Carbon kitchen knife care

[sleek]

I've made my wife a kitchen knife that I'm rather proud of. I'd like to k how how yall treat and care for them to preserve them from rust and get that nice patina.

[sleek]

Here it is, with a figured osage handle. The blade is from an old 2 man saw.

[Pat B]

For daily use keeping it clean and dry should keep it from rusting. For longer storage a very thin coat of veg or mineral oil would help.

[mullet]

Yep, vegetable oil for carbon blades and every once in a while soak the handle in butcher block oil.

[Mr. Woolery]

My wife is fond of a little Crisco on our kitchen blades when they are brand new. Once the patina develops, it is a partial protection from rust and we only wash and dry after using, then put them away. No need to keep oiling, in my experience, once it looks like old pewter.

There are different recipes for creating a patina. The old Morseth knives suggested the owner spend a while slicing tomatoes, citrus, and meat to get a patina going. This is after cleaning off any oil.

I’ve seen the suggestion of dabbing mustard all over the blade, too. How you apply the mustard will determine the pattern of the patina.

My own method is just to put the knife to work preparing food. After a week or so it will have a nice grey color that only improves with time.

That’s a really good looking knife, by the way.

Patrick

[Hawkdancer]

Nice job on the knife.  All the above suggestions work.  Be sure to dry the blade immediately after washing. 
Hawkdancer

[dylanholderman]

second all of the above.
cut tomato's or other acidic vegetables to help develop the patina than just clean and dry right after use.
if it does get some rust i just scrub it off with a steel wool s.o.s pad and then treat like normal

[sleek]

Thanks everyone.  I dipped it into a jar of 50% diluted white vinegar. I figured that would do the job faster cause it seems acid is what's doing the job. It turned the knife jet black. I love it.

I made the knife cause my wife likes to cut sweet potatoes into 1/8 Inch thick slices and dry them in the skillet to go with her breakfast over medium eggs. However all our other knives are too thick for that job, so I made this one thin to do the job. Works amazing. Only downside is the sweet potato juices slowly eat off the black from the vinegar.

[sleek]

This is it after a vinegar dip and slicing 20 sweet potatoes and a few deer and lamb steaks.

[bjrogg]

That's going to look nice with some wear now Sleek.
Bjrogg

[sleek]

That's going to look nice with some wear now Sleek.
Bjrogg

Thanks, I really enjoy using it, it does its job very well.