It's H1, can't be rust. What is it?

[cooterbaldwin]

Decided to carry the ol' plain edge ARK today. Put it under a magnifying lamp to look at the edge and noticed a "rust colored" mark/smudge/stain on the side of the blade. A closer look revealed similar discoloration on the edge of the Spydie hole. There is also a similar mark/stain/whatever on the other side of the blade in almost the exact same spot.



I tried wiping the mark off with isopropyl alcohol on a microfiber cloth. I then stepped it up to a bit of Super Clean. Didn't seem to make any difference.

My ARK lives in it's sheath, hanging behind my bedroom door. It's been there for years except for the handful of times I carried it. I've probably used it fewer than a dozen times and I don't recall ever exposing it to anything unusual, no salt water. Never put it back in the sheath covered in sweat. Any thoughts what this is?

[sal]

Hi CooterBaldwin,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[prndltech]

Probably some metal left on it from grinding/machining... transfer you know?

[curlyhairedboy]

if it's on the blade in the same spot on the other side, it's likely some kind of contamination/dirt in the sheath.

[JD Spydo]

I doubt very seriously if it is the H-1 steel rusting/corroding but rather a metal filing or even a small trace of high carbon steel dust that got on the blade somehow. I use my Sentry Solutions TUF CLOTH on virtually every blade I use in rotation. I've even been using the Marine Grade Tuf Cloth which seems to provide protection from a wide array of different types of corrosion>> including salt water environments.

Corrosion can be a complicated thing to contend with. There should be complete chapters on corrosion in most "Metallurgy" textbooks IMO. "Prevention" is a huge weapon in the war against corrosion.

[cooterbaldwin]

Hi CooterBaldwin,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

Thank you, Sal

[cooterbaldwin]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

[VooDooChild]

I will guarantee it is rust transfer from one of the rivets on the sheath.

I have had this happen with h1 and lc200n, always on fixed blades, and always from beeing left in the sheath and then the rivets of the sheath start to rust, and then the rust transfers onto the blade. Just scrub it off, you will have some scratches where it was.

My salt knives live on a drybag that goes out on a saltwater boat and then gets left in my hot truck. Pretty much every week of the summer. The steels h1 and lc200n do hold up. But if there is anything rusting that they are in contact with then you will get staining on the blade from that rust beeing "in contact".

My folders in those steels never have this issue. There have been reports of contamination of lc200n knives out of the factory, (occasionally someone gets rust with a spydiechef or something), but I have not seen that with h1.

Edit:
This at least how it has happened to me. If its not from your rivets then I would guess you got something in your sheath that caused a rust transfer.

[Bloke]

I will guarantee it is rust transfer

Hey cooter, I think brother Voodoo is spot on the money.

I haven’t been able to rust H1 and you may just have to take my word on it for I assure you I’ve tried.

What I did manage to do was actually corrode and pit the blade by accident.

The first photo although not the clearest shows the blade of my Tasman with fairly deep pitting. I can’t say for certain but the last thing I do cleaning my fish is run the blade tip lightly either side of the backbone in the stomach cavity and scrub away the liver with a fingernail or rag.

I only ever rinse the knife in the ocean when I’m done and chuck it back in my fishing bag. I can’t remember how long it sat there but it was over the colder months here. Anyhow, I obviously didn’t rinse it too well and it seems that I got some fish liver, blood clot or something between blade and scales when I closed it and this the result.

In the second picture you can see the stain inside the scales. Either ways, this is not a criticism of one of my favourite steels nor the knife. It’s just something that happened and it couldn’t possibly faze me less. In fact I quite like having a little pitting in H1 because I’m fairly sure no one else has any. Ah, hahaha! :cool:

[zuludelta]

I will guarantee it is rust transfer from one of the rivets on the sheath.

This. Alternatively, it could be galvanic corrosion from extended contact with one of the sheath rivets. Galvanic corrosion, while somewhat rare, is not unheard of in marine-grade stainless steel.

[The Mastiff]

VooDooChild wrote: ↑
26 Nov 2020 00:53
I will guarantee it is rust transfer from one of the rivets on the sheath.

This. Alternatively, it could be galvanic corrosion from extended contact with one of the sheath rivets. Galvanic corrosion, while somewhat rare, is not unheard of in marine-grade stainless steel.

I think they both are onto something. It would be my best guess.

Joe