What are these tiny spots on my blade?

M

mbp

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Jan 26, 2015
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I just picked up a grail of mine, a Strider PT CC, and I am loving it. I don't really know the knife's history but I know it's not new. I love it, but I've just now noticed some tiny black spots on the blade. They are mostly localized to one spot near the edge with one higher up near the top of the grind, and each is like the size of a pinprick. They almost seem like the very very beginning of pitting but I have a hard time believing S30V would pit like that with the rest of the blade being in such excellent shape (almost no wear elsewhere.)

What do I have going on here guys? What are my options? I already tried some Brasso with a Scotchbrite pad, no luck.

IMG_20170115_212346.jpg
 
Thin-Slice said:
Do u have a magnifying glass?
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I do not.

FlaMtnBkr said:
Yikes! Scotchbrite pad on a grail!?
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Haha, let me rephrase, not really a "grail" like most people would mean. I use all my knives, so this knife will be used and used hard; it already came to me with the scratches further up on the blade. Done this before on my carbon steel knives to remove patina with no ill effects, as long as you're gentle.
 
It looks like an minor infestation of steel mites. They are rare in this galaxy but not unheard of. Just expose them to some gamma rays and they should move on.

Or, it could be some impurity in the steel or heat treatment anomaly. S30V is hard to pit unless you work around some really corrosive stuff. A better picture might help. Maybe Strider has a spa service and could polish it up for you. Whatever it is, you caught it early. That's a positive. Good luck.
 
mbp said:
Done this before on my carbon steel knives to remove patina with no ill effects, as long as you're gentle.
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It's rust. I had this same problem on one of my Cold Steel Arc Angel balisongs. Here's some information from a link with some information about this very problem:

http://www.balisongcollector.com/arcAngle.html


"I'm not a Alloy Expert myself. The general buzz I hear is that Carbon V is pretty good stuff. It will take a very sharp edge and had good edge retention too.

It is a carbon steel, not a "stainless steel." Cold Steel makes no bones about that. Carbon steel alloys are known for two things: 1) easily taking and retaining excellent edges, and 2) rusting.

Cold Steel comes right out on a bright red package insert and says, "WARNING! WARNING! This knife is made of high carbon steel. It is tremendously strong, but IT CAN RUST. Your warranty does not cover rust or staining of the blade."

As ominous as that sounds, you don't have to worry to much about rust. If you keep the blade clean and dry, the risk of even minor rust is very low. You can also use a product like Sentry Solutions Tuff Cloth to help prevent rust.

Unfortunately, it is on the blade that I found what I think is a pretty major defect. The blades on all three of my Arc Angels are peppered with tiny pits and voids. I've circled a few of them in red in the picture below. This is not dirt on the blade nor is it just some surface marks or abrasions. These are pits and voids, albeit small ones, in the metal surface."


^ I eventually sent my Arc Angel up to Matt Cook (Pinoy Knives). He gave my Arc Angel one of his awesome Spa Treatment's he's so well known for, he cleaned up the blade and treated it with some type of metal sealer.
 

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OP, that seems odd on s30v. It would have to be left unclean for a while to get pitting. I've had minor rust flecks on s30v in multiple blades but no pitting. I know you tried brasso. Can you feel the spots with your nail? Try some flitz. Next a little high grit sand paper like 1000 or more. It will mark up the blade a bit. That said, if it is a hard user get rid of any active pitting and keep it protected with something like tuff cloth and it should not get worse. Then just use the heck out of it.


KELAMA said:
It's rust. I had this same problem on one of my Cold Steel Arc Angel balisongs. Here's some information from a link with some information about this very problem:

http://www.balisongcollector.com/arcAngle.html


"I'm not a Alloy Expert myself. The general buzz I hear is that Carbon V is pretty good stuff. It will take a very sharp edge and had good edge retention too.

It is a carbon steel, not a "stainless steel." Cold Steel makes no bones about that. Carbon steel alloys are known for two things: 1) easily taking and retaining excellent edges, and 2) rusting.

Cold Steel comes right out on a bright red package insert and says, "WARNING! WARNING! This knife is made of high carbon steel. It is tremendously strong, but IT CAN RUST. Your warranty does not cover rust or staining of the blade."

As ominous as that sounds, you don't have to worry to much about rust. If you keep the blade clean and dry, the risk of even minor rust is very low. You can also use a product like Sentry Solutions Tuff Cloth to help prevent rust.

