Prevent: Two small rust spots, <20% coverage.
Unsatisfactory:
Arms Cote: >50% rusted.
Miltec-1: Significant rust along bottom; rust freckling on top.
Kroil: >75% rusted.
The results of the first test produced two immediate thoughts. One was that my first test was probably tougher than most real-world scenarios, as I had been using some of the lower-ranked products for years and had never seen a spot of rust. The other thought was to wonder what would happen to the better products with long-term exposure to salt spray. This led to test number two.
