Your carbon steel care routine.

[mrknife]

If they are going in for deep storage and I have bought them new with factory oil on it, they stay that way.

If i have bought them from here "LNIB" or "NIT" and they come with out oil on them I will put mineral oil on them. It used to be 3 in 1 but apparently mineral oil is ok to eat/prepare food with, not that I use them for that, but would hate to sell it coated in 3 in 1 if some one plans to use it for food prep.

Most knives that were bought as users/gifted to be users go in the edc box. I check and flitz them as necessary. Knives of sentimental value mainly go back into storage after being oiled because I worry about losing them. Scrubs pockets are not the most secure.

 

[JD Bear]

It will help but I'd still keep it good and oiled, sweat is rough on carbon blades. Maybe consider getting a sheath or a pocket slip to use during the summer.

That's what I figured. I actually like using a sheath anyway. I've never had a pocket slip so I don't know about that. Thanks for the imput...

 

[arizonaranchman]

My pocket knife gets carried daily and used for virtually all cutting tasks, whether food prep, opening the mail/packages, feed bags, cutting bailing twine, slicing down cardboard boxes, making a hotdog stick, etc.

I usually oil the joint about once a month. The blade I keep clean and dry. If it gets messy from food prep or dinner table use it gets rinsed with hot water and dried with a towel. I'll use soap and water if it gets something on it that I feel is requiring soap, otherwise just the hot water rinse works just fine. A few times a year or as needed I swab out the blade channel to remove lint or dirt, using a toothpick and patch of paper towel to perform this task

I don't force a patina or fret over the aging process. I let it take it's course as it will. I keep the edge to a useful degree of sharpness on an Arkansas stone (I don't worry if it will shave hair, etc it just needs to cut the stuff I'm cutting).

 

[rbeggs]

My pocket knife gets carried daily and used for virtually all cutting tasks, whether food prep, opening the mail/packages, feed bags, cutting bailing twine, slicing down cardboard boxes, making a hotdog stick, etc.

I usually oil the joint about once a month. The blade I keep clean and dry. If it gets messy from food prep or dinner table use it gets rinsed with hot water and dried with a towel. I'll use soap and water if it gets something on it that I feel is requiring soap, otherwise just the hot water rinse works just fine. A few times a year or as needed I swab out the blade channel to remove lint or dirt, using a toothpick and patch of paper towel to perform this task

I don't force a patina or fret over the aging process. I let it take it's course as it will. I keep the edge to a useful degree of sharpness on an Arkansas stone (I don't worry if it will shave hair, etc it just needs to cut the stuff I'm cutting).

Beautiful blade color! And that blackwood (?) wow! I think Blackwood is my favorite handle material, so classic.

 

[Will Power]

Frankly, the more you just use a carbon knife the better it is for it. Laying around idle can gather redrust, very undesirable and I've actually seen it shown off as 'patina' Pitting and redrust? Not in my book, thanks. After I use a carbon pocket knife on foods, I simply put it under a scalding hot tap and then dry it. It keeps it clean, smooth and allows an even patina to gain ground. Nice rainbow colours too. This is how kitchen knives gained a decent patina in the days before stainless became a more popular choice for cooks.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I use mine to eat with all the time. all I do is wash them off after use, keep them dry,oil them when they seem to need it, and most of all I just make sure not to let them sit unused for too long.

 

[kpfeifle]

I have some that for whatever reason I don't want a patina on. For those, I use Aegis Solutions EDCi solution. It's food safe, so I can use it for food prep. Seems to last a good long while as well.

 

[jc57]

No real routine. I don't carry a carbon steel knife much these days but I did for a period of time. I would just do whatever maintenance it needed when it needed it. Cleaning, sharpening, oiling. Pretty easy when you are using it regularly to see what it might need.

For oil, light mineral oil. A drop in the joint, spread the excess onto the blades with fingers, wipe off excess with paper towel. After use with food, wipe off with a paper towel or napkin, rinse the blade off under the tap, maybe with a drop of dish soap rubbed between fingers. Dry with a paper towel, maybe blow out the blade wells (just with my breath) and back in the pocket.

Sharpen when needed. Blade wells - clean out with a wooden coffee stirrer using a piece of paper towel as a patch. If done right after oiling, usually ends up spreading some oil along the backspring. Only as needed - look in there and see.

I might go weeks with very little maintenance activity, especially if not cutting food (apples in my case). When putting the knife up for a while when it gets rotated out, same oiling process as above, but I might leave a little more on the blades than the usual.

I don't want a patina so every once in a while I would use some metal polish on the blades to get them shiny again. This is less frequent, and I sometimes let a patina go for a while before I clean it up, sometimes months.

 

[deltaboy]

Hot water and dry with my hanky.

 

[arizonaranchman]

Beautiful blade color! And that blackwood (?) wow! I think Blackwood is my favorite handle material, so classic.

Yes I love African Blackwood. It's a fascinating material. It's tough, very water resistant and wonderful to look at. I enjoy it's incredibly fine grain and smoothness. A great material for a pocket knife.

Factoid: a one cubic foot block of African Blackwood weighs about 90 pounds!