Unfortunately, it is on the blade that I found what I think is a pretty major defect. The blades on all three of my Arc Angels are peppered with tiny pits and voids. I've circled a few of them in red in the picture below. This is not dirt on the blade nor is it just some surface marks or abrasions. These are pits and voids, albeit small ones, in the metal surface."


^ I eventually sent my Arc Angel up to Matt Cook (Pinoy Knives). He gave my Arc Angel one of his awesome Spa Treatment's he's so well known for, he cleaned up the blade and treated it with some type of metal sealer.
Click to expand...

KELAMA said:
Here are a couple of more links:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...w-to-remove-rust-pitting-on-high-carbon-steel

http://www.canadacutlery.com/product/pitting-and-tarnishing.html

Good luck!
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It is not a high carbon steel.
 
Nest question: are you sure it is a real Strider? I know nothing about which Striders are faked as I am not a strider owner or fan but I know some are.
 
craytab said:
OP, that seems odd on s30v. It would have to be left unclean for a while to get pitting. I've had minor rust flecks on s30v in multiple blades but no pitting. I know you tried brasso. Can you feel the spots with your nail? Try some flitz. Next a little high grit sand paper like 1000 or more. It will mark up the blade a bit. That said, if it is a hard user get rid of any active pitting and keep it protected with something like tuff cloth and it should not get worse. Then just use the heck out of it.
Click to expand...

craytab said:
Nest question: are you sure it is a real Strider? I know nothing about which Striders are faked as I am not a strider owner or fan but I know some are.
Click to expand...

I am sure it's a real Strider. I can't feel the spots with my nail. I really find it hard to believe that it is pitting. I can't imagine what got onto the blade that pitted it in just 2 small spots.

FWIW, this exact knife was on sale at Arizona Custom Knives 2 years ago... and even at that time, the knife had one of the tiny spots, visible just above the grind.

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/pt-cc-w-tritium-vial-by-strider-knives-153599.aspx
 
mbp said:
I am sure it's a real Strider. I can't feel the spots with my nail. I really find it hard to believe that it is pitting. I can't imagine what got onto the blade that pitted it in just 2 small spots.

FWIW, this exact knife was on sale at Arizona Custom Knives 2 years ago... and even at that time, the knife had one of the tiny spots, visible just above the grind.

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/pt-cc-w-tritium-vial-by-strider-knives-153599.aspx
Click to expand...

Wow. Now that is interesting. Good that you can't feel it. I'd try some flitz then maybe a more abrasive polish. Then I would think hard about sanding it off. If it is corrosion I would want it off or neutralized so it wouldn't get worse. The other option is like what Kelama said he did above which would be to send it to someone who really knows what they are doing to have them remove it, maybe the blade re-stonewashed and all that. Then again, if you are going to just beat the snot out of it, get what you can off, protect that area with something good stuff like tuff cloth and go right ahead with your business.

Curious what others think.
 
I own a used Benchmade Volli that came to me with the same problem. It also sports a S30v blade. I used Flitz and it took care of the problem.
 
Probably just surface rust spots. Try using a Mr. Clean magic eraser or go look for a Super Eraser on the big S.A. river site.

I've got ZDP189 that gets surface spots, it takes some elbow grease to get the spots off, but it works.
 
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Update... I tried some Flitz polish with a Mr. Clean magic eraser, and then some more Flitz with a jeweler's polishing cloth. No change, apart from polishing the blade up a bit, the spots are still there.

I'm hesitant to take sandpaper to it if the Flitz did nothing. At this point, I'm wondering if they are indeed some sort of heat treat imperfections or something, and not surface rust... It's definitely not pitting, and I've never had such little, localized spots fail to come off with Brasso (or Flitz, seems they are basically the same thing.)

Any other ideas are appreciated... as I said, the knife is a user so I'm not freaking out, it's just something I've never seen before and don't love.
 
try with oil or wd40. I had similar marks on a 154CM blade that was exposed to marine environment and they disappeared after a couple of oil rubbing with a cloth. I don't recommend using abrasive material.
 
I would reco this...is cheap; can find it anywhere home stores...
The original formula in use for over 40 yrs. Used on iron and steel; will also remove blueing from steel.
LOCTITE® NAVAL JELLY® RUST DISSOLVER
RUST TREATMENT
 
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