Captain's term is "Pickled Randall's", and IMO is by far the coolest term I have heard for a blade getting the vinegar treatment to retard rust.

Here is mine. Some have seen it before but here it is again with a little companion....



Lets see them!

By "retard rust" do you mean remove rust or somehow prevent it from appearing on the blade?

I have taken some old Snap-on and Craftsman tools and soaked them in vinegar to remove 2 decades of rust so I'm familiar with removing rust with vinegar but I've never heard of using it as a rust preventer--is that what you meant?

BTW-nice Springfield!

Good question Hemingway -- does pickling actually prevent rust? No doubt that it looks GREAT, but are there real benefits to it?

Regardless, how best to pickle? Vinegar, lemon juice, The Captain's method?

John

I believe that pickling retards rust, just as I said earlier. Using my knives that have been "pickled" require little to no work to keep them almost exactly the same way they come out of the pickle jar.
Best, Capt. Chris

Beacause it is a acid,does this pickling affect the solder of the hilt to the blade? oldguy

Not that I've ever noticed, but when I pickle I only cover the blade itself.
Capt. Chris

The acid in the vinegar/pickling juice forms a patina or coating over the steel that further prevents corrosion. I have only done this with one Randall (above) and it has had no adverse effects on the solder joint. I have done it on numerous Bark River knives, a Dave Beck WSK and a few other customs and highly recomend it for a carbon steel user.

My experiences with vinegar or pickling juice are very good. It produces a very thin but quite durable layer that protects the blade.

Besides my #5-5 I've "pickled a couple of slippies with very good results as well.

Thanks for the info, guys. I've seen vinegar clean up something that was almost unrecognizably covered in rust, but I didn't know of its preventative properties.