CARBON STEEL KNIFES HOW DID THE OLD WOODSMEN PREVENT RUST 

A native friend from Papua New Guinea taught me to use coconut oil (or fresh coconut flesh) for all metals. Coconut oil is the best I've ever used for knives, garden tools including wooden handles, and chopping boards and wooden spoons etc. It's non toxic, anti bacterial, antibiotic and doesn't go rancid. And you can rub the excess on your skin and hair.

Best Channel on RU-vid!!

I've always had a greasy skin,, (hairline and behind my ears) , so I've used that "grease" for my knife blades for years,,.. Also, a quick wipe over with some ferric chloride, will make most stainless blades, look old and "vintage" in seconds, (just don't forget to neutralise it with baking soda),,.. I've recently got a stainless Case Trapper, and after a few minutes careful work, with the chloride, it now looks like a 50 year old vintage knife,!! (best of both worlds). Great video Blackie, all the best,, John..

I have so many knives that even my stainless spydercos that are in the boxes not being used get spots of rust from time to time. I've come to the conclusion that I have more than I need and it made me realize just like you said, people didn't worry about rust because they used them so often they didn't rust usually. It's a sobering feeling when you realize that your collection is actually more in danger being safely stored away not being utilized hahaha.

Ballistol is a good lubricant and rust inhibitor. As a firearms instructor and armorer I highly recommend it (and use it) on all of my firearms and knives. Plus, it IS food safe!!

I learnt a thing or 2...lol..I would've liked your great uncle. This whole video took me back to great grandparents and their kitchen. I thought they had only one knife used for everything kitchen related but I swear I seen that same knife out fishing! I was thinking about you the other day when I rolled through Georgia and Alabama en route to Florida. I thought, I wonder what ole' blackie from Shamans forge is doing today in his South ?😎👍Thanks for making the video.

The patina is the same principle as the browning used on old muzzleloading rifles. I have used nose oil to rub on the edge of a woodworking cabinet scraper before creatig a hook with a burnishing tool. Never thought about oiling knife blades with it. In times past, most people only had a few knives, so the same ones got used constantly. The longhunters were constantly skinning deer, so I expect those blades got a lot of deer fat on them. Turpentine does leave a residue that makes a coating. Last time I tried to open a metal can of turpentine that had been poured out of numerous times, I had to use vise grips to get the lid off. The residue was like a sticky glue on the lid threads. The term naval stores was used a lot in the past. Somewhere on youtube is an old documentary showing how the industry operated in the mid 1900s. A lot of people in south Georgia and north Florida were at one time involved in the industry. I expect it was done in your area of Alabama also.

I get people asking me this question every day almost and especially the younger generation and people who don’t know much about using knives. They seem utterly confused by what oil or what sharpeners they are to use, and it just doesn’t seem to matter what I say explaining this , they simply can’t understand that in the end it really doesn’t matter. Whatever you have. I like how you presented the question and answered it.

Hey brother thank you so much for doing this this is awesome! I'm about halfway through it but I wanted to make sure I left the comment. I so appreciate you doing this I'm going to do a response video and share this video now I got to finish the video lol!

Which begins the question.... how to get a hold of one of those Blackbird carbon steel knives? Ha!

6:13 - in violin making, i was taught to use nose oil to polish the ends of the tuning pegs :) I was taught, lanolin is very similar to human sebum (oil). And most people have lots of it ;) Japanese choji oil is good for carbon blades too. And the oil can be bought cheaply globally.

I use a little coconut oil. It does not go rancid and you can cook with it in the field as well.

Good afternoon from Syracuse NY brother

Ha!!! Had to think about that! I can't remember any of my carbon blades going brown/orange rusty. Had Opinels, a Douk Douk and several carbon steel Sheffield knives way back when. They went darker over time but not rusty. Can remember having to Brasso the occasional stainless (folding) blade that got left in a wet rucksack and the like. Have a Sheffield made Green River knife in carbon I put in the kitchen because it's outstanding in there and there's some small patina marks but nothing much.

I coat my new carbon steel knives with yellow mustard for a half hour or so then wash them. This puts a black patina on them. Then I oil the blades. It makes them rust resistant from the start. You can also use lemon juice.

Brilliant. Thank you.

Man I really really enjoyed this. Thank you

Thanks Blackie

A Case Knife rep told my hardware man to slice or poke your carbon steel blade in a piece of citrus everyday to "acid temper" and blacken. My Granddad would rub a nail along his scalp to help it drive in to seasoned oak better.

great video

Good info Blackie.👍👍

Great content as always. Fast becoming my favorite channel 👍🏻

Great video

That black oxide, in the gunsmithing world is known as "rust-blueing"... watch Mark in the "Anvil" channel on U-Tube, boiling bare carbon steel, then "carding" it with fine steel wool or a carding wheel. Great channel for gun cranks....

good stuff

Good video Blackie , thanks for sharing , God bless !

You always have such good information Thank you

Back in the day carpenters (esp. finish carpenters) would rub nails in their hair to help them penetrate the wood easier. Hard wood strip flooring installers did a lot of that too when hand nailing was the only method available. (Works especially well in hard woods like oak & maple when a pilot hole is or must be drilled first). Never thought about oiling my knife that way in a pinch. Good one. Thx!

