rusty knife blade

[neal b]

Help is there any thing i can use to rust off the blade? I lost my hunting knife last year deer hunting well i found it last week. I walked the trail i took last year and found it on a log where i sat to watch a field the sheath is shot also.So can you knife builders help me out.THANKS

neal(50 cal)

 

[blacksmithman64]

best stuff I know of is Birchwood Casey Blue and Rust Remover...I Imagine you'll have some pitting in the knife though

 

[preston cook]

i have noticed when making vinegar and iron stain any rust on the nails or other steel parts will dissolve off into the vinegar

 

[omarick1948]

I bought some NAVAL JELLY at one of the Home Center Stores. Suppose to be the same formula the Navy use's. Works good! I think you can get it at paint stores also!

Rick

 

[ladysmithtrading]

I bought some NAVAL JELLY at one of the Home Center Stores. Suppose to be the same formula the Navy use's. Works good! I think you can get it at paint stores also!

Rick

Works good on removing bluing from a barrel also!

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't think there is anyway to avoid having to use a buffing wheel to restore the bright finish and smooth surface on that knife. Much of that rust will be surface rust only. It actually is " flowers of rust", rather than a wide thin coating of rust on most metals.

I remove the rust by first coating the metal with heavy motor oil. Then I use a stick to burnish the rust off, wiping off the oxides frequently so they don't become an abrasive and scratch the metal underneath. I move the stick along the long line of the blade. I found that burnishing off the rust this way, left me the maximum of the original surface underneath, and minimized the amount of time I needed to put the blade to a buffing wheel. I "borrowed" a commercial buffing wheel at a client's factory when I was given a rusted knife blade by another dealer, to be auctioned off at a local Pheasants Forever Banquet the next day. The knife had been sitting out on a table when a storm blew in, and the rain rusted the blade.

My client had no idea how much time I had put in on a buffing wheel making knife blades when I was much younger, so he came with me to watch to make sure I didn't get hurt. He was so surprised at how quickly I restored the bright surface of that knife, he asked me if I wanted to work for him part-time buffing stuff for him? I consider that a compliment, being a lawyer. :shocked2: :blah: :thumbsup:

A new sheath can be made. Cut the stitches on the old one to make a pattern for making a new one. Obviously, you will have to remove any rivets that are present in the old one, too. They can be easily replaced if you insist. I don't think they are needed if you construct the sheath correctly. Craft stores sell rivet setting tools, as does Tandy Leather Co.

I don't generally like store bought knife sheaths. They often cover only the blade. I prefer a sheath that covers about 7/8 of the entire length of the knife, blade, hilt, handle, et al. The friction that such a sheath applies against the knife makes it STAY PUT, even when you do a somersault. If its made right, you don't need keeper straps, or snaps, etc. to keep the knife in the sheath.


The secret to NOT losing that knife again is to make that sheath comfortable enough to wear all day. I put my knife sheaths on my belt, and then put the bottom end in a back pocket, where I can feel the knife in place when I am both sitting and walking. The knife stays back behind my kidney, out of the way as I negotiate brushy trails, but is close at hand when I need a sharp knife. I no longer carry a sheath knife with a blade longer than 4 inches- I just don't hunt anything where I would need a longer blade. I have a knife I made which has an 8 1/2" blade, but that wore bruises in my leg the first time I carried it all day, and it made a poor axe!

If all I ever did was to hunt deer, or smaller game, I could get by with my "patch knife", and a small camp axe. In fact, I usually use a pocket knife, with a 3 1/4" blade to gut and skin out my deer. I found out long ago that with bigger knives, with longer blades, its far to easy to take some of that weigh off my hip by pulling that knife out, and start whittling something with it. That is how I left a knife behind, stuck in a log, too. Only I didn't find it the next year. :shocked2: :hatsoff:

 

[Twisted_1in66]

best stuff I know of is Birchwood Casey Blue and Rust Remover...I Imagine you'll have some pitting in the knife though

I second that Stumblin Wolf! I used that Birchwood Casey Blue and Rust Remover to pull the bluing off of a barrel and I don't think it took more than about 5 minutes. Daub it on, let it sit and steel wool off the bluing or rust. Took the barrel right down to bright steel in a matter of just a 2-3 minutes.

It's important to wipe down the steel with alcohol first to remove any oils from your fingers or anything else. If you don't, you have to scrub a little bit extra where there was any oil on the steel.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[rich pierce]

My grandpa taught me to go stab a rusty knife in the ground a few times, wiping on my jeans in between stabs. Works great and is free. Don't do it in rocky ground.

 

[FPDoc]

A bucket of oiled sand in the corner of the garage or tool shed has for generations kept shovels, spades, garden forks, re-found knives etc. clean, oiled and rust-free prior to storing them.

 

[NJStricker]

Do you have pictures of the blade? That might help us determine just how bad it is.

The chemicals are fine, but nothing well completely replace good old elbow grease. I'd get a variety of wet/dry sandpaper (the gray kind sold in the automotive section of the store). Get 320, 400, 600, and 1000. Get a flat stick--an old ruler or paint stirring stick will work. Wrap the knife handle to pad it and stick in in a vice to secure it. Wrap the 320 around the flat stick, and start sanding the flats of the blade. A little bit of oil (WD40 will work) will help pick up the rust as it come off. Wipe the sludge off, then sand some more. Once you get down to bare metal, switch to 400 grit and sand in the opposite direction. Keep sanding with progressively finer grits, each time going in the opposite direction of the last grit.

You'll probably have some pits, but this should at least get you down to some usable steel.

 

[omarick1948]

My grandpa taught me to go stab a rusty knife in the ground a few times, wiping on my jeans in between stabs. Works great and is free. Don't do it in rocky ground.

Rich, Thanks for jarring my memory. My dad used to do that too! Hey...it cleaned the knife blade good!

 

[geologist]

This is going to sound crazy but it works. Soak the knife in a mixture of water and molassis about 6 to 1. It take a long time but is the most gentle method I know to remove rust.

You can look it up on the net, if you want to find out the chemistry involved.

 

[tx-hunter]

My grandpa taught me to go stab a rusty knife in the ground a few times, wiping on my jeans in between stabs. Works great and is free. Don't do it in rocky ground.

this is what i do. works like a charm and free.





.

 

[crockett]

I thought most folks on this form wanted a pitted blade so it would look old- wear it as a badge of honor. Used hard and put away wet- as the saying goes.

 

[paulvallandigham]

A pitted blade is a sign of neglect, for sure. It does not speak well of the man who carries it. If he is so careless with his knife- a real tool that was needed several times a day back then, what does it say about the reliability of his gun, or other equipment? Do you want to depend on him to save your life if the poop hits the fan??? Yeah, we see pitted blades. But you also see well polished, cleaned and sharp blades too.

 

[crockett]

I'm not talking real neglect but it seems to me that blood pits a high carbon blade real fast. When I was a kid I got one of the Russell Green River "Dadley" patterns from Dixie Gun Works because the catalog said it was the type carried by the mountain men. I loved that thing to death, made a special sheath, polished the blade mirror bright- took out the etched trademark. Well every time I killed a deer I used to put back the polish but after a while I figured all the polishing was pointless- 40 years later the knife still works fine.

 

[chipper]

I would simply start by using some sand paper on a wooden block and go to work until you have a desired finish.
If you have heavy rust you might want to go do a heavier grit of sand paper and so on. An ordinary greenie used for washing dishes makes a great piece of sandpaper too. Anyway, I would remove the rust by sanding.

Regards
Loyd Shindelbower
blacksmith
Loveland Colorado

 

[crockett]

Okay, sounds like you just have to have a mirror polish and you likely don't have a lot of knife making equipment so what I would do is start with about #80 grit paper. If the rust is so bad that the #80 seems too light then I would use a file. One problem with a file is that it can pick up a tiny shaving of metal and that will act as a tooth and put a deep gouge in the blade- so you ought to wipe the file after every stroke. With the sand paper you sort of run the risk of wiping out bevels, etc and even wood backing may not be right. I use steel backing (you can buy mild steel bar at a hardware store). One advantage of the bar is that it's long enough for you to be aware of the bevel you are sanding at. With the sand paper try drawing it the long way- like draw filing. After all pit marks are gone and all you have is a nice #80 grit finish then go down to say #150 and sand at a different angle until all the #80 lines are gone, then down to #240 and lengthwise until all the #150 lines are gone, then #320 at an angle to the #240, then #400, then #600, #1000. The #400, #600, #1000 you have to get at an auto parts store. After that use a polishing compound- I have what Brownell's calls Green Chrome and you can put that on a rag wrapped around a 1x2 and put on a mirror polish- better than anything you'll normally see in a store. The rag isn't as good as a buffing wheel but it will work if you spend some time. If you go right out a gut a deer you might have to repeat some of it all over again depending on the type of steel you have. I have knives with mirror polishes I hang on the wall for folks to see but for a "using knife" I like a pretty thin blade- like on a butcher knife and old fashioned carbon steel that I can resharpen in the field. To me it's just a tool, not an heirloom. That's sort of how I started and I guess by now I'm just stuck in my ways.
If there are any knife makers in your area- they might be able to polish up the balde for you on a machine.