What precautions against rust do you take in a hot, humid country?

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josemartinlopez

我會買所有的獨角獸
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What precautions against rust do you take in a hot, humid country? A thoughtful collector reached out to me and said he gave up on owning shirogami knives in hot, humid Singapore (average humidity 85%), which is right at the equator. He buys only aogami super for his few non-stainless knives, is paranoid enough to oil them after every use (and oils even his stainless knives at least once a quarter), and makes sure never to leave non-stainless knives in a blade guard or saya except when transporting them. He tries to be preemptive to avoid having to use rust erasers because they leave scratches.

IF budget is of no issue, try any of these knives. Tried/owned them all and would happily have any of these in my knife drawer. All great lookers and top performers with a range of lasers to workhorses 😉

Teruyasu Fujiwara Denka
Watanabe/Toyama Honyaki
Tsukasa River Jump
Konosuke Fujiyama Damascus B#1/AS
Ashi Honyaki
Kato Kurouchi

Would especially love to ask @lemeneid how he maintains his honyakis in Singapore.
 
1. Make sure knives are dry before storage.
2. Keep blades with light coat of oil if stored more than a few days without use.
3. Shove a larger Silica gel packet inside of one of your knife roll pockets or whatever you use for knife storage. (Change out when needed) This is what I did while working in Miami Beach for a few years.
4. Invest in some crazy expensive waterproof case like a (pelican case) and use with Silica Packs

https://www.uline.com/BL_1004/Silica-Gel-Desiccants
https://nalpak.com/Pelican-Storm-iM2720
 
I'd say you're rusting issues are as much due to all the salt not just the humidity. Out here when I lived for 20+ years in the Cascades up in WA, we had similar humidity, but no salt and as long as my knives (all non-stainless simple carbon damascus) were dry before storing, I could go a couple of months without having to oil them, even the blades that were not used on a daily basis.
It sounds like your original suggestions are good. My only question would be how frequently you need to oil. That's something you only you will know, however.
 
It’s not nearly as bad as that. I live in a Singapore and have a large number of shirogami knives.
If you’re Not using them in rotation you’d best oil them when you put them away. I do recommend checking on them every 3-4 months to reapply oil.
Never keep knives in a Saya.
I do prefer resting the knives on paper or something absorbent vs just on a shelf or rack.
personally I have been caught out by stray drops of water from the sink for knives on my countertops more than ambient humidity
 
Dehumidifier
I lived in HK in the 1970s. We had dehumidifiers. I remember having to empty the container frequently.
We also had these electric heating rods in the closet or your leather shoes would mold...
Kitchen was definitely not air conditioned!
 
Guess we just approach it like hanging or storing oil paintings in the tropics...
 
I live in an apartment right by the sea. Never had any problems with my knives. After you've gotten a good patina on it, its just a matter of washing it throughly with soap and drying it up then back onto the rack.
 
Light coat of oil wrap in voc paper put one of these in the original box without saya
0802201151.jpg
 

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