Great info once again - thank you. Stay safe. ATB. Nigel

Awesome video Blackie! Always a pleasure and educational. God bless you! Bill

Good info Blackie! bees wax may be good As well.

Love your kind of videos and now you habe a new subscriber👍....have a nice weekend Norbert

Very interesting. Especially about the nose and forehead grease.

Thank you sir

I've heard that some watch makers use the oils on the side of their nose to lubricate screws and other small parts when reassembling watches. great video! thanks, Blackie ATB Sam from Vietnam

Love this Great info!! All of this makes sense I just kind of always assumed lard or something like that..

THANK YOU 🙏🙏🙏

Also consider mirror polish because that really won't rust easily. Rough polished blades stain and rust more easily because under a microscope you'll see the surface is extremely jagged, so the total contact area with air, water, dirt and other material is much greater than with a high polish. There was an old surface finish that was even a notch above mirror polish, that was called a black burnish or charcoal burnish. After the blade was brought to a mirror polish with either fine sand or wood ash, it was burnished with beech or alder charcoal mixed with agate/jasper dust, giving the blade an artificial patina.

Stainless steel was first made in Sheffield in 1913/14. Just for people's information.

Nose and forehead oil also works great for removing that tape residue from your blades👍

I learned early on that the ferrels of my first two piece spinning rod could be oiled by rubbing the ferrel in your hair.

An old hillbilly trick is to use peanut butter as a polishing paste. Granma would use that on all metals including the cast iron pots and pans. She had this one butcher knife that never had a spot of rust on it. I remember asking her one time she was rubbing peanut butter on the knife and with a twinkle in her eye she said it made the knife smooth. I was eight at the time and I thought it was a funny joke. Turns out she wasn't joking. Maybe a little. It actually does work because I do it.

Ill just leave this comment here for the algorithm.

Another informative video.👍🏻 I’m interested in the lanyard you have on your Blackbirds. Is it a solid loop? Thank you

thanks for the explanation for the kids that have no idea, but I would like to hear the topic a litle quicler please. Im old, no time to wait.

Mirror polish it then put it in white vinegar for 5 to 10 minutes to force a black oxide coating. Wash off, dry, oil.

Blackie you can take green walnut hulls and rub down the blade let it sit for a minute then clean it off with steel wool and blue the blade too!! it's basically iodine bluing the blade!! i was taught that by an old timer when i was 9 (that was in 78!!) he treated all his carbon steel that way be it a knife axe hammer saw blade whatever!

I use old PAM spray on the hinges and blades of knives that touch food.

I love a good patina on a blade.

I'll have to reconsider trying to sand out any darker rust from tools I get down the line. I'm trying to think what condition some of my old saws and hand planes were in before I vinegar soaked them and sanded the heck out of them.

I always help the dead rust out but stabbing an orange or grapefruit and leave it in there for a few days.

Turpentine is derived from the steam when when distillation of pine sap.

🤠

Body oils also contain salt tho.

All this time and I thought I invented nose grease . Really is nothing new under the sun .

Love Love 💕 🎃Love your content! You are Da Best! Thank you 🙏 for ALL You Do! Your BIGGEST 😊❤FAN!!! God bless you! From North Mississippi!

What happens when one gets an old knife and cleans up this old patina? I have a few that I thought I was doing good for. Blades are showing decades of use and sharpening. The last sharpening was mine. I do not carry these...I wish only to preserve them for family history.

The whole time you were talking, I was thinking 'sebum.' I use it a lot. Glad you mentioned it - that is skin oil if you all didn't know. You can also use it on your small fishing reel parts if you don't have anything else handy. Also, takes small amounts of tape residue off in a pinch.

Cold bluing?

my guess is to grease the blade?

The face oils sound very strange but it makes sense 😅 I feel like a mink in the summer time 🤣 good video ⚔️👍

A forgotten fact is that, back in the days, people didn't have a block with 20 knives in it, just what was used daily and daily they were used (no microwave dinners back then). You reminded me of a trick I read about getting rid of beer foam: get some "nose oil" on your finger and stir the foam with it. I There was also the good ol' trick of using ear wax to shape pointy mustaches but that one won't fly anymore, fortunately!

Bladkie I use a vinegar-soaked rag wrapped on the blade entirety when I make knives to quicken the black-looking patina just a little faster, however, I have noticed that the naturally occurring black patina is much more rust resistant, the vinegar-forced patina helps till a naturally occurring black rust appears on the blade, use it supports the natural patina and makes it strong and good rust prevention, loved the video always learn something from you thanks.

What's more break resistant stainless or high carbon. Anybody know ?

humans produce salty oil.

I want a blackbird knife!! Would go well with my blackbird haversack!!!

Good video. One thing to note. Oil will introduce bacteria to the blade and sometimes mold could be seen. It was always washed off and sterilized before put to use. To avoid the bacteria/mold most people used beeswax or boot/shoe/leather wax. I personally still use a beeswax today but in my homemade Fix'n wax. When clearing some estates back in the 90s I would find some old blades with lard on them and they did not smell good. Most people would throw them out or try to sell them for scrap. I would boil them for 30 mins and refinish handles/blades badically fixed them up for new life. Made some good supply money doing that on the side as a kid.

Another reason to not wash your hair!

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