help, my knife has rust!!!!!

[jamesoconnor]

hi all,
I was out on monday with magickelly canoeing and took an unexpected swim in Loch ard. Unfortunately after putting all my gear away tonight ive had a look at my knife ( bushman graduate by paul baker) and it has loads of rust. Also the handle has warped a bit, ie its a little bigger than the tang, but I think that might be, or hope to be because of water in the handle now. Do any of you guy's know if I will be able to fix this problem and get rid of the rust without damaging the knife. In truth I'm a bit gutted that this has happened as I am fond of the knife. Can you tell me how to do this and make my knife well again?

regards
james

 

[wingstoo]

James,


Is it just surface rust on the blade, if so a light rub with some oil and a washing up pad will more than likely solve the problem, no good with handles but I am sure someone will help you there.

LS

 

[leon-b]

yes if it is just surface rust use a bit of wet and dry paper or even a brillo pad will work
leon

 

[Shinken]

Has the handle completelty soaked?

If it hasnt been epoxied on i would worry that the tang is wet inside the scales.

Does anyone know how these knives are made?

 

[falcon]

It's inevitable that a knife will pick up stains and blemishes as it gets used (even while swimming ) and you can usually sort it out with WD40 and steel wool or stropping paste of some kind and a piece of leather. You're usually left with most of the shine restored plus a unique patina brought on by the tasks you've accomplished with it. That way, it's ceased to be a drawer queen......and looks all the better for it IMHO

 

[longshot]

knives get rusty, its inevitable, just rub it down and have at it again. as for hte handle if its truly warped and now dryagain theres not much you can do except either steam the handle and getthe bend out that way or reshape the handle to remove the warp. and refinish and epoxy coat. or you can leave it to remind u on your dunking in the lake.

dean

 

[Dave Budd]

I agree with what has been said to do to the blade, can't beat WD40 and brillo pads! or wirewool if tougher.

With the handle. I would leave it alone for a while. Chances are that when you put the knife away at home, the wood will dry and shrink back to close where it was before. Then when it's good and dry (a few weeks probably ) you can refinish the handle with some abrasive paper and then saturate with your favourite handle oil ( I use tung oil and Linssed usually). I would always suggest that people regularly treat their wooden handles, even the stabilised ones as the resins don't all get into the fibres.

just my 2p worth

 

[happy camper]

Sorry to hear about your knife James, the rust is totally normal and no problem if you deal with it soon, it should clean off easily with a fine abrasive like a plastic scourer, some very fine steel wool (000 or 0000 is good) or even some very fine wet and dry sandpaper will polish it up nicely. Some metal polish, stropping compound or even toothpaste on a piece of leather might work aswell.
As for the handle, it sounds like the wood has swollen a bit, like a sponge taking on water, if you let it dry out slowly it might well normalise without warping or cracking (make sure the sheath dries out properly aswell or the rust problem will just repeat itself).
If the handle's fixing has failed or the scales have lifted from the tang it might be worth contacting the maker, i don't imagine a bushcraft knife made and sold for hard outdoor use is designed to suffer so badly or fail after a single dunking, maybe he'll be able to help rectify the problem.
good luck with it mate

 

[jamesoconnor]

Thanks guy's for all your help. Time now to get stuck in and fix this problem now!!
Note to self...dont fall in again.

Again lads...cheers for your comments :You_Rock_

James

 

[MagiKelly]

Note to self...dont fall in again.

I tried that but found it was easier to just get a stainless knife

 

[Doc]

I reckon you should change your canoeing partner, James. That Magikelly character is jinxed-people always fall in when he's around. Ask Wayland.

I use Autosol polish to get off surface rust.

For canoeing I have found the stainless/rosewwod Grohmann knives survive water very well. They are also quite light so won't reduce your buoyancy too much.

 

[Andy]

a Good stainless knife is the F1, you could also get a helle or EKA but they also have wood handles while the F1 has a plastic handle that will be fine in water

 

[Martyn]

I tried that but found it was easier to just get a stainless knife

I think that's very sensible.

All knives with carbon blades and unstabalised wooden handles will suffer in this way if dunked. If you are a paddler and this is a significant risk, then I would consider a stainless knife with stabalised wood or synthetic handle.

 

[Andy]

I agree, even marine tuff cloth has it's limits