Cures for rusty knife

[dyingfly]

My little BCD knife has gotten a tad rusty - any tips on restoring it to its former glory???

cheers

You'll be pleased to know all the rest of my kit has been well looked after

:D

[Tony Dwyer]

My little BCD knife has gotten a tad rusty - any tips on restoring it to its former glory???

cheers

You'll be pleased to know all the rest of my kit has been well looked after

:D

Try a Brillo pad. Clean and dry the knife afterward, then anoint it with a little silicon grease. :)

If it's badly rusted. you probably won't get all the rust pits out.

[Starnetman2001]

Put in vice and use a wire brush, prefferably on a drill.

Use a stone and oil to sharpen.

Or buy another :D

[Tim B]

I've found Brasso works well for removing small rust patches.

[Chris aka divingchef]

As well as what has already been suggested.
Clean with a little vinegar to dissolve the salts, dry well and lard does the trick and its environmentally freindly....

[garethwoodruff]

wire brush / brilo pad the knife to remove rust. Spray metal bits with WD40.

Cheers,

Gareth.

[ChristianG]

wire brush / brilo pad the knife to remove rust. Spray metal bits with WD40.
Good stuff that WD40.

Except when it comes into contact with nasty, dirty water - as flies to flypaper.

[garethwoodruff]

Good stuff that WD40.

Except when it comes into contact with nasty, dirty water - as flies to flypaper.

It was my dads idea actually, have been doing it for years and always appears clean and seems to slow down the rust (same 420 steel knife, now 8 years old :) )

[R.Burgess]

I've read: Stainless steel used for marine items is passivated in an acid solution after final shaping to dissolve any microscopic bits of steel imbedded from the steel tooling used to make it.
So Brillo or a stainless steel wire brush or a grinding stone that was previously used on steel can also be part of the problem as microscopic bits of steel get inbedded in the stainless and then rust and cause the stainless to show rust spots and its better to use a Scotchbrite pad and WD 40.

After losing so many dive knives, I mostly use small thrift shop kitchen knives with homemade plastic hose sheaths. I regard them as throw-aways.
Some knife manufacturers and users say H1 steel (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=408637) is the best steel for dive knives. I've recently been looking at the Spyderco Caspian Salt (http://www.mindyourfingers.co.uk/P5012.html) its not cheap.

I'm told stainless has better edge holding qualites than titanium. I find the edge holding qualities of stainless steel knives poor. Big dive knives make good pry bars and are great for getting barnacles off boat propellers and can make a big impression on any people you find rummaging through you car after a dive. I've found saw blades are better for most cutting jobs. For many small cutting jobs a trauma shears is better than a knife. I've used a trauma shears to cut crabs free from mono-filament fishing line entanglements and to cut through a steel trace hanging from a congers mouth. With a bit of effort it would cut through a braided rope as thick as my thumb with one snip. The steel centre pins rust and break but their cheap enough to throw away.