rust prevention?

four_shore

four_shore

Joined
Oct 21, 2010
Messages
2,610
Anyone have advice on what I should use to prevent rust on my ESEE knives?
Sometimes while camping I use these to cut food, so something that's also safe for consumption.

thanks!
 
I use Ballistol on all of my blades. It is non-toxic, but I would still clean it before food prep. But before storage, a thin coat of Ballistol will definitely prevent rust!
 
They are coated, right?
Just polish the edge and don't let it sit wet for several hours/days.
 
Mineral oil is food safe and will prevent rust. I also hear of people using bee's wax on their carbon steel blades.
 
Basically any type of lght oil will work. WD40, Ballistol, 3 in One are all good. All of those have a mineral oil base I believe. I haven't used any of the fancy CLP, and Mil-tec stuff.
For long term storage I like to coat in vaseline. For outdoor and garden tools brush on some linseed oil and let it harden. It will not rust even in rain.
 
I use Burt's Bees (sp?) chapstick. The main ingredient is beeswax, and its small size and general package make it rather portable. I find it very useful.

As long as you don't mind your knives smelling like peppermint, I think it's great. Plus, it's completely benign if you ingest it.
 
Go ask in the ESEE forum and you'll get told that use is the best way. I just wipe the edge with whatever oil is handy in the kitchen at the time, as I do use them on food sometimes.
 
Cynic - has the burt's bees worked well for you? thought about that but wasn't sure if there were any additives in there that would make it less effective than pure beeswax or mineral oil. thanks.
 
beestokk said:
Cynic - has the burt's bees worked well for you? thought about that but wasn't sure if there were any additives in there that would make it less effective than pure beeswax or mineral oil. thanks.
Click to expand...

It's actually turned out really well for me. I'm not a big fan of oil, as it just doesn't seem to have as much "staying power" as burt's bees. Maybe I'm just oil-inept, but I always seem to get it all over my hands and everywhere else when I used it.

I also did some experiments with my Izula were I used nothing, mineral oil, and then the Burt's bees. I'm more of an urban user, so my EDC's see a lot of cardboard, general office work, and a fair bit of food prep (mostly acidic fruits like oranges, limes, lemons). For about a month I did each one, and purposefully didn't clean off the blade after each use.

The exposed edge rusted about equally when I used nothing and mineral oil--nothing greater than spotting and surface rust. Maybe the citrus fruits were natural de-greasers? I don't know. It had very little to unnoticeable rusting when I used the burt's bees.

Plus my lips were never chapped.
 
four_shore said:
hahaha! i'm sold!
Click to expand...

Haha, great! :)

I was kind of in the same boat as you when I first got my Izula. It was my first, and still is my only, carbon steel blade. My progression from nothing to mineral oil to burt's bees was mostly me being a complete carbon steel noob.

Nowadays I only really re-apply the chapstick when I've used it a lot and after its subsequent sharpening. Haven't had any more issues with rust.
 
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