Rusting pocketknife - blueing it?

E

evasion

Joined
Apr 14, 2000
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Hey guys. I have a schrade 3 bladed stockman that is carbon steel and it is showing some discolouration which I've been expecting for some time now. Should I "blue" it so that it doesn't rust as bad? How do I do this? I read somewhere that you put the blade in lemon juice..but I really don't want to screw this nice knife up. Thanks.
 
NO, no, no, no, no!
Get some Tuf-Cloth from Sentry Solutions. That´ll protect your blade just fine. www.sentrysolutions.com
I think you can get it right here at 1-stop-knifeshop. Go check it out.
 
I adopted an elderly "Old Timer" large stockman that was neglected in a garage for many years. This is what I did:

1) Soaked the entire knife in Hoppes #9 gun bore cleaner for about an hour
2) Polished blades and springs with #000 s/s wool
3) Then used Wright's Silver Cream on all metal surfaces
4) Next a gun degreaser by Birchwood Casey
5) Then I blued all the metal parts with PermaBlue (in the plastic squeeze tube)
6) I put a thin coating of Break-Free oil on all of the metal surfaces and let set for 3 hours.
7) Finally, I sharpened the blades and wiped the whole knife down, inside and out, to remove any excess oil.

I like the way it looks and it hasn't even tarnished in almost a year. This probably won't be a popular method with everyone. On an inexpensive but quite useable knife, though, it worked fine for me.

Comments Anyone?

------------------
Dave
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Attention: Some assembly may be required. Batteries not included.
 
Blueing is a decorative coating, not an effective rust preventative.

A cold blue would not hurt the blade, but certainly would make touch up of rust spots more difficult, as you would probably have to polish the whole blade to make it look good.

I second the Tuf-Cloth suggestion, and would use a Marine Tuf-Cloth if you are in a humid or salty location.

Walt
 
Blueing is a decorative coating, not an effective rust preventative.

A cold blue would not hurt the blade, but certainly would make touch up of rust spots more difficult, as you would probably have to polish the whole blade to make it look good.

I second the Tuf-Cloth suggestion, and would use a Marine Tuf-Cloth if you are in a humid or salty location.

Despite its' reputation, oil is not a terribly good rust preventative. I believe it was the late Col. Askins who addressed this in a paper titled 'Rusting Under an Oil Film,' sometime around the 1920's.

Walt
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "discolouration". If you have the red/orange spots where the steel is fluffy and flaky, then you have the bad rust which must be removed. However, if there are just some sort of dark splotches on the blade, it may just be developing a patina. A good patina is not really something you want to prevent: most people regard it as a desirable quality.

You can help the process along by blueing with lemon juice. It's a really simple procedure; just rub some lemon juice on the blade and let it stand for 10 or 15 minutes, then clean it off and repeat if necessary. The blade will have a sort of blue/gray look, like smoked glass.
 
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