What kind of steel is this?

[dbe4876]

Found this folding knife and thought I would clean it up. Using some 220 grit on hand sander, and I start seeing the metal turn pinkish. Is this just a cheap quality stainless steel? Or, maybe not stainless at all, something else? Thx

[Bill DeShivs]

The handle is made of zinc.
It's then copper plated as an undercoat for either nickel or chrome plating. You have abraded the plating down to the copper.
Stop while you are ahead.

[Mumbleypeg]

Good advice from Bill. If you want to “clean up” knives, rather than using aggressive abrasives like sandpaper, try pencil “lead” (graphite), and a paste cleaner like Semichrome, Flitz, