What were you doing when your knife rusted?

tallwingedgoat

tallwingedgoat

Joined
Jan 13, 1999
Messages
1,422
In my opinon, carbon steel have an undeserved reputation for being rust prone. I've had blades rust, but it's always due to my extreme laziness rather than fault of the material. And when they did rust, it was always easily repairable and did not actually compromise the knife.

When I'm lazy, stainless steel will rust. I once rusted a VG10 blade by leaving it in the sheath wet and dirty for 3 days. Since the fault lie not in the steel, it leaves me wondering if I need stain-resistant steels at all.

I mean, if the parkerized 1095 knives of Newt Livesay do just fine in the steaming Amazon rainforsts, it's good enough for me right?

 
Tall,
You make a lot of sense with your post. I too have had VG10 rust after the knife got wet and I didn't dry it off or apply Tuf-Cloth.

I just completed a knife test on a custom camp kife made by Matt Lamey that was 1095 bead blasted steel. Before I performed the test I coated the blade with Marine Tuf-Cloth. The knife got saturated but not one spec of rust.

If you take care of your knives, it probably doesn't matter what kind of steel you use. Of course if I was diving I wouldn't use a high carbon blade
smile.gif
I mean why tempt fate.

------------------
~Greg~


 
What was I doing? Sweating on it. I am VERY corrosive. I can't even wear nickel handcuffs next to my body without getting a rash and ruining the handcuffs. Unless I use RIG (Rust Inhibitive Grease on my ATS34 Hobbit Fang every day, it develops a small round rusted area on it that corresponds with the placement of the "breathing" or "drain" hole in it's Kydex Sheath.

My favorites are my 1095 knives which I keep coated in RIG until it's time to use them. I have owned some Carbon V knives over the years too. Both Carbon V and 1095 rust along the cutting edge if I don't keep them coated.
 
Some knives will rust in the field surprisingly quickly. Some adverse conditions are impossible to avoid. For example, I've used knives in whitewater canoeing, ocean kayaking and mountain hiking/scrambling. You can't always keep your knife dry in these conditions. Maybe these aren't the best conditions for high carbon steel, but that's when you want the best steel you can get. You try your best to keep the blade oiled or coated and clean, but you can't always keep your sheath the same, and after a long hard day, or the 10th one in a row, you might just get a little sloppy. I've had a Carbon V trailmaster rust, badly, in one night. Any steel will rust eventually, but that was a shock. I've come to believe that if you really intend to use a high carbon like 52100 or O1, you have to expect rust and you have to bring along something to clean off the rust, not just prevent it. Or maybe I'm giving off rust waves of some sort.
 
Not only have I had ATS-34 steel rust but it didn't take very long, either. I had my BM CQC7 clipped to the pocket of my BDU's. I was in and out of the salt water for about 4 hours. When we got back to the pier (about a 90 minute boat ride), I checked the blade as I rinsed it along with other equipment. There were rust spots all over it, some of which I could feel with my fingers. I sprayed the knife down with WD-40 and then wiped the blade down and reapplied another coat of WD-40. The rust spots were still visible, like stains. They're still visible today. I don't really care, the knife still works fine. I was just surprised at the speed at which the "stainless steel" rusted. I guess the moral is what everyone already knew anyway; all steel will rust and you have to take care of it. My .02
 
I used to carry my Military to the gym with me when I would work out(in Korea). After an hour and a half a day 5 days a week for 3 weeks worth of exposure to sweat, without treatment mind you, I noticed a very small amount of rust.
A little WD-40 and a few minutes of rubbing and it was gone.
Since then I coat my knives with the Tuf-cloth(Marine) once a month whether I use them or not. More if the need arises.
PEACE

------------------
"Worst of all my foes, I fear the enemy within"
*John Wesley*

Romans 10:9-10

"Military" Fans Unite!!



[This message has been edited by William Johnson (edited 05 October 1999).]
 
