Tarnish from slip

sailfish

sailfish

Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
1,756
I recently started using a leather slip to carry my traditionals and noticed that it actually patinas/tarnishes the nickel sliver bolsters and shield in not much time at all. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a normal occurance for slip carry, or is there something that can be done to prevent this?
 
I actually just noticed something similar on my knives kept in a leather tool roll my girlfriend got for me. I spent part of this past Sunday with a few beers and some metal polish and everything is hunky dory now.
 
sailfish said:
I recently started using a leather slip to carry my traditionals and noticed that it actually patinas/tarnishes the nickel sliver bolsters and shield in not much time at all. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a normal occurance for slip carry, or is there something that can be done to prevent this?
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It happens with sheath knives, too.
Wild Willie said:
I actually just noticed something similar on my knives kept in a leather tool roll my girlfriend got for me. I spent part of this past Sunday with a few beers and some metal polish and everything is hunky dory now.
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I see much metal polish in your future.
 
sailfish said:
I recently started using a leather slip to carry my traditionals and noticed that it actually patinas/tarnishes the nickel sliver bolsters and shield in not much time at all. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a normal occurance for slip carry, or is there something that can be done to prevent this?
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Most likely it's chemicals in the leather causing a reaction. I would suggest not keeping the knife in the slip when not in your pocket. Metal polish should put it back right.
 
Your environment or even pocket environment also plays a part in this. That is why I wasnt particularly fond of carrying the knife in the slip in my pocket. But clipped to the side, the sheath wont absorb as much heat/moisture. YMMV
 
Some leathers do and some don't cause tarnish. It use to be said that veg tan leather did not and chrome tanned leather did. This is a wive's tale as either can or can not. I think it has to do with the quality of the tanning and how well the leather is rinsed of the tanning solutions.
 
JohnDF said:
There was a post in the Guardian thread where one of the pocket slips I made actually cleaned the knife and re-invigorated the wooden handles... magical. ;)
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That was my post!

I definitely tend to leave my knives in the slips I assign to them. It hasn't been much of an issue, but I definitely had those tarnishing issues with my Lambsfoot I had been carrying a lot lately. I do sweat a lot, so I don't know how much was the slip and how much was my personal chemistry, but when I switched over to the new slip that JohnDF JohnDF had given me, the scales started looking way better, and I haven't noticed any new tarnish.

Here is the knife a while back with the building tarnish on the nickel silver bolsters:

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And here is the knife after (scrubbing the bolsters and) a week or so in John's slip:

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So yeah, some slips cause tarnish, some are magic ;)
 
Horsewright said:
Some leathers do and some don't cause tarnish. It use to be said that veg tan leather did not and chrome tanned leather did. This is a wive's tale as either can or can not. I think it has to do with the quality of the tanning and how well the leather is rinsed of the tanning solutions.
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Agree with this. Most of the leather sheaths or slips I've used don't have a problem with this. But I do have an old Western L48A fixed blade that was given to me by my Dad 45 - 50 years ago. It has lived almost it's entire life in the sheath. No issues at all with the blade itself there. But the little bit of contact between the leather and the brass guard has always left a little bit of verdigris on the brass. Not enough to worry about or cause any significant damage to the guard. But it has been very, very consistent over the years. I take the knife out, once in a while, and polish the verdigris off the brass.

A while back, I decided to try something I'd read about on the web, and placed the sheath in a Zip-Loc bag with enough baking soda to cover it. The hope being, the baking soda would help neutralize any acidity in the leather, from the tanning chemicals. I left the sheath in there for a few weeks, as I recall. After taking it out, it did seem to help in keeping the verdigris at bay - for a while. But after some months' time, it seems the leather is once again leeching something out that's still leaving some 'green' on the brass. As referenced in the quote above, I also attribute this to the particular character of the tanning process, for that sheath. No other sheath I own exhibits the same sort of problem, so far as I can tell.

In the short-term, I've now inserted a piece of heavy card stock paper in the sheath, to put a barrier between the leather and the brass. I just cut the paper to shape, to fit in there. That seems to be enough to keep the verdigris off the brass, for now.
 
I have noticed some leather sheaths seem to cause issues. Random for sure. I keep most of my knives in the sheaths I make and have no issues except one sheath. For some reason it wants to geen up a Buck 110 almost overnight. Im not sure why other than the process or some random chemical? Beats me.

I will ask the Buck guys if any sheath I have provided is protecting or causing issues. so far on mine up here in Washington State 99.99 work perfectly,
 
I have had it happen with a chrome tanned slip but not with any of my vegetable tanned slips.
 
I wonder if the type of leather-which animal hide it is-plays a role? Who knows, maybe reptile leather is better? Snakeskin, Croc....reptiles are generally keen on water.

I think certain handle materials may 'sweat' while in a sheath and if carbon steel and worse, brass are involved it can result in quite rapid tarnish or discolouration. Although many slips are fine examples of craftsmanship I've never really liked using them, it's a pocket knife and the last thing I want is fiddling about getting a knife out of a sheath before I can use it, bulks up the pocket too. They are useful for transporting knives when you go on a trip and take a few with you, saves banging about :)
 
I've had this happen too, a coating of Ren Wax on the bolsters and handle will prevent it though.
 
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