Chrome Vanadium lost cause?

[JBW1]

I have a CASE stockman and two of the blades are CV, the other is stainless. Is there anyway to get the shine back to the CV blades?? I cut a orange or something awhile back and immediately the blade changed color!!!

[David]

Not that I know of. Unless you can buff them out. Personally I like the look of the patina blades.

[dks]

As said, you just have to polish them, with some mildly abrassive polisher like brasso, so as to remove the outer layer, without scratching the blade.

However, next time you cut/touch anything acidic they will go dark again.

So, you can try coating the blade with a protective material like oil, tuff, etc, though this may mean that you can not use them to cut food.

I would suggest that you get the same knife in full SS.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Yeah like the guys have already said, CV will always react to food acid, moisture ect, so you maybe better of going the stainless route for hygiene reasons

A patina does look very cool though :cool:

Sent from the astropathic choir.

[JBW1]

Well it has sentimental value, and the blades sharpen up nice! So if left it the way it is , Its not going to get worse? I like the way it looks too, but didn't know if I need to stop it from getting worse. Thanks guys 

[AimlessWanderer]

Well it has sentimental value, and the blades sharpen up nice! So if left it the way it is , Its not going to get worse? I like the way it looks too, but didn't know if I need to stop it from getting worse. Thanks guys 

I think you're mistaking worse for better    The patina will continue to develop with use and will better and better for it all the time. You will need to look after it to make sure it doesn't rust though - keep it clean and oiled. If you use it for food chores make sure you use a food safe oil - but as a general use pocket knife if will sharpen easier and hold an edge longer than most budget stainlesses.

[cbl51]

Well it has sentimental value, and the blades sharpen up nice! So if left it the way it is , Its not going to get worse? I like the way it looks too, but didn't know if I need to stop it from getting worse. Thanks guys 

I think you're mistaking worse for better    The patina will continue to develop with use and will better and better for it all the time. You will need to look after it to make sure it doesn't rust though - keep it clean and oiled. If you use it for food chores make sure you use a food safe oil - but as a general use pocket knife if will sharpen easier and hold an edge longer than most budget stainlesses.

This!^^^

Carbon steel has been around for about two thousand years now, and it has a very good history of being a good material for a cutting tool. Stainless on the other hand only go's back about a century, and for the first third of that at least, it was junk compared to the tried and true carbon steel. It was bad enough that the men of my fathers generation, the great depression era, had a lifelong dislike of it. But by the end of WW2, they really did figure out how to make it good. By the 1960's it was becoming the standard blade steel. Buck made it big with the famed 110 that became the most carried knife of the late 20th century. Now in the second decade of the 21st century, there are whole generations of young men buying knives that have never had a carbon steel blade before. And they are a bit different. Just like learning to drive on a stick shift is a dying thing.

If you just wipe off the carbon blade after use, it will not rust. But…it will continue to develop a patina the more you use it. It will darken and there will be subtle changes in the patina from use to use. But don't worry, that darkening patina is like the blue on a gun, it's a layer of oxidization that will actually put a layer of protection on the steel.

Living in Maryland by the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac river, I spend a lot of time on small boats in a salt water environment. I carry a carbon steel bladed kife as I really prefer them for general use. They darken, but when I get home at night, I just wipe it down with a dry clean bandana. That's it.

Look at this way; the old Roman Legionnaires and the Medieval knights traipsing across Europe and the mideast to fight in the holy lands, not to mention the Vikings in open boats sailing across the North Atlantic to Greenland, all carried their sword and axes with them, and they kept them from rusting. A little wipe down, maybe some kind of oil on a rag, and they were fine. Case CV is some good stuff, just give it some care and don't worry about a little staining. That's normal.

This Northwoods stockman has been used on the boat, and fishing on the bay. It has some gray patina and a little splotchy staining, but  that does not affect anything. Cuts like a champ.

[jerseydevil]

Nothing wrong with patina at all.  Gives a knife some character.    Personally I love Case CV, my favorite slippies use that steel.  Patina makes them unique.  Just an occasional wipe with a bit of mineral oil to prevent rusting and you're good to go. 

[JBW1]

Heres my CV case, with SS 'scalpel'?

[jerseydevil]

   That's an odd one, never seen that before......

[JBW1]

Really? Its only 6 years old but carried just about every one of those days. Got it when my daughter was born

[jerseydevil]

Yep that's a 2008 tang stamp, but I've never heard of a knife having both CV and SS blades on it, and that marking on the spey blade is unusual as well.  Can you post a pic of the other side of the tang?  That will have the model #, along with some letters most likely.  That can help narrow it down some.

[JBW1]

I'm remembering I ordered it from smkw, liked the yellow handles, reminded me of my Gramps. And I thought the CV sounded like a good choice because of the reputation of edge retention? But when it changed colors I freaked out and thought id messed up, but I do like the way it looks, and has been a real trooper. I just was worried it would become unusable if it was rusted really bad

Tang says, USA 3318