Rust Pits

[Mark in PA]

Just curious. Has anybody ever had any success in trying to fill in rust pits on a blade? Be curious what kind of success or failure you may have had. Any success in getting the filler material to match the blade color?

[Gunsil]

I don't believe there is any way to "fill in pits". At least none that would not look worse than the pits.

[Bill DeShivs]

Impossible, practically.
All you can do is remove the material so that the pits are ground away.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I agree, there is no way to fill rust pits. Only remove metal around them to make them "go away". Is the knife as bad as this KABAR folding hunter that I picked up at a flea market for $1 because the seller thought it was useless junk? I rehandled it with rosewood and it is one of my favorite folding hunters to carry and use. The pits have no effect on performance.

[herbva]

No way to fill them in that I am aware of. I have had moderate success, mostly on thicker blades, with milling the blade down until the pits are gone, or nearly gone, then sanding with progressively finer grit, then polishing. Of course, you run the risk of changing the profile of the blade and any patina is obviously destroyed. Not a "perfect" solution.

[dlr110]

Here is a cleaver that I've been trying to clean up. That blade had more rust and pitting than fleas on a hound dog and all I knew to do was start with a sonic bath, then an eraser and then to the sander with progressively higher grit. I finished with a 7K grit on the Dremel and then some polish. The surface of the blade is still not smooth but that would have required too much metal removed. I then put on a new wood handle. I probably did everything wrong on this one but it's not as if I'm going to be cutting up steaks for dinner tonight with it. That's my story and I'm sticking with it....
BEFORE

20250419_101450.jpg (22.43 KiB) Viewed 532 times

AFTER

20250429_123404.jpg (11.57 KiB) Viewed 532 times

[glennbad]

Here is a cleaver that I've been trying to clean up. That blade had more rust and pitting than fleas on a hound dog and all I knew to do was start with a sonic bath, then an eraser and then to the sander with progressively higher grit. I finished with a 7K grit on the Dremel and then some polish. The surface of the blade is still not smooth but that would have required too much metal removed. I then put on a new wood handle. I probably did everything wrong on this one but it's not as if I'm going to be cutting up steaks for dinner tonight with it. That's my story and I'm sticking with it....
BEFORE
20250419_101450.jpg
AFTER
20250429_123404.jpg

Looks pretty nice from here!

[orvet]

[doglegg]

Great work.