Sharp & Pointy Polishing Day

Wipe, Scrub, Wipe, Scrub, Wipe, Scrub, Wipe, Scrub

My WD-40 shpritzing finger got a workout this afternoon...

I'd noticed that a couple of my carbon steel blades had picked up a ruddy patina, the precursor to a nice powdery rust coat.

That leads to pitting quicker than you can say "iron oxide", and that'll eat up steel at an alarming rate.  If you've ever seen a really old blade, those big pits and chunks missing are the result of oxidation slowly eating into the blade, and converting solid steel into rust, then slowly flaking away.

If you stay on top of it, you can keep things sharp & shiny, but all it takes is 6 months in a drawer, and you can pull out a blade that looks like chiggers got to it.

I think I'm going to invest in some beeswax polish.  A nice museum grade polish is supposed to keep the rust at bay for much longer than oil alone.  It's kind of a PITA to apply, but as the average value of my pointy collectibles increases, it's looking like it'll be worth the effort.

I'll try and get some pictures posted.  I need some daylight for that.  Shiny pointy things look better in sunlight.