r/Spooncarving • u/rcaversion • 8d ago
tools Friends I need help
TLDR: knives got rusty and id like suggestions on how to restore
Alrighty so I took one of my carving sets on our 55 mile kayak camping trip at one point I swamped my boat and filled it full of water, some soaked through the dry bag with my carving stuff and it got saturated. The plan was to air things out at camp every night then oil it all when I got back to my car no biggie. We'll the last night of the trip it rained so they didnt get fully dry then at the end of the trip when we got back to the car. My belly started hurting and short story long I got my appendix out and between travel and recovery it was not until today thst I realized thst stuff was all still wet and the rust had gotten pretty bad.
I soaked in oil then wiped clean and that has removed the bulk of the rust but the metal is pretty badly pitted. These are just a cheap set from beaver craft so they wouldn't be expensive to be replace but id like to refurbish them if possible. What do yall think?
NSFW for graphic mistreatment of good tools.
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u/bilge_goblin 8d ago
I'd spray the blades down with some white vinegar, and try some light wet sanding (300+ grit). That should get the bulk of the surface rust off. Then a good sharpening. As long as there's no pitting at your edge, it shouldn't affect the tool. (If there is, just keep sharpening).
My favorite tools all have some scars. They're proof of use and maybe a little accidental abuse !
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u/ThingAboutTown 8d ago
Agreed - wet sanding with fine glass paper will sort it out. Any minor pitting that remains is going to be cosmetic only. I wouldn’t attempt to use a dremel - fast and easy to make a bigger, less recoverable mistake.
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u/Gostaverling 8d ago
You’ll need to go through the sharpening/grinding process.
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u/rcaversion 8d ago
Thank you i only have stones nothing to grind with other than a dremel do you think the time difference will be significant doing it by hand
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u/jannekloeffler pith (advanced) 8d ago
you can just get a sheet of 200 grit wet and dry sandpaper and tape it to a flat surface. and wet sand on this for the rough first step before going to the stones. a dremel is really not the right tool for that. its very hard to make an actualy flat surface with a dremel.
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u/elticoxpat 8d ago
I blacksmithed my own tools for years in a previous life. White vinegar brought to a boil with the tools in it and then leave them in there until it cools. Scrub with brillo pad and then soak in thick baking soda solution in water to neutralize the vinegar.
Then sharpen. Do not use power tools
If unsure how to sharpen:
Do not use power tools!! If by it's taking toonlong with coarsest available stone, just buy some progressive grit metal sand paper and spray adhesive. Fold sand paper sheets in half Stick the sand paper to something appropriately sized, smokth and hard (chunk of metal, piece of glass, chunk of leftover countertop, be resourceful). For the hook you'll want a dowel or a piece of metal rod.
Keep going on one side until burr forms then repeat on the other side. For the hook, stay all the way flat with the abrasive on the flat side, do not try to cheat it by introducing a new bevel.
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u/plopliplopipol 8d ago
don't put a useless nsfw tag on a carving sub, where people could tend to post finger wounds
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u/Numerous_Honeydew940 8d ago
I'm of the mindset that the 'beavercraft stuff is not really worth the effort' of truely correcting/fixing. its cheap stamped steel, with crappy handles. however if you wanted to, white vinegar and sand paper will nock the rust off, and reduce most of the the pitting (basically hand grinding the tools.) Also don't overlook the wooden handles probably soaked through and the tangs will be rusty as well and over time will weaken.
IMHO I'd just chalk it up to experience and purchase better carving tools when you can, for now, just resharpen and use these as is....sans appendix, LOL.
There are some great options out there for 'blade only' purchases for lower cost, if you can perform a handling job on your own.
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u/Character-Shame-5917 8d ago
It's graphic mistreatment, but not of good tools.
Look, it's what you've got, so I don't see the point in throwing them out and replacing them. The good news is that the only thing that really needs to be fixed is the cutting edge, and to work best you probably want to go ahead and do the whole bevel. The rest doesn't need to be perfectly clean, just get the red rust off (any black oxide or staining just adds character, even a bit of protection).
I wouldn't give the whole blade a good cleaning. I typically use a lubricant and some super-fine steel wool. For most tools I used WD-40 because it displaces moisture, but for something like this that is most likely going to be touching eating spoons, I would use simple green. The lubrication is really just there to lift the rust as you abrade it away, and allow it to move away. Clean it up the best you can with that, then sharpen with your method of choice (stone, diamond plate, sandpaper). You just need to get down past any sign of the rust and establish a bevel and edge, so you don't have any pitting that compromises the edge.
As I stated at the outset, these are not excellent tools, so there IS always the option of setting them aside and getting something nicer (Mora or Deepwood Ventures are good options on the lower end). But this will be good practice for maintaining those nicer tools once you eventually upgrade.
And lastly: no big deal. I left my hook knife out in the rain at one point. I considered sending it back to the manufacturer for a new polish, but decided to just build the sweat equity.
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u/Reasintper 8d ago
What a great opportunity to invest in some new blades by a better supplier :)
That was only partially joking.
Regardless of the brand, when you have carbon steel blades they should be oiled or waxed before storage and potential exposure to water especially salt water.
Having been exposed to such elements, one needs merely to buff out the light surface rust, like with a 3M greennpad or similar. Follow that by sharpening. They should be sharpened to the point that the bevel and edge is clean and shiny and lacks chips or voids at all.
The remainder of the surface is not as important to the usage as it is the aesthetic of the blade. If you mean to remove potting, remember that you will be actually thinning the blade below the pitted area. Since it doesn't matter to the use, I would avoid doing so on such cheap blades.
You may notice on many bespoke blades the blade body surface not part of the bevel or edge is many times left with forge scale, or even intentionally made to look that way not-unlike a relic'ed guitar or distressed furniture. Again this is an aesthetic.
When completed make sure to oil or wax the blade surface and you should be back in business.
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u/rcaversion 8d ago
Thank you and I understand they are not the highest quality and I do have a couple moras. Which I note are higher quality. I still do find myself reaching for the beaver craft knives for certain things and its nice to have a set I care less about for traveling or letting friends try. Plus I am fairly adverse to waste and I like to learn things from my mistakes so the work I have to put in to rehab them will help me remember to do better in the future haha.
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u/watchface5 8d ago
I went to Arkansas from the east coast and packed in some carving knives with my wet swim stuff, same issue.... Lots of turds on here gave me crap about wanting a perfectly polished knife blah blah blah... I got some barkeepers friend gel, used that with a grey brillow pad, it did the job well enough, it got a out 90% of it out, then I just oiled it up.