Blade care question

[Laurentius]

I have just been stripping the bark off a piece of willow I cut recently and it has left a nasty sticky residue on my mirror finish carbon steel blade. Eventually I managed to clean it off with hand sanitiser gel. The question is whether the willow residue is corrosive? A bit of patina is ok of course and there are a few blemishes on my blade through use, but I really would not want to risk leaving anything on that is going gradually etch it's way into the blade.

 

[flexo]

back home i wash my blades with soap and old teethbrush, and wipe with piece of cloth . for storage i use duck fat, wich is an edible (and tasty)grease... blade out of sheath, in a cardboard one home made.

 

[mark.177]

you can use nail polish remover (acetone) followed with lighter fluid to clean the blade then just wipe down with an acid neutralizing, food safe oil like ballistol universal oil

 

[Samon]

You could leave in vinegar over night and you could still clean off the tarnishing with fine wet n dry sand paper and soap..

No need to fret. Just clean it off with soap and put it away.

 

[homesicksteve]

I use WD40 as a cleaning fluid for stuff like that.... followed by soap & water, and then Oil.
(I usually use Camellia oil in case of food use.)

 

[Hoodoo]

Definitely corrosive. It will eat into your blade, not add to the patina.

 

[Robson Valley]

Willow (Salix sp) bark contains a considerable amount of salicylic acid, hence the name. Analgesic but upsetting. Modified as acetylsalicylic acid, we call it ASA or aspirin.

 

[fielder1963]

An interesting and effective tip - use peanut butter to clean the sap off. It works really well.

 

[Tonyuk]

If it does seem to be tarnishing the blade a quick going over with chrome car polish will sort it right out. Makes a good stropping compound too.

Tonyuk

 

[knifeman]

I use white spirits followed by goose fat


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