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Help: Carbon knives and tropical island weather

Discussion in 'The Kitchen Knife' started by valgard, Apr 15, 2017.

  1. Hello KKFa, my living arrangements back home in Cuba are as follows. I have an apartment ~400m from the sea, humidity is >75% all year and temperature is over 30C (86 F) meaning that is some serious amount of water in the air (sometimes it is more) + sea salt in the air.
    I'm hoping for members here who live or have lived in similar conditions to share their experiences taking care of carbon knives (if you can specify san mai or mono as I understand soft cladding in san mai knives is usually more reactive).
    Is this a totally lost cause and the day I don't apply oil to the knives or forget to cover a spot will be the day I get rust? Do I need to oil the knives every day even for daily users? This is the type of questions I'm looking to answer.
    I was planning to send my dad a carbon knife as an experiment and try those things but some decisions have come up and to figure out this stuff sooner than originally planed. FWIW, I have 100% certainty my dad will follow proper care.

    Thanks in advance for sharing people.
     
  2. kentos

    kentos Founding Member

    Yes you would need to oil them to be absolutely sure. They may also oxidize as you use them too so daily maintenance is critical. I was astonished at how fast my knives rusted cutting tomatoes and onions myself !!
     
  3. Hey, thx for the reply. I'm used to care for them with daily use but here in Alberta there is just no moisture in the air so conditions are opposite poles.
     
  4. kentos

    kentos Founding Member

    You are welcome! I am in Hawaii and my carbon knives and razors rust if I don't oil them.
     
  5. Do you find it makes a difference for san man and mono steel?
    Also, I've come to the conclusion from other answers that oiling would need to be done daily even for daily users. Do you find that's the case? I imagine Hawaii would have conditions very similar to what I have back home.
     
  6. kentos

    kentos Founding Member

    My laminated petty seems to rust a lot easier than my monosteel gyuto. That being said I am the furthest from an expert and only have a few carbon steel knives to draw experience from.

    If you use the knife everyday and dry it well you might not need to oil daily, although I am sure it will patina.
     
  7. Thanks again, that was useful experience. Patinas are fine, I like them most of the time.
     
  8. Good info! What oil are you guys using?
     
  9. I have tsubaki oil, before that used mineral oil and received the same recommendation on the other forum. Also got suggestions to use VCI paper but that would not work well for the knives I want to keep on the magblock.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  10. With the air conditions, you'd better oil the knives every day.
     
  11. I live in the caribbean beach front property. lots of humidity and salt everywhere. I oil my knives every time i use them. i also provoke patinas in most knives with dijon mustard, gun blue, and copper bleach that i bought in a paint shop. will get 3-5 gallons of blood in the next couple of weeks from a slaughter house to try in other knives. since using gun blue the knives are more resistant to rust.
     

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