How much to clean an old cleaver

[gic]

I've started buying old cleavers on the bay and they often come with black spots which I am assuming is a form of rust. SHould I remove it or is a good rust like a patina? If I do want to remove it, what's a good progression of wet dry sandpaper to use? Here's an example of my latest purchase - probably turn of the century or even earlier. (It is soon to go off to Bloodroot for a new handle BTW.)
TIA.

 

[gic]

OH and if anyone can tell me more about the brand that would be awesome, the logo is pretty worn alas...

 

[Keith Sinclair]

If the black spots are slightly indented it is pitting caused by rust.When the rust is removed, the pitting remains.This is not unusual for old carbons.If it is stabilized(no new rust) usually does not affect cutting function.Just keep them oiled when not in use.

 

[quantumcloud509]

Oh youre going through THAT phase

 

[tomsch]

Cover it in CLP Break Free and leave it for a couple days. Does a great job at cleaning off any rust.

 

[Chef Niloc]

The blacker the better! Rust (red oxide) over time becomes non-reactive and terms black (black oxide), black oxide protects a knife from rusting, when you see those new knives with the black coating (called DLC diamond like coating) that's a Chemical process used to mimic black oxide.

Nice deep black patina takes 50+ years to achieve, in my honest opinion it 's a sin to remove it. Rust on the other hand (red) needs attention. If it's not to bad bar keepers friend and a green 3m pad will do just fine. If it's bad then nothing beats rehearse electrolysis (look up " how to"electric rust rehearsal)

O...Welcome to the club

 

[Chef Niloc]

Cover it in CLP Break Free and leave it for a couple days. Does a great job at cleaning off any rust.

The advantage to electrostatic rust removal is that it converts rust back into iron, therefore preserving the peace as much as possible.
It's easy and inexpensive to do, here's a link that I found with a quick search, should explain it better than I can. I haven't read this article but just to let you know I've done this process with A old 9 V battery charger and a cheap stainless steel Butterknife, so in a sense you can kind of do this for free.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/rust/electrolytic_derusting.htm

 

[zerafa]

i sent two back to heckels, and they were refinished, reshaped / sharpened, rehandled for $35 each. I use them for cutting down pigs, it was handy going through 3 roasted wild hogs this summer in an afternoon... I think some manufactures will honor lifetime warranty for these beasts...

 

[tomsch]

Very cool! I need to try that with a couple cleavers that still need some clean-up.

The advantage to electrostatic rust removal is that it converts rust back into iron, therefore preserving the peace as much as possible.
It's easy and inexpensive to do, here's a link that I found with a quick search, should explain it better than I can. I haven't read this article but just to let you know I've done this process with A old 9 V battery charger and a cheap stainless steel Butterknife, so in a sense you can kind of do this for free.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/rust/electrolytic_derusting.htm

 

[Chef Niloc]

i sent two back to heckels, and they were refinished, reshaped / sharpened, rehandled for $35 each. I use them for cutting down pigs, it was handy going through 3 roasted wild hogs this summer in an afternoon... I think some manufactures will honor lifetime warranty for these beasts...

You sent them back to heckel and they did the work? What kind of handle did they out on it?

 

[gic]

Who is heckel do you mean henckel?

 

[gic]

Who is heckel do you mean henckel?

 

[gic]

By the way if you don't want to buy a whole box of washing soda cause you only need like a tablespoon or so according to that document (thanks Niloc!)

and, like me have a ton of baking soda around, it's easy enough to convert the latter into the former. If you heat baking soda at > 400 in an oven ( I would use 450), it converts to washing soda just by release of water and CO2. You know you have heated it enough when it no longer looks shiny like baking soda...

 

[zerafa]

yes henckles. sorry. i will look for the link for the warranty repairs shop, but i don't seem to have it my old email. It was about 4-6 years ago that i had it done.