Rust stops on Benchmade Grizzly Ridge

H

Hellcat116

Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
6
Hi everyone,

I got this Benchmade Grizzly Ridge as a present about a month and a half ago. I absolutely love it and it hasn't left my pocket since I got it. I always try to keep my knives well maintained, cleaning and lubricating them often, but on this knife, I have been seeing what seems like rust stops on on and around the butterfly logo and on the bottom of the liners. (Pics attached below) Is this actually rust? And does anyone have any tips on how to get it off? I do not use my knives particularly hard, and even if I did, I would expect a Benchmade to resist rust longer than a month and a half. I've tried to clean it off already so I got some but not all of the spotting off. And I know is kind of hard to see, but it still irritates me. Thanks in advance!

https://imgur.com/a/WV4Qffo
 
Hellcat116 said:
I would expect a Benchmade to resist rust longer than a month and a half.
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To quote The Decon :
[will S30V rust ? ] Sure, just take a lot more effort, or a greater degree of neglect than most of the other steels. Stainless, after all really means "stain less". The closest thing to totally rust proof is H-1 and I have a hunch that a sufficiently motivated person could induce rust (or at least some form of corrosion) on that.
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Please do not judge the quality of a knife or the quality of the steel by a couple of spots of rust.
Quite the opposite in fact. I find that the steel alloys I prefer (high alloy tool steel) tends to stain or show a touch of rust.
I find that the more rust resistant a knife blade is the more diametrically it holds an edge or sharpens well.

PS: that is a nice looking knife. A little orange goes a long way for me. That's about as much orange as I can take in one knife. Good handle thickness :thumbsup: I like it.
 
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Wowbagger said:
To quote The Decon :

Please do not judge the quality of a knife or the quality of the steel by a couple of spots of rust.
Quite the opposite in fact. I find that the steel alloys I prefer (high alloy tool steel) tends to stain or show a touch of rust.
I find that the more rust resistant a knife blade is the more diametrically it holds an edge or sharpens well.

PS: that is a nice looking knife. Orange goes a long way for me. That's about as much orange as I can take in one knife. Good handle thickness :thumbsup: I like it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the words of advice. This knife really does look great! I just hope that the rust doesn't spread too much, I just thought that S30V was corrosion resistant and I haven't put this knife through much, so the staining on my blade is irritating. The staining on the liners isn't as important to me, I just wanted to point that out as well. Maybe the discoloration is something to do with Benchmade's quality control, which to my understanding has has some problems recently.
 
Light rust-spotting like that can be cleaned up by using some Bar Keepers Friend powder, mixed to a paste consistency with water and applied with a Q-tip or something similar to the specific spots. Let it sit there for no longer than 60 seconds, then thoroughly rinse it off with running water. No scrubbing needed for light spotting like this. Don't leave the BKF on the steel for any longer than necessary, as it's capable of etching steel, even stainless.

The higher carbon content of the steel is what can make 'stainless' like S30V rust a little bit sometimes. Heat-treated hardness will also affect it (harder = more prone to rusting). The carbon content is what allows the steel to be heat-treated to greater hardness. So, as Wowbagger said, the light rusting is sort of a visual indicator (sometimes) of a higher-carbon steel made to take and hold a sharp edge for a longer time. This sort of light rust-spotting isn't likely much to worry about in terms of real damage, as it'll still be limited in how far it progresses in this 'stainless' steel. It's mainly just a cosmetic issue.

Down the road, you could protect it with a little bit of oil, to minimize or prevent more rust-spotting.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Light rust-spotting like that can be cleaned up by using some Bar Keepers Friend powder, mixed to a paste consistency with water and applied with a Q-tip or something similar to the specific spots. Let it sit there for no longer than 60 seconds, then thoroughly rinse it off with running water. No scrubbing needed for light spotting like this. Don't leave the BKF on the steel for any longer than necessary, as it's capable of etching steel, even stainless.

The higher carbon content of the steel is what can make 'stainless' like S30V rust a little bit sometimes. Heat-treated hardness will also affect it (harder = more prone to rusting). The carbon content is what allows the steel to be heat-treated to greater hardness. So, as Wowbagger said, the light rusting is sort of a visual indicator (sometimes) of a higher-carbon steel made to take and hold a sharp edge for a longer time. This sort of light rust-spotting isn't likely much to worry about in terms of real damage, as it'll still be limited in how far it progresses in this 'stainless' steel. It's mainly just a cosmetic issue.

Down the road, you could protect it with a little bit of oil, to minimize or prevent more rust-spotting.
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Okay thank you, I’ll try that. I’ve been trying to oil it best I can to protect it from the rust. Thanks for all the info! Im learning more about steels than I ever thought I would haha!
 
Does anyone besides me find it odd that it's only in the etch(I don't see anything on the liners), and completely uniform in all of it?

zW8xlkQ.jpg
 
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The etch has more surface area for the rust to live. Polished areas provide less surface area. I wouldn't worry bout the rust. Rust is the proof you're puttin that blade out there in the world. Keep on keepin on. :thumbsup: That & a liitle spritz of WD40 every now & then. :cool:
 
Dogdrawz said:
The etch has more surface area for the rust to live. Polished areas provide less surface area. I wouldn't worry bout the rust. Rust is the proof you're puttin that blade out there in the world. Keep on keepin on. :thumbsup: That & a liitle spritz of WD40 every now & then. :cool:
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You make a very fair point!
 
Sometimes it comes from acid left from etching. I always clean the etchings under running water with a plastic brush to remove all acid that could be left in. I had one that had so much left in the logo that it scratched the blade after rubbing it with my thumb. since then I always make sure that there no acid leftovers on new knives.
 
If you spray wd40 on it and the rust doesn't rub rub right off, it ain't rust but a stain. While WD40 doesn't normally dissolve rust it does loosen it. And that small amount should wipe off. That's not a deep metal penetration but surface only, if its rust at all.
 
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