Stop Touching My Blade!
- Thread starter CWL
- Start date
- Status
Cosmoline
Member
I know I'm a barbarian, but what is it about touching the steel that worries you guys? The oils aren't going to do anything. Salt from sweat might, but I've never seen it damage my own high carbon blades. Any trace amounts of salt can be wiped off. It just seems odd to me to worry about skin oil when you'll be sticking the thing into the steaming guts of a large animal if you get lucky.
Cosmo,
I trained for years in a Japanese system. It is uncouth to touch Japanese blades, and can be very damaging to an extremely expensive blade.
No, it probably won't hurt most modern blades, but I fortunately retain a little courtesy. If folks want to touch their own blades, that's up to them.
John
I trained for years in a Japanese system. It is uncouth to touch Japanese blades, and can be very damaging to an extremely expensive blade.
No, it probably won't hurt most modern blades, but I fortunately retain a little courtesy. If folks want to touch their own blades, that's up to them.
John
For me, I think it comes down to educating the other guy. If I already know he's a knife aficionado and understands the care put into a properly sharpened knife, then fine.
There are ways to check blade sharpness: the hanging hair test, thumbnail test, wet thumb test, etc. If someone is savvy enough to know these tests then I'm pretty comfortable letting them handle my blades and I'm not that concerned with their finger oil.
But if I hand the blade to someone and then he starts waving it in the air then grabs the nearest chunk of cardboard or scrap paper and carving out wavy shapes, then my temper goes to red-line. So I've learned to be careful.
A bit of brief conversation about sharpening prior to the blade handover and I know all I need to know. If he's new, he gets a decoy at first plus a short lesson from me (provided in the best possible spirit and attitude). If he passes the test, he gets to see my real toys.
The older I get, the less social I am, so it's not a real common occurence these days anyway.
There are ways to check blade sharpness: the hanging hair test, thumbnail test, wet thumb test, etc. If someone is savvy enough to know these tests then I'm pretty comfortable letting them handle my blades and I'm not that concerned with their finger oil.
But if I hand the blade to someone and then he starts waving it in the air then grabs the nearest chunk of cardboard or scrap paper and carving out wavy shapes, then my temper goes to red-line. So I've learned to be careful.
A bit of brief conversation about sharpening prior to the blade handover and I know all I need to know. If he's new, he gets a decoy at first plus a short lesson from me (provided in the best possible spirit and attitude). If he passes the test, he gets to see my real toys.
The older I get, the less social I am, so it's not a real common occurence these days anyway.
Cosmoline
Member
It's uncouth to chew with your mouth open or look people in the eye in Japan. It's uncouth to wear your shoes inside or fail to bow lower than your superior. It's extremely uncouth to fail to be Japanese. They're have a very odd culture with a thousand little rules, most of which make little sense. So I don't place any faith in their rules about touching the sacred katana blades.
My question is, how can fingers actually damage the blade? What could possibly be on a finger that's going to damage a well kept blade?
I can see being retentive about genunine antique swords, and just as with very old books or relics you should handle them with gloves and extreme care. But a working blade? Do you have the same rules about blued firearms?
Cosmo, fingerprints can damage Japanese swords. While you are entirely correct about all the little mores and folk-ways of the Janapanese, just because you don't get it about their blades doesn't mean it's not true. Even if I don't respect a person, I'll always respect a good tool, so I take pains to treat them (the tool) correctly.
I get annoyed when folks get fingerprints all over my firearms, too. If I handle a firearm in a gun shop or at a show, and leave a fingerprint, I'll wipe it off before I hand the weapon back.
I don't wear gloves if I handle a sword, I just don't touch the damned blade- just like I always grab a scabbard on a sword on the spine side, if it's single-edged.
John
I get annoyed when folks get fingerprints all over my firearms, too. If I handle a firearm in a gun shop or at a show, and leave a fingerprint, I'll wipe it off before I hand the weapon back.
I don't wear gloves if I handle a sword, I just don't touch the damned blade- just like I always grab a scabbard on a sword on the spine side, if it's single-edged.
