Knife Blade Rusting

[AquaticResearch1 1,046]

G'day, just pulled an old bone handle bowie out of it's sheath today to find some pretty bad rust on its' blade. 

Have given it a quick touch up on the file, but the rust is deeper than ideal.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

*knife is still surprisingly sharp given its' condition 

[Bait Caster 113]

Probably carbon steel, not stainless. Never store a knife in its sheath. Not much you can do about the rust, if it is a decent quality, you should be ok. Give it a good sharpen and try it out. Have an old KBar style knife i have had for about 35yrs. Blade is wearing away from use and sharpening,  but still holds a razor edge.

[doobie 5,802]

You could try to use a grinder on it as a last resort to get into those deeper rust holes - got nothing to lose I suppose.

[lofty64 1,309]

Take your blade and sand to get rid of any surface rust  wire brush etc, heat blade over an oven burner will do , only till it is warm ,type hot, but just till steel darkens , as to much temperature will  take the temper out of the steel, then dip in linseed oil .........commonly  used  for preserving old blacksmithing tools ....no rust .

[Kelvin 2,196]

Use a weak acid solution and give it a soak. Vinegar works well

[AquaticResearch1 1,046]

Cheers fellas.

 

I attacked it with the sand paper and got the rust off, not too many worries. There are a few marks in the finish on the back of the blade but otherwise fine

 

I heated the blade up and oiled it lightly. Looks a lot better and I gather it isn't any worse off for now.

Note the weird marks in the finish. They won't sand off, weirdly enough.

[reelfun 59]

Try a lemon on it and then wash

[Dad 25 123]

7 hours ago, Bait Caster said:

Probably carbon steel, not stainless. Never store a knife in its sheath. Not much you can do about the rust, if it is a decent quality, you should be ok. Give it a good sharpen and try it out. Have an old KBar style knife i have had for about 35yrs. Blade is wearing away from use and sharpening,  but still holds a razor edge.

  Believe it or not but stainless steel does rust/corrode .Only 316 marine grade will hold 

rust off for ever , 304 and 302 stainless steel will rust and tarnish in salt water . If you

have ever sharpened the knife with a grinding wheel that has had Mild steel ground on

it , It may have transmitted some impurities onto the knife which is the rust not the actual

blade material rusting .

[Underpants 1,543]

Well a bit late now ...but i would have said a piece of steel wool and engine oil for any light rust. Used this on knives and rifles before re-bluing.

Damn AR1, those stratches youve put in the blade make me grimace, Suggest polishing it out with lighter paper and then graded wet & dry?

I like knives . Got an old bait knife that ive had since a kid. Its pitted and ugly looking but its 'Toledo Steel' and is awesome!

[AquaticResearch1 1,046]

20 minutes ago, Underpants said:

Well a bit late now ...but i would have said a piece of steel wool and engine oil for any light rust. Used this on knives and rifles before re-bluing.

Damn AR1, those stratches youve put in the blade make me grimace, Suggest polishing it out with lighter paper and then graded wet & dry?

I like knives . Got an old bait knife that ive had since a kid. Its pitted and ugly looking but its 'Toledo Steel' and is awesome!

Haha yeah, she was more than a touch rough when I had just got the sanding done. I've touched it up with a couple of grades of file/steel since, and will probably take the wet rub to it at some stage. Luckily this knife just floats around the house for odd jobs (in this case, cutting arum Lillie's) and isn't overly dedicated to show and tell.

[BarneyB 1,939]

Soak the leather sheath in oil.