Can't fully clean knife, i think it may be rusting. HELP!?

Hi folks, I'm a newbie but I've recently gotten into cooking and I love it. I found that the cheap knives I had in my kitchen could never hold and edge and would hinder me from cooking at my best or even wanting to cut things in the first place. So I decided to invest in a good knife.

I read a lot of reviews and watched a lot of videos and decided to put some extra money and get a Konosuke HD2 240mm Gyuto. I read that people have had the HD1 version for years with no issues so I thought this would be a good knife to have for long term.

Since I've gotten it, I've washed and dried it with a towel after every use (the water might have been too hot?)

. I don't let anyone in the house use it (i hide in my room) and I have done nothing but tried to take absolute care of it. But unfortunately its not looking so good.

I've had the thing maybe two weeks and it has these smudges (which are turning brown.. oh god is it rust WHAT DO I DO!?) and other water-looking marks. Overall it looks very used and worn and I probably don't even have a complete hour of chopping on this thing.

I'm so disappointing and discouraged right now. The knife was $250..a lot for a uni student like myself but I figured I should spend a lot since I may be using it for years.

I was reading of what I could do yesterday and I was told to get something called 'Bar keepers friend' ( a stainless steel cleaner) but it didn't do anything, even while scrubbing with a coarse sponge.

What can I do to get my knife looking like new?

really weird, I have a HD knife, and I have left i pretty dirty for long periods of time and it has never even developed a slight patina, maybe is has to do with some of the ingredients you cut, not sure?

Did you add water to the BKF? It has to be wet to do much.

EdipisReks said:

Did you add water to the BKF? It has to be wet to do much.

Click to expand...

Yes I did.

Is it maybe because I washed with really hot water? Other than that I can't think of anything I'd do to damage the knife, I use it for vegetables without cores and have a separate knife for meat.

nothing to freak out about... pick up a rust eraser and you're all good to go in a few seconds.
[video=youtube;PpspXNdJ_IE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpspXNdJ_IE&list=PLEBF55079F53216AB&index=23[/video]

hot water is not the problem

I've had good luck cleaning minor rust and patina with Mother's Mag polish, available at auto stores.

My experience with bkf is that it will remove stains, patina and beginnings of rust. But will leave a haze finish. Washing the knife with soap and water will remove the haze. The rust eraser will remove the haze, it will also eliminate the need to use bkf in the first place. If you want to maintain a mirror finish then a tube of Flitz after the bkf or rust eraser will get you there. Flitz ain't cheap.

or semmichrome is a good alternative to Flitz

Thanks for the replies everyone, looks like I'll be ordering a rust eraser along with the sharpening stone I was planning on getting.

That's strange. Do you live in a very humid area Rayzala? Are you keeping the knife in its original box? That should be a good way to store your knife. The HD2 is semistainless and as long as you keep the blade dry, it should not be rusting. Could it be air pollution? A possible solution to keep it from rusting is to force a patina after cleaning up the blade or to lightly oil it with food safe oil.

Second that rust eraser. I'm in a really humid climate & use it all the time. Sometimes I'll work it with a little stone slurry.

I'm surprised there is that much oxidation on that steel. I previously owned one, and found it close to stainless.

i've had this happen to shigs of mine. probably due to humidity causing it to go orange/brownish overnight. i got rid of it with flitz and or bkf as others suggested. I now oil my knives after use which eliminates my knives getting a rust or rust like patina overnight.

When you use the rust eraser make sure you follow the grain of the knife :knife:

Let it air dry for 10-15 min after wiping it with a towel if you're not already doing that.

Looks like you are a "ruster" -- those marks look a lot like fingerprints to me. If this is the case, any time you touch carbon steel without cleaning it after, rusty fingerprints will eventually appear. It has to do with the chemistry of your skin, you can't change it. I do the same thing, so does my brother, a tool maker, so we oil everthing made of non-stainless steel or iron.

The cure is to keep the knife oiled. Any edible oil will work so long as it doesn't have salt in it (no bacon grease), but the gold standard is camellia oil sold by Japanese knife and tool dealers. Wipe a tiny bit all over the blade after you wash and dry it.

Peter

The same issue was brought up with the original HD knifes. People were posting pictures, where the stains appeared to caused by water droplets. There was no or little reaction the first five to ten times, that I used my knife. After that I've gotten a few droplet stains. I don't recall if anybody ever figured out what was causing the stain.

Jay

this oxidation may come from the final buffing/polishing from the factory and only appears after some use

your knife might be the first in line after a set of carbon knifes have been polished on the same buffer leaving a very thin layer that oxidizes

or, they have simply used the wrong compound/material when buffing creating the same end result.

I'm sure the tips you got in this thread will take care of it:thumbsup: