Dagger after cleaning

kronckew · 31st August 2015, 06:38 PM

agree, nice piece. any further cleaning agressive enough to remove the spots may leave scratches and degrade the nice wootz watered steel patterning. if you can't get them off by rubbing with a wood stick or the edge of a copper coin, best leave them. if you are really handy, or a dentist, pricking off any crustycrusty red scale with a dental pick under a microscope might work, but i wouldn't try it. the knife is too nice to chance messing it up. lots of olive oil and an old toothbrush (without toothpaste) repeated over time may lift, loosen & remove a bit more. in some climates the olive oil, if left on may go rancid. i use ballistol on just about everything for storage.

black rust and black patina is good, red rust is cancerous and bad.

31st August 2015, 06:38 PM	#5
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,224	agree, nice piece. any further cleaning agressive enough to remove the spots may leave scratches and degrade the nice wootz watered steel patterning. if you can't get them off by rubbing with a wood stick or the edge of a copper coin, best leave them. if you are really handy, or a dentist, pricking off any crustycrusty red scale with a dental pick under a microscope might work, but i wouldn't try it. the knife is too nice to chance messing it up. lots of olive oil and an old toothbrush (without toothpaste) repeated over time may lift, loosen & remove a bit more. in some climates the olive oil, if left on may go rancid. i use ballistol on just about everything for storage. black rust and black patina is good, red rust is cancerous and bad.