John
No. You can get it in a $8 opinel too. Carbon steel is basic steel. Stainless is carbon with chromium and other stuff added to it. CS isn't expensive. The really high end knife steels are things like ZDP-189, s30v, or busse's infi that try to mix the best qualities of tough carbon and corrosion resistant stainless. And they are expensive.
Ugh. My Morpho 32 has an uncoated, non-stainless steel blade. It fingerprints like an SOB and will corrode where it gets finger oil on it.
I tell people as much, and they still monkey with the blade.
My solution was to sharpen the ever-loving bejesus out of the thing to the point where nine out of ten people who "edge test" it cut themselves. Word gets around, and now they don't do it to my knife anymore.
I wipe off fingerprints from other people's knives and firearms before I hand them back, too. I've gotten a lot of funny looks about that. I go so far as to not even use my shirt if I can help it. If I know I'm going to be looking at pretties I bring a microfiber glasses cleaning cloth, same one I use on my own guns.
I tell people as much, and they still monkey with the blade.
My solution was to sharpen the ever-loving bejesus out of the thing to the point where nine out of ten people who "edge test" it cut themselves. Word gets around, and now they don't do it to my knife anymore.
I wipe off fingerprints from other people's knives and firearms before I hand them back, too. I've gotten a lot of funny looks about that. I go so far as to not even use my shirt if I can help it. If I know I'm going to be looking at pretties I bring a microfiber glasses cleaning cloth, same one I use on my own guns.
Cosmoline
Member
So you say, but where's the proof? I've seen many badly abused carbon blades, but I've never seen rusty fingerprints. And even if it is possible, won't a simple wipe down with an oil rag fix the problem? If so, just give the person a rag to wipe it down if they're touching the blade. Easy fix.
It's not a question of getting it. I demand proof. Otherwise this is just a lot of retentive hot air, like guys not wanting people stepping on their lawn grass or touching their autos. Any salt residue from fingers (which would be the damaging part) can be dealt with by an oil rag.
This notion of never touching the blade is beyond bizarre. How can you operate with a tool having never even made contact with the steel of the thing? It reminds me of the Japanese soldiers being instructed never to let their Arisakas touch any dirt because they belonged to the Emporer. Don't they also have strict rules about never stepping over a katana or touching the scabbard? I see no good reason to import such freakish rules to America, where our blades have always been hard-working tools for slicing meat or sticking in the guts of beasts to take their hide off. My Puukko has sliced half-rotted dog salmon in pieces and if I get the time it will be cutting around the sphincter of a moose or caribou. How the heck am I even supposed to clean it if I can't touch it? And what germs are my hands going to bring that a spawned out dog salmon didn't already contribute?
I get worked up about this because it seems to be yet another example of Americans getting more effete and sensitive. Instead of working with blades as tools, we get all bent out of shape and lose sleep over someone touching the steel.
JTW Jr.
Member
all my knives get handled , I dont worry about finger prints , they get wiped off after use , well sometime before the end of the day anyways. I have one knife that drives me nuts trying to keep the blade print free and that is a lil Case whittler , where the blade is polished. Usually I don't worry about it , if others handle my blades and get prints , smears or smudges on it , so be it , i buy mine to use , not to look at . For some who collect then I can see worrying about the blade and prints , oils , sweats , etc. I have seen some friends who carry S30v bladed folders and the blades develop rust from their sweat so yes it can happen, usually over time.
Wipe em down occasionally if you use em , if you collect em be prepared to wipe em down often if handled alot.
Wipe em down occasionally if you use em , if you collect em be prepared to wipe em down often if handled alot.
Cosmo,
A buddy of mine, and a member here, was in the knife industry for years. He's one of those folks that can leave a rust fingerprint on knives. I've seen a blade that he touched show traces of his fingerprint as rust in less than an hour if it wasn't carfully wiped down with a cleaning cloth and then rewiped with a protectant. Crazy but true.
Now I'm not one of those folks. I can pick up a blade and as long as it gets wiped down with a dry clean cloth within an hour you'll not find a rusty finger print matching my little pinkies.
Since I don't leave prints but I personally know someone that has left prints on knives I don't assume that everyone is like me nor do I assume everyone is like my buddy the Rust Monster. I know that someone can and as such I don't want people putting their hands on the steel.
Is that proof enough?
