Speckling (Rust?) on knife after one day!

[Gigman]

Hi all, I recently bought a CRKT M16-12Z. After one day of use (sitting in my pocket for about an hour) I am getting a rust colored speckling on the top of the blade, it can only be seen under close inspection but it is now 'moving' to the middle of the blade. I put a silicone based spray on it after I saw the rust in hopes I could wash it away, but that did not work. I am asking to see if anybody has had something like this and/or can offer a cure or even an identification as to what it is.
Thanks for all your help
-Gigman

 

[cutlerylover]

Hello, this happens all the time, you cna clean it off with any metal polish, I use flitz...you coudl also clean it off using some lubricants like tuf-glide or militec if you have any of that on hand...its normal, stainless steel is stainresistant, but not stain proof, it could easily come from the oil on your fingers, so if you touched the blade and did not wipe it off that could happen, or even condisation in the air...not a big deal though, dont worry about it too much, this happened to alot of my knives from storing them in a knife case...its an easy fix...

 

[parnass]

Silicone spray is a lubricant but not a rust preventative. You need a petroleum based product, e.g., 3 in 1 oil. Apply some oil to the blade, then wipe off most of it gently with a rag. Repeat every few months or after heavy usage.

 

[carrot]

If sitting in your pocket is going to make a knife rust that quickly, you might want to consider a Spyderco Salt. They are rust-PROOF, and very nice knives to boot.

 

[BIGIRON]

Second the Salt, particularly the Salt1. With the clip removed it's thin, very light, doesn't tarnish easily and gets scary sharp. And can generally be had for <$50. And you can get yellow.

 

[Gigman]

Hello, this happens all the time, you cna clean it off with any metal polish, I use flitz...you coudl also clean it off using some lubricants like tuf-glide or militec if you have any of that on hand...its normal, stainless steel is stainresistant, but not stain proof, it could easily come from the oil on your fingers, so if you touched the blade and did not wipe it off that could happen, or even condisation in the air...not a big deal though, dont worry about it too much, this happened to alot of my knives from storing them in a knife case...its an easy fix...

Ok, thanks a ton for your help!
-Gigman

 

[cutlerylover]

I understand you might want to make your current knife right rather than just buy a new one...but these guys are right, an investment is a knife with H1 steel will give you 100% insurence on rust since it just can not rust if you tried to get it to do so...people have left these things in saltwater for a month and nothing rusted...but then again you might just be very happy with your knife, you just don't want the spots, which is very understandable...

 

[carrot]

And true knifenuts are always happy to have an excuse to buy another knife...

 

[chmsam]

Remember, there is virtually no such thing as stainless, rustproof steel. While YMMV, under certain conditions almost any steel can be made to stain or rust, usually by things like prolonged exposure to salt water or cutting citrus fruit and not cleaning the knife after using it.

You need to provide some regular preventive maintenance to keep this from happening. This simply means cleaning the knife after use and wiping it down with something like Sentry Solutions' Tuf-Cloth or Tuf-Glide.

 

[carrot]

H1 steel is chemically unable to rust. It uses Nitrogen molecules in place of Carbon molecules, resulting in a unique steel with some interesting and unique properties. http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=40

CPFer MacTech has done some pretty nasty tests with the Salts, and has yet to rust one.

 

[chmsam]

I'll say it again, virtually any steel can be made to stain or rust. Not all will do both, but most can be made to do at least one or the other if the knife is abused, long term exposed under certain conditions or to certain materials, or neglected. For example, some steel may be resistant to salt but susceptible to staining if used to cut acidic fruit.

Any steel needs proper maintenance, to be used with common sense, and to have its limitations understood.

 

[cutlerylover]

knives are tools, and if we expect our tools to work properly they need just a little bit of care...thats all...every now and then I will have some free time, and I will take paart some of my uders as much as I am able to so that I can clean them, they get alot of lint build up as well as dust and dirt in all the nooks and cranies, lol...So just simply clean them out with alcohol and q-tips, and some tothpicks...I put them back together and a drop or 2 of tuf-glide in the pivot area...I will wipe down the blade and touch it up if it needs to be sharpened...Takes all of about 15 minutws per knife...well worth the time and effot to keep them in tip top shape/working order...

 

[Gigman]

Hello, this happens all the time, you cna clean it off with any metal polish, I use flitz...you coudl also clean it off using some lubricants like tuf-glide or militec if you have any of that on hand...its normal, stainless steel is stainresistant, but not stain proof, it could easily come from the oil on your fingers, so if you touched the blade and did not wipe it off that could happen, or even condisation in the air...not a big deal though, dont worry about it too much, this happened to alot of my knives from storing them in a knife case...its an easy fix...

Thanks a ton for the advice, I was wondering if Tarnex would work, I have some and would like to clean the (rust?) off my knife. Is it safe to use on this type of steel?
Thanks for all your help
-Gigman

 

[cutlerylover]

Im not sure...I am not familiar with that, perhaps someone else could tell you if its ok...Sorry...

 

[MacTech]

If a Salt series knife can withstand *TWO WEEKS* in my salt-fog test chamber, a test chamber that rusted a conventional Stainless Steel knife in an HOUR (1/2 hour to spotting, 1 hour to visible rust), it'll be able to handle whatever you can throw at it

Salts just don't rust, period.

 

[carrot]

MacTech, I'd like to know how a Victorinox SAK fares in your salt-fog chamber. They are very rust-resistant in my experience, and I don't think I've encountered a rusty SAK ever.

 

[cutlerylover]

MacTech, I'd like to know how a Victorinox SAK fares in your salt-fog chamber. They are very rust-resistant in my experience, and I don't think I've encountered a rusty SAK ever.

I dont see them often (saks rusty) but I did have one from boyscouts that was stored in a leather sheath...when I pulled it out of the sheath after it was in there for about 5 years it was pretty rusty...but it didn't take much to clean it up....:twothumbs

 

[Dr_Lumen]

Hmmm, I may be slightly off topic here, but can anyone shed any light on the "rust proof steel" thing (well, this IS essentially a flashlight forum )...

While I'm prepared to believe that the Salt won't rust without considerable effort, I'm curious as to why. The Spyderco link says that the nitrogen "acts like carbon in the steel matrix, but does not react to chlorine making rust" - well that's fine but "rust" is an iron oxide - neither chlorine, nitrogen or carbon have anything to do with it - just iron and oxygen. Yeah, salts and moisture speed things along, but if we're talking rust, then we're talking iron and oxygen, so H-1 shouldn't be immune on that basis. H-1 does have a very high nickel content which should help with stain resistance, but I'm not convinced by the nitrogen/carbon argument. Now if the nitrogen acted in place of oxygen and therefore prevented the iron from undergoing oxidation, then that might explain something. Can anybody add to this?? :thinking: