S35VN Corrosion Revisited

tjswarbrick

tjswarbrick

Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
3,006
I only found 1 thread pertaining to corrosion on S35VN, and it wrapped up in 2019, so I thought I'd start my own.

I bought my wife a New West Knifeworks 5" "Chopper" in April 2020. It's a pretty little thing, and came sharp as a razor.

Occasionally, after washing it but leaving it out to dry, I would notice rust spots forming on the blade - typically closer to the edge.
Last year, found a bunch of pits along the edge one day. There are 4 in our household, some more conscientious than others, so I just informed the wife, then took it out to the garage to clean up the edge a bit.

Last night, it was once again washed, and left on a mat on the counter to dry. I know this isn't ideal, but I don't always get the chance to wipe down and strop every blade before bed. This time, someone had covered the blade with a (wet and probably dripping) blender lid. When I went to put things away this morning, it had pretty major rust spots on the blade. I have Tojiro DP (VG10), Miyabi and Henckels (X50CrMoV15) knives that receive the same treatment, and don't have anything worse than water spots appear. (I do make sure my carbon steel-bladed petty is dried and oiled before wrapping up for the night.)

WPIKbg4.jpg


vNdAy85.jpg


I'm just wondering, is this fairly normal for S35VN?
Or is there a chance the batch this knife came from wasn't formed correctly, and I should talk to the manufacturer about it?

(I was able to clean it up with PB Blaster and steel wool, and restore the edge to tomato-slicing shape on the WorkSharp.)

Thanks for any help or insight you can offer!
 
Last edited:
Anything is possible but in problem solving 101 we should always eliminate the most probable and easiest things first. Sure it could be steel with inclusions in it but my first guess is something reactive contaminated the steel. Some acidic drops coming off the blender lid or something like that. You have had and been using it for a while now, right? If it never did that before then something has changed and it's probably not the knife.

Just a beginning but that is how I start when figuring things like that out.

Joe
 
I have a couple of New West's knives that I've left on the counter to dry hundreds of times after washing and never had any rust at all.
 
I'm far from an expert, but I agree with others in that it doesn't seem at all right to me for S35VN to rust that quickly and easily.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DMG
I’ve had rust in the lock bar cutout of the blade of a S35VN Cold Steel Code 4. The knife was used in damp environments and not well oiled.
 
The Mastiff said:
Anything is possible but in problem solving 101 we should always eliminate the most probable and easiest things first. Sure it could be steel with inclusions in it but my first guess is something reactive contaminated the steel. Some acidic drops coming off the blender lid or something like that. You have had and been using it for a while now, right? If it never did that before then something has changed and it's probably not the knife.

Just a beginning but that is how I start when figuring things like that out.

Joe
Click to expand...
When you hear hoof steps think horses not zebras
 
I've noticed the same thing happens to my 0452 CF when it's humid. without any CLP it develops small rust spots pretty rapidly (although they're easily wiped away)
 
tjswarbrick said:
(I was able to clean it up with PB Blaster and steel wool
Click to expand...
Steel wool is probably the worst you can do, it will contaminate the stainless and lead to rusting. Might be what you're seeing on the blade now if it was used to clean the blade before. Better to use buffing compound, the green one, on cotton to remove those spot.
 
I’ve gotten a little bit of surface rust on s35vn before. In the spyde hole on my native 5LW, happened out on a fishing/camping trip after using it to process a fish (fresh water not salt water). Next morning there were some spots, scrubbed off with some good pressure and my shirt.

Haven’t had it happens since. Probably just came into contact with something at some point that was more corrosive.
 
Floatingby said:
Steel wool is probably the worst you can do, it will contaminate the stainless and lead to rusting. Might be what you're seeing on the blade now if it was used to clean the blade before. Better to use buffing compound, the green one, on cotton to remove those spot.
Click to expand...
I totally missed the steel wool, good catch
 
Thanks guys.
Was the first time using steel wool - After finding the rust.

Followed by 3 grades of scotch-brite, thorough cleaning, and sharpening. So, hopefully, all traces have been removed. But point taken for next time.

Manufacturer is sending me packaging to ship it back to them for analysis.

I’ll see if they’re still willing, after I cleaned it up.
Pitting happened once before. So I still think (and kinda hope) it’s a bum heat-treat.

No salt water. But, now you’ve got me thinking that the blender lid wasn’t thoroughly cleaned after its last smoothie. Frozen berries mix, perhaps?
 
Prior to this occurrence, it had only been sharpened on Japanese whetstones.
I do have 1 carbon steel blade which was sharpened concurrently, but so were 3 VG10 blades and 2 X50CrMo15’s. None of the others have exhibited anything remotely similar.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top