What's up with my Kanji?

[pitted_soul]

So I am selling a knife and a potential buyer was asking if my Kanji was rusted. I didn't think it was and nothing scratched off when scraping with a needle, and camelia oil didn't make it really react in any meaningful way.

I saw something similar on this knife.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[OkayMode]

Hard to tell from those two photos, but sometimes if mud or some other kind of powder/natural abrasive has been used on the finish, some of it can get stuck in stamped kanji.

 

[Skylar303]

Looks similar to the 2nd photo imo, was the 2nd one rust?

If it is potentially rust can't one just pour boiling water on it to make it stable?

 

[Benuser]

Looks similar to the 2nd photo imo, was the 2nd one rust?

If it is potentially rust can't one just pour boiling water on it to make it stable?

Short contact with phosphoric acid is another option.

 

[refcast]

So you might think this is funny but

Rusted stamped kanji on new knives means it was stamped during the forging and heat treat process, as opposed to after. This allows for deeper stamps, and less stress on the steel, since it's most likely in the annealed state when those stamps are done. The blacksmith doesn't care about rust all too much, so that's why it's there. Clay, rust, all that. Not worth trying to remove -- it's evidence of the forging and heat treat process. But some people may want to anyway. . . . Kind of at odds with what the knife is though. Usually you'll see stamped kanji being black though

Yeah a strong acid would start to dissolve the rust