Rust removal from Gerber dagger?

H

H0tspur

Joined
Sep 15, 2021
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I looked up the S/N, 1981 or something like that. I tried Simichrome on it, decided I would grow older and grayer before doing anything significant. A dealer told me not to remove the patina (he didn't see the knife). This surface adds nothing to the value in my eyes. Am I wrong? Would others value it?

Anyway, I had one of those erasers with grit in it and wanted to try that, but it's disappeared in my "stuff". I was going to order one from Amazon, but wondered what brands people like?

Any other suggestions on removing (fairly) superficial rust spots?


Gerber dagger
 
Nice dagger. It should clean up easily enough with some flitz metal polish. I use the tube of paste and wipe with paper towels. Soap and water wash after. It won't be perfect, but it will be better.
 
Use a pencil to remove the physical rust and semi chrome for the final clean.
 
Need better pictures to be able to tell you the proper method.
I believe it's possible those blades were hard chrome plated (not sure.) If so, it's best left alone.
If it's just stainless, there are methods to properly remove oxidation.
 
I thought these were pretty good pictures. High res, good lighting, no glare.

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Buffing wheel with green polish. Green is a very mild polish and won’t harm the finish. It’s how I get the mild stuff off.
 
Buffing wheel is the most dangerous tool in a knife making shop. If you don't have experience with this, better to read up on the dangers before you jump into it H H0tspur .
 
Use flitz or wicked clean it should come off with some minior elbow grease. I have done it on worst rusting.
 
Thanks all. I think I'll try the Flitz. I have a 3M ScotchBrite on my 5" bench grinder and love the finish it imparts, but Yikes! You can lose contour in a trice. That's why I'm opting for hand polishing.
 
I sent a Gerber Mark 1 to the factory for sharpening and they did a great clean up job on it. Removed a lot of scratches that were on it. That was a long time ago and I don't know if they still offer that service. Might be worth a shot if you want it cleaned up and are not concerned with selling it for profit.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. If it were an heirloom or something special, I might do that, I think I'd like the idea of a project just to see what I can do with it.
 
0000 steel wool, used dry should get most of it off.
Don't scrub hard.
You really should contact Gerber and find out what steel it is, and if it is hard chrome plated.
Then, I can tell you how to fix it properly.
 
Last edited:
The blade in this knife is stainless steel (the "S" behind the number tells that)
These were made in the '80's
Me and my friends had several in those days, tacticool you know :-)

Much later i learned that the quality wasn't comparable to the earlier versions with blades in non-stainless L6 steel, Cat's Tongue grips, and well made leather sheaths.
For me it's the same as with Puma knives: the older the better.
 
Whatever compound you use (semichrome, flitz, green rouge, etc..), I'd put it on something fairly hard and flat. Like a paint stir stick. It'll let you put a little more pressure and elbow grease into it and keep your hands/fingers safe from the edge.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
You really should contact Gerber and find out what steel it is, and if it is hard chrome plated.
Then, I can tell you how to fix it properly.
Click to expand...
This Mark II was made in 1986, not 1981 as the OP originally stated… serial number confirms that.

Blade steel is 440 C and is not hard chrome plated.
 
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