Spyderco Forums

Although not mostly on my Spyderco knives, I've found some light rust stains on other high quality knives I have made out of 154CM steel.

Have any of you ever found this to be a problem on any of the knives that you own ? Any advice as to what kind of lube and product to take them out without otherwise harming the finish ?

Thanks

Use 0000 Steel Wool with some sort of oil/lubricant to remove the rust without affecting the finish.

Do not use Scotchbrite pads, these scratch the steel and will make it easier for rust to form in the future.

spoonrobot wrote:Use 0000 Steel Wool with some sort of oil/lubricant to remove the rust without affecting the finish.

Do not use Scotchbrite pads, these scratch the steel and will make it easier for rust to form in the future.

Thanks.

Have you too had some rush issues with 154CM steel or other type of high-end steel for that matter ? I guess it's only normal.

If your gimp has rust colored stains you are beating him too hard.

Sorry, someone had to say something! :D :D

Every now and again I'll get some small rust spots on my knives. Usually from sweat or condensation on the side of the blade facing my body while carried in my front pocket.

I haven't EDCed a knife with 154CM for any lengthy period of time but have seen a little rust on my ZDP189, VG10 and Sandvik 13C26 blades that were carried every day. Washing the knife at least once a week seems to do more to prevent rust than anything else I've tried.

flamtnbkr wrote:if your gimp has rust colored stains you are beating him too hard.

Sorry, someone had to say something! :d:d

lol

spoonrobot wrote:Every now and again I'll get some small rust spots on my knives. Usually from sweat or condensation on the side of the blade facing my body while carried in my front pocket.

I haven't EDCed a knife with 154CM for any lengthy period of time but have seen a little rust on my ZDP189, VG10 and Sandvik 13C26 blades that were carried every day. Washing the knife at least once a week seems to do more to prevent rust than anything else I've tried.

What do you wash them with ? What's the protocol ? Regular washing under tape water or any solution should first be added to water ?

I just wash them under tap water with dish detergent, giving a good scrub with a toothbrush. I blow water out of the scales for a few seconds and then put it back in my pocket. Sometimes I'll add a drop of motor oil to the pivot.

Previously I was worried about water causing rust in the pivot area but it turns out that the only rust I've seen is under the liners between the handle scale and the liner itself. On a riveted knife I would probably take a few minutes to dry with a hair dryer but on something that can be disassembled it's usually easier and quicker to just remove the small amount of surface rust during a full breakdown cleaning 2-3 times a year.

A few years ago it was posited over at Multitool.org that after washing one could drop the tool into a container of rubbing alcohol to remove the remaining moisture but I never saw anyone run any tests so I never did it myself. It appears that may not be necessary anyway.

just let him out of the box more often

MCM wrote:just let him out of the box more often

Bring out the Gimp!

chipdouglas wrote:Although not mostly on my Spyderco knives, I've found some light rust stains on other high quality knives I have made out of 154CM steel.

Have any of you ever found this to be a problem on any of the knives that you own ? Any advice as to what kind of lube and product to take them out without otherwise harming the finish ?

Thanks

I bought a used knife with what at least was a rust color in just the fine jimping on the spine of the blade. A dremel tool with the fine wire brush on the lowest (5K rpm) setting most variable speed models can be set to run at and it cleaned it right up. Didn't even take much care to avoid touching the side of the blade and it took very little time. It has looked like new and the rest of the knife since. Just throwing it out since it worked for me.

spoonrobot wrote: A few years ago it was posited over at Multitool.org that after washing one could drop the tool into a container of rubbing alcohol to remove the remaining moisture but I never saw anyone run any tests so I never did it myself. It appears that may not be necessary anyway.

It would work, that's how biological samples are dehydrated in lab, thou as you said it's really overkill.

I had some rust starting to form on the jimping in the finger choil of my Para D2. I cleaned it out with a brush and gave it a scrub with a silicone gun cloth. I now hit the finger choil when wiping down my Spydies with this cloth on a regular basis.

Regards,
Ira

The other possibility is that it may not be rust. Laser cutting, which a number of manufacturers including Spyderco now use, sometimes leaves a coppery brown discoloration in areas which do not receive further finishing. Jimping would be such a location. That discoloration occasionally gets mistaken for rust, but is totally harmless.

The Deacon wrote:The other possibility is that it may not be rust. Laser cutting, which a number of manufacturers including Spyderco now use, sometimes leaves a coppery brown discoloration in areas which do not receive further finishing. Jimping would be such a location. That discoloration occasionally gets mistaken for rust, but is totally harmless.

Can this happen on Emerson knives as well ? Maybe you don't know about this though. Just asking.

It can happen on any make of knife that uses a laser to cut the blade blanks out of a sheet of steel. But, no, I do not know specifically how Emerson produces their blades.

Rust on stainless steel will normally have a powdery, dull, surface unless you apply oil to it. It will also leave rust colored marks on a cloth if you rub it. Laser burns tend to look shiny and even when dull never look powdery, and do not rub off on anything.

The Deacon wrote:The other possibility is that it may not be rust. Laser cutting, which a number of manufacturers including Spyderco now use, sometimes leaves a coppery brown discoloration in areas which do not receive further finishing. Jimping would be such a location. That discoloration occasionally gets mistaken for rust, but is totally harmless.

+1
Other possibility is discoloration of the steel during heat-treatment. Even if blades heat-treated in vacuum furnace, furnace can have vacuum leak or furnace can be contaminated. Mechanical properties of the steel will be fine, but surface will change color, depends on contamination. The company I am working for, produce some material from SS. Few time every week this material send out for heat-treatment in vacuum furnace. I see discoloration from light yellow to deep purple few times every year.
I had the same discoloration on my BG42 Milly. I owned it for three years, it didn't changed since day one. If that would be rust, it would eat blade through.

After washing and drying, use some Tuf-Glide. Let it make its way in between the scale and liners...problem solved. Add a drop on the screws, pivot and wipe the blade with the Tuf-Cloth, and rust problems will all be in your past like bad girlfriends!

I do think a good drying with an air compressor is impotrant before the application of any oils, or lube.

You could spray WD-40 in the areas hard to dry, then blow with the compressor, but that is just extra work and not needed for our modern steels.

Good luck,

Toad

i agree with the deacon about laser cutting. i have a bunch of this on the jimping and pivot surfaces on one of my yojimbos. i have ignored it. it has not spread.

i live in south carolina and it gets really hot and humid here in summer. if you are hiking or doing whatever outside most things in your pocket are going to be sweat covered in short order. my solution is using a tasman salt or spyderhawk for edc. with h1....no worries. another advantage of the design of these knives is there are no liners so sweat doesn't get trapped under the handles.

I have had rust form in my Jimping on my S30V and CPM D2 knives- it wasn't there when I bought them, but it's there now. Very frustrating, will have to try the steel wool.