Strange rust pattern on Irwin chisel

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

I was going thru an box of chisels I had to see if they needed sharpening. Some of the Irwin chisels had a strange rust pattern, et almost look like they are damasc forged, but it is rust. I guess it means that they are of low quality steel ?

330219

[Bill White]

Well that's a new wrinkle. The smart a$$ in me wanted to say that you have spalted steel.
Bill

[Brian AdamsMS]

My guess is the original lacquer put on at the factory to prevent rust has aged and cracked in the pattern allowing corrosion to enter? What does the flattened side look like?

[Jim Koepke]

I guess it means that they are of low quality steel ?

High quality steel can rust.

Stainless steel may not rust, but it doesn't make good chisels.

jtk

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

High quality steel can rust.

Stainless steel may not rust, but it doesn't make good chisels.

jtk

Howcome is that ? Stainless make good knifes

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

My guess is the original lacquer put on at the factory to prevent rust has aged and cracked in the pattern allowing corrosion to enter? What does the flattened side look like?

NO!! Im sure it is like Bill says. Spalted steel. I will put up on Ebay soon and get rich :D

You are probably right about the layer of laquer :p

[Jim Koepke]

Howcome is that ? Stainless make good knifes

I thought stainless was softer than most blade steels. I may be wrong since now that you mention it most of my kitchen knives are stainless. It used to be they were all carbon steel 40 years ago. It seems my kitchen knives and pocket knives made of stainless steel do not get as sharp or hold the edge as long as some of my other blades.

jtk

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

I thought stainless was softer than most blade steels. I may be wrong since now that you mention it most of my kitchen knives are stainless. It used to be they were all carbon steel 40 years ago. It seems my kitchen knives and pocket knives made of stainless steel do not get as sharp or hold the edge as long as some of my other blades.

jtk

I think there has been a big devolpment in stainless steels the last decade or two. RWL 34 and 3G steels are powdermetal, stainless and very hard 60-63 Rockwell, but perhaps they chip too easy for chisels ?

[Kees Heiden]

PMV-11 is a stainless steel, and I hear quite a few positive comments about it...

D2 is almost stainless.

[david charlesworth]

As previously stated, lacquer breaking down to cause that interesting rust pattern.

You can get rid of it with cellulose thinners and wire wool.

David Charlesworth.

[Patrick Chase]

Howcome is that ? Stainless make good knifes

Knives actually don't need terribly sharp edges to do their job. That's why a lot of sources only recommend honing them to #1000 or so - the "toothiness" from medium stones (or from voids left behind by chipped-out Chromium carbides) are a feature in a knife.

With that said, PM stainless makes perfectly good chisels. Just ask LV/Veritas [donning asbestos suit].

[Patrick Chase]

PMV-11 is a stainless steel, and I hear quite a few positive comments about it...

D2 is almost stainless.

PM-V11 is a powdered metal stainless, which mitigates the usual drawback of coarse structure with large Chromium carbides. I like my PM-V11 chisels very much.

For reasons outlined in another thread I'm not such a fan of non-PM D2 for edge tools, unless it's in something that doesn't need to be very sharp, for example those Ray Iles pigstickers at TFWW.

[Allan Speers]

PM-V11 is a powdered metal stainless, which mitigates the usual drawback of coarse structure with large Chromium carbides. I like my PM-V11 chisels very much.

For reasons outlined in another thread I'm not such a fan of non-PM D2 for edge tools, unless it's in something that doesn't need to be very sharp, for example those Ray Iles pigstickers at TFWW.


The old addage is: "D2 takes a lousy edge, and holds it forever!"

[Patrick Chase]

The old addage is: "D2 takes a lousy edge, and holds it forever!"

Yep, though it depends on bevel angles and sharpening media.

In my experience you can get decent edges out of steels like D2 by using high secondary bevels and diamond paste or lapping film. The general idea is that the high angle gives better support to the carbides making them harder to dislodge, and diamond abrasives can actually sharpen those carbides instead of just eroding the metal around them until they fall out.

For that matter my HAP-40 (PM M4 HSS) chisels take a noticeably keener edge on diamond than on waterstones - PM helps a lot but isn't a panacea...