440c rust?

[Omega]

hey all ive been using 440c for awhile now and recently took some time off from knifemaking and when i went into the basemet my barstock had some rust on it. the rust was on the "PAINTED" parts of the stock like it comes from the factory, is this normal?

bill

[Ray Rogers]

Any stainless cutlery blade steel can rust, at least a little. Ay steel high carbon or stainless - will rust most easily when it is in the annealed state. So, the painted part might seem a little weird but rust is normal enough ...

[Doug Lester]

It would be more honest, but less marketable, to call stainless steel stain resistant steel. I have some stainless steel hemostats that I salvaged from work; we throw them away whether they're used or not. You ought to see what aqua regina does to it. A nice russet brown patina. :

Doug Lester

[dmarx]

I recently found a few blades I had made 25 years ago in my basement in a cardboard box. I had marked the tangs with the type of steel. One was mirror polished D2 and another was a brushed (about 600 grit) 154CM. The D2 blade was perfect and the 154CM was covered in rust. I guess Loveless had it right.

[Harry Mathews]

It is called stainless steel not stain proof. It means that it will stain less than something else. The type of finish seems to have a great deal to do with the steels ability to resist rusting. A brushed finish or bead blasted finish on stainless steel will be more likely to rust than a polished finish, everything else being equal. This is supported by the experience that dmarx describes above, and I have noticed it on several of my knives too.

[skipknives]

to my understanding,, the higher the cromieum(spelling) the more it will resist rust.
and the finer the polish or finish,,the smaller the pores are on the surface of the steel,,and it will be harder for rust to take hold of the steel.
BTW,,stainless steel has the highest cromieum parts per million then others.
Skip

[Omega]

thanks guys