Carbon steel or Abused Stainless?

[Skylar303]

Hey,

I grabbed a knife with eh pics so I didn't realize how oddly shiny it actually is still in areas. I'm wondering if this is old carbon or just abused stainless.

To me it seems like it had a stainless coating that has sort of worn off. It looks like a piece of sheet metal. (Mixed metal colors) It has some deep pitting and some rust on the spine, and some active red rust on the choil.

Thanks for the inputs, sorry for my bad pics as well my phone just the otherday broke... (I haven't touched it at all as I'm not sure if I'll keep this one yet.)

 

[Blumbo]

You could wipe some lemon juice or vinegar on it and let it sit for a couple minutes. If stainless it won’t develop and patina in that time and if carbon it will

 

[Benuser]

It's just an older carbon knife. Some areas with a patina, others with some pitting. The pitting is likely to be caused by heavy neglect: leaving it dirty for a while. Never heard of any stainless coating, by the way.