Rust Solution

[Federico]

Found a little rust on my ang khola yesterday and thought to myself darnit more work for Fred if Im gonna try and maintain that finish via the various grades of sandpaper. Then it occured to me why not treat it the way I treat rust on an antique whose patina I do not want to deserve. So out came the 0000 steel wool and the WD-40 and in a matter of seconds the rust was gone and the finish was almost fine. Some light touch up with brasso and the mirror shine was there scratch free (and I have the feeling the scratches werent from the steel wool but from all the work Ive been putting that poor Ang Khola through). The whole process took me a whopping 10 min most of that looking for the can of brasso I had laying somewhere. Sure beats the days of going throuh a complete polish from course diamond stone through the grades of paper to finally the polishing agent. Geez some days I just feel like banging my head against the wall for not trying this earlier, but then again Ive always been pretty good at rust prevention So the moral of the story especially for those UBDOTD that have minor rust blems try the steel wool and WD-40 route may save you time with the polishing.

 

[Bill Martino]

Thanks for good tip, Fed.

 

[Federico]

Hehehe somedays the good old brain actually does work I cant believe how long Ive been working with antiques and that this didnt occur to me as being applicable to non-antiques until now. When I think of all the time I could have saved

 

[Rusty]

CLARIFY please - WD40 and 0000 steel wool, I got that part. Do you then use 0000 steel with the Brasso? Reason I ask is that I tried Brasso used on a towel and it didn't seem to do much good with the discoloration left by the steel wool alone.

 

[Federico]

Well if youve ever tried to clean an antique of live rust this will be repetitve, but just in case here is exactly what you do. I normally take the 0000 steel wool and scrub the rust gently. Now if its stubborn (like most rust is) I then soak the blade in WD-40 to loosen and soften the live rust and let sit for a little while. Then I go back with the steel wool and keep repeating till Im satisfied. To get into tiny cracks and pits I use a dental pick and a brass wire brush. Now the reasoning behind the 0000 steel wool is that at this fine a grade (do not use anything less fine) the wool will only remoce the soft rost but break off once it hits the the actual harder steel. Now some people will not even use 0000 steel wool but will only use brass wool, deer antlers, or copper instruments. Again the basic logic states that if it is softer than steel it wont scratch. Now realistically if I was working on an antique whos patina I was trying to keep intact this would be a long drawn out process in which I would have to carefully do the blade in sections with plenty of light and a magnifying glass to make sure that I am only working on live rust and not removing patina. However since this is not an antique it can go fairly quick. The brasso is for after the rust is gone just to try and remove any scratches that may have been incurred. If the blade is already extremely scratched then I would advise going through the various grits of paper as the only way to get those out. But if you blade was scratch free to begin with then ideally the finish should be relatively intact after the rust is removed and only slight touch ups would be needed with the brasso. Brasso is a really fine polisher meant for well brass. It will take out scratches but since its so fine itll take a long time and well if the scratch is deep a really really really reall long time. I used brasso because I had it lying around. Simi-chrome or flitz would probably work better as since theyre more meant for this than brasso. However Brasso will work if youre patient. Just dont expect it to be easy or fast. Geez depending on how bad the rust was (aka if there was any pitting or deep staining) you could probably skip the brasso route. I did it just because I wanted to polish it up a little. I also prefer 0000 steel wool as a silver and brass cleaner. I actually only use brasso now for polishing up blades to that mirror shine when I have nothing else around. Oh well I guess the old saying holds true there many ways to skin a cat.

 

[Walosi]

Fred:

OK - I'm paranoid. I'd just cleaned the rust off the Gelbu Special UBDOTD, and read your post. My blades were OK. I know they were. But, I had to look. I found spots (tiny) on both sides of my Malla, and on on the Garud. The only can of Brasso around had turned to gravel inside, and I had Flitz and 0000 wool still on the bench. Worked like a charm. Appled a dab of Flitz, scrubbed the spot area with the wool, wiped it down. Nothing visible under a 60-power glass. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Bill Martino]

Good tips and thanks. And, if it won't rust I don't want it.

 

[Black Bear]

Great technique Fed! I'll sure try it, THANKS bunches! It doesn't matter how long a person has worked in a particular field or endevor, or how much of an expert they are you will always learn new tricks or processes. Whats important is keep an open mind.