A buddy of mine, and a member here, was in the knife industry for years. He's one of those folks that can leave a rust fingerprint on knives. I've seen a blade that he touched show traces of his fingerprint as rust in less than an hour if it wasn't carfully wiped down with a cleaning cloth and then rewiped with a protectant. Crazy but true.
Now I'm not one of those folks. I can pick up a blade and as long as it gets wiped down with a dry clean cloth within an hour you'll not find a rusty finger print matching my little pinkies.
Since I don't leave prints but I personally know someone that has left prints on knives I don't assume that everyone is like me nor do I assume everyone is like my buddy the Rust Monster. I know that someone can and as such I don't want people putting their hands on the steel.
Is that proof enough?
ClarkEMyers
Member
Cuts both ways - a patina on a using knife isn't a bad thing.
Cuts both ways - a patina on a using knife isn't a bad thing. Sort of like putting a 1911 in and out of a holster thousands of times. On the other hand cocking a fancy Single Action Army is a bad thing. I suppose my own rule of thumb is that if it comes out of a zipper case be more careful than if it came out of a belt sheath.
Did everybody wince at the scene in Kill Bill 2 when the woman failed to wipe the blood before sheathing her blade?
My own knives mostly have a patina or will soon enough
Cuts both ways - a patina on a using knife isn't a bad thing. Sort of like putting a 1911 in and out of a holster thousands of times. On the other hand cocking a fancy Single Action Army is a bad thing. I suppose my own rule of thumb is that if it comes out of a zipper case be more careful than if it came out of a belt sheath.
Did everybody wince at the scene in Kill Bill 2 when the woman failed to wipe the blood before sheathing her blade?
My own knives mostly have a patina or will soon enough
I winced all the way through KB and KBII (all 4 times I watched them).
Cosmoline
Member
I'm going to get the Mythbusters on this one 
Cosmoline
Member
Can you post a pic of that bayonet?
rtrwv
Member
Segregation
Their fingers stay with them, my knives stay with me!
Their fingers stay with them, my knives stay with me!
.
It doesn't bother me at all when people touch the blades of my knives.
I wipe them clean before putting them away.
I also don't think the carbon blades being touched is a big deal. Just
keep a very thin sheen of oil on it and it will be fine.
Seriously, if you're that worried about your knives, imo, either
1. Sell them
2. Don't take the vault queens out in the first place
It doesn't bother me at all when people touch the blades of my knives.
I wipe them clean before putting them away.
I also don't think the carbon blades being touched is a big deal. Just
keep a very thin sheen of oil on it and it will be fine.
Seriously, if you're that worried about your knives, imo, either
1. Sell them
2. Don't take the vault queens out in the first place
That isn't accurate for all folks. Again, I've got a buddy that will print nearly anything if you don't clean and preserve (oil, Ren Wax, Tuff Cloth) the blade after he gets his mitts on it. He's amazing. I wonder what his electrolyte levels are like his skin is so corrosive??? So I wipe everything down and then run a Tuff Cloth over it if anyone has handled any of my knives on the off chance they're a long lost cousin of my buddy.
Cosmoline
Member
OK, you've convinced me. The next time someone hands me a blade, I won't touch it. I'll lick it! That will make me popular.
Oooooo, tongue blood! BTDT
Guns_and_Labs
Member
If I like and trust them enough to let them handle my "good" knives, I figure they deserve to handle my tuffcloth too. But I'm still trying to figure out how you test for burrs and imperfections without touching the blade.
You should be able to see them under a strong light, but lacking that you can use the edge of the thumbnail to feel for them. Just keep it off the meaty bits.
It wasn't that long ago when a man knew not to borrow another man's ax. It was rude and offensive to borrow another man's tool. This was common courtesy and respect you paid to another person and his property.
Nowadays, most people no longer understand the meaning of respect. If you pay someone the courtesy of showing your knife, that person should ask before handling the blade or edge.
Nowadays, most people no longer understand the meaning of respect. If you pay someone the courtesy of showing your knife, that person should ask before handling the blade or edge.
Cosmoline
Member
Here's another issue. I was taught to hand the knife over WHILE HOLDING the blade, and to say "thank you" when taking it. IIRC that's in the Boy Scout manual.
- Status
