Bruxist
Poster Extraordinaire
Lol, fair enough. I don't carry it daily anymore as I am afraid to lose it. Will get it out of my gadget drawer.
New knife day!
- Thread starter Jakedog
- Start date
Lol, fair enough. I don't carry it daily anymore as I am afraid to lose it. Will get it out of my gadget drawer.
Fendereedo
Doctor of Teleocity
Nice. I always tend to go for the Victorinox multi tool knives personally though.
I have some of those as well. But not for EDC. They’re mostly holdouts from childhood. I’ve had too many non-locking folders fold up and bite me. In their defense, I was asking too much of them. But luckily it’s an easily avoidable problem.
loudboy
Tele-Afflicted
I just got a like new one of these at a garage sale for a quarter, I'd had it's thicker brother for a while, but you barely notice this one's there.
Bruxist
Poster Extraordinaire
I thinknthe worst bite I got from a Victorinox was from the damn can opener.
Most stainless steels not only fail to hold an edge like carbon steel, they are also more difficult to put an edge on.
howardlo
Tele-Afflicted
That’s for sure! I have a small Gerber folding knife with a stainless steel blade. I swear I think it just laughs at my sharpening stones.
True. I came up in a different time. Knives weren’t popular, or any kind of fad. And weren’t collected by anyone but guys at school in trench coats and greasy hair who played way too much D&D. I’m not picking on D&D, I’ve definitely played my share, but we all know who I’m talking about. Lol.
The prevailing idea in a world of cheap crappy knives (I’m looking at you, truck stop knives with Pakistan steel), was that if it wasn’t 440 Stainless it was garbage. We didn’t know that all those amazing old US made Old Timers (Schrade) and three blade Buck whittlers were carbon. Which these days explains to me why the ones I still have are corroded, but still sharp enough to shave a wild cat’s tuchus in a phone booth.
I have many of both Stainless and carbon, and have grown to really prefer carbon. Especially in the kitchen.
Refugee
Friend of Leo's
My Zero Tolerance.
Diamonized tungsten over 350 stainless.
Gibbs rule #9.
Never go anywhere without a good, sharp knife.
Diamonized tungsten over 350 stainless.
Gibbs rule #9.
Never go anywhere without a good, sharp knife.
ReverendRevolver
Friend of Leo's
Prior to this thread, I hadn't bothered seeing what my "new" (2 years of use) knife was made of. High carbon and chromium. That explains why it stays sharper longer than my S&W I had for ages before this Kershaw.
Higher carbon > everything else for kitchen knives. Wife makes fun of how protective I am of my favorite pairing knife.
My high carbon springsteel rapier needs oil or it rusts. Fortunately, everything else I own with higher carbon content aren't high maintenance.
Higher carbon > everything else for kitchen knives. Wife makes fun of how protective I am of my favorite pairing knife.
My high carbon springsteel rapier needs oil or it rusts. Fortunately, everything else I own with higher carbon content aren't high maintenance.
Have you forced a patina on it? I’ve done it on several high carbon knife blades and it really cuts down on needed maintenance. It makes it dull and dark looking. It won’t have a mirror shine at all. But it seems to seal it well and make it much less susceptible to corrosion.
A four hour soak in plain old white vinegar will do it. I do that, then dry, then clean by using a light coating of some kind of oil. Light machine oil, 3 in 1, or in a pinch even Vaseline. Then wipe super dry and clean. After that it’s never been an issue unless I put something away wet. Which I know I shouldn’t do. Lol.
I notice that you seem to have a preference for Swedish made edges!
ReverendRevolver
Friend of Leo's
Not tried it on the knife. I might try vinegar and rem oil next time I sharpen it.
The rapier is long and impractical. 17 year old me got a deal on it and wanted to have a real sword with a functional blade instead of stainless giftshop variety. Obviously a freaking rapier is one of the least practical bladed things to own. Shoulda gotten a cutlass or a wakizashi. Those at least make good machetes.
Looks like I could sell it for a couple hundred bucks. If I can get a pawn shop to do $200+ in trade, I may part with it. Otherwise, it's fine in the closet.
A rapier is incredibly impractical. Unless your name is Enigo Montoya, and a six fingered man killed your father.
In that case, it’s imperative.
An issue with vinegar or ferric chloride (Birchwood Casey Perma Blue, etc.) is the acid can wick into the space between the scales and the tang through the handle, and continue to corrode the steel if it's not all completely neutralized. You can prevent this by first applying Vaseline or light oil where the blade enters the handle, and then wiping it completely dry.
On of the easiest ways to do an acid etch on carbon steel is to use plain ol' cheap yellow mustard, because it contains vinegar, and it's a gel and stays where you apply it. Even the stuff in the little packets from the deli works great. Tomato ketchup works too, but mustard contains more vinegar than ketchup. I've not tried mayo!
Clean the steel with alcohol first to remove even the tiniest bits of fingerprints or you'll end up with an etch that shows your fingerprints. You don't need to do the police's work for them
If you're a stickler for sharpness, keep your knife in its leather sheath only when you're carrying it because the acids used to tan the leather will dull the blade over the long term.
Great info!! Thank you. And I was already up on the finger print thing. I always clean well before. But I hadn’t thought of the wicking thing.An issue with vinegar or ferric chloride (Birchwood Casey Perma Blue, etc.) is the acid can wick into the space between the scales and the tang through the handle, and continue to corrode the steel if it's not all completely neutralized. You can prevent this by first applying Vaseline or light oil where the blade enters the handle, and then wiping it completely dry.
On of the easiest ways to do an acid etch on carbon steel is to use plain ol' cheap yellow mustard, because it contains vinegar, and it's a gel and stays where you apply it. Even the stuff in the little packets from the deli works great. Tomato ketchup works too, but mustard contains more vinegar than ketchup. I've not tried mayo!
Clean the steel with alcohol first to remove even the tiniest bits of fingerprints or you'll end up with an etch that shows your fingerprints. You don't need to do the police's work for them
If you're a stickler for sharpness, keep your knife in its leather sheath only when you're carrying it because the acids used to tan the leather will dull the blade over the long term.
The Scandi grind kinda rocks.
The Scandi (Mora) is a fantastic grind for general purpose use and is easy to sharpen. The Fallkniven F1 has an axe grind on it, which makes the edge extremely durable. It's not common on small knives like these. I've had this knife since 1997 and it was with me when I was a flyer in the AF. They have gotten quite expensive.