Bm's ATS-34 will rust in my pocket everytime in just one hot humid day here in the mid-west.I can wipe the spots off most of the time but I have had to buff them before.I've had good luck with other ATS-34's though.I've had others like traditional style pocket knives with 1095 rust also in my pocket.I have a non coated Carbon V blade I use for Fiberglass insulation and if not in constant use it will start to rust with just the slightest moisture.It's a darn good cutter though.
scott w
 
Very interesting question! Having used mostly carbon knives all my life I can honestly say that I have never had one to rust, have had them to discolor though. I just rinse & dry my blades after use. If not to be used for some time I will use Tuff-cloth & before that a oily rag, with not much oil on it.
I think way too much attention is focused on rust & carbon steel blades!!! It is no problem with me...you don't hear this talk about rust with steel guns!
 
Larry in KY mentions that you don't hear this talk about rust on steel guns.

Well, I carried a Colt Officers Model in an IWB holster regularly a few years back when I was in TX. The pistol would have a fair amount of rust on it (especially on the rear of the slide and around the thumb safety) by the end of my shift every day. So, at the end of my shift I would disassemble, clean, oil, and reassemble my pistol (almost every day).

I really liked that pistol but many times I'd wished I'd bought a stainless one. Maybe one reason you don't read a lot of posts here about guns rusting is because this is a knife forum. Another reason might be that most stainless firearms function as least as well as their non stainless counterparts, whereas a lot of folks don't think the same can be said for knives. Anyway, I'm not trying to start an argument, just my .02
 
Left my Leatherman Micra in by cargo shorts packet, went wading in the surf at the beach with the girlfriend. Thats all she wrote for that little tool. -Krumbs
 
I had a "stainless" filet knife rust after a week of surf fishin' An old timer taught me to polish of the rust with wet sand. Sice it was a user I didn't fret the marks on the blade once the rust was gone.
My question is since carbon steels will stain (like my ancient schrade sharpfinger), how can you hasten the process along once it starts. I like my blades all nice and shiney, but once they start to go...well they just look so sad until they are uniformly covered with that 'old hammer' patina. Then they just look like an old veteren, to me at least.

------------------
Can it core a apple?
 
I left a Cold Steel Recon Tanto lying out in the rain for a weekend while I was mountain climbing...it fell out of my pack, HONEST! The exposed edge was rusted pretty bad. A neighbor picked it up and, bless his soul, cleaned it up for me while I was gone. I usually wash and dry my knives after use, so rust isn't a major concern. Seawater will rust almost anything, so I'm real careful about cleaning them up after immersion in the ocean.

------------------
"They sicken of the calm, who know the storm."
RFrost5746@aol.com or Robert_Frost@ars.aon.com


 
I sweat rust too, particularly during our hot and humid summers here in Oklahoma.
I've rusted a lot of Benchmades, Paragons, Microtechs (L-UDT)
frown.gif
, and Spydercos.
The Benchmades I can't seem to rust are the Leopard Cub and the Auto Spike.
Also, I can't seem to rust the ATS-34 Spyderco Tim Wegner, ANY ATS-34 REKAT, or most knives made with 440C.
Bead-blast finish is a killer in any event, almost without regard to which steel we are talking about. Most others have a satin or stonewashed finish.
BTW, all rusting has ocurred in my pocket, even though Tuf Cloth had been used.
I can't seem to rust a Sebenza, Umfaan, REKAT,Klotzli, Boker-Neely Specialist, or the old VBM M-UDT's that were made of finely bead-blasted 440C.
Also, I'm pretty anal about maintenance.
Bill
 
I'm pretty fussy about my knives too, even in the field, but when circumstances get extreme, a lapse or two will creep in. I've had 440v spot, but there are two knives that never seem to rust no matter what: a relatively new Buck and a 30year old Gerber Magnum Hunter.
 
I have had a Cold Steel tanto rust in the field. The knife was sheathed in its kydex sheath clean and dry but the humidity of the climate took a quick toll. I had to be really persistant to keep the rust off that knife. This is not exactly something that you have alot of time to do when humping up and down mountains. I kept using a silicon cloth but Mother Nature has her ways. I left the tanto behind with a local guide and when I returned seven monthes later he complained about the same thing. Personally, I'll trade whatever shortcomings a stainless steel has when I'm in this climate.

[This message has been edited by arkhamdrifter (edited 07 October 1999).]
 
Using O1 knives in the kitchen, bright orange surface rust and that wierd "gray around green" coloring will set in after 20 mins of just sitting (called away to a phone call, etc).

Can't use Tuff Cloth around food, but a quick scrub and its' gone.

Really amazing how fast it happens though...

-Michael
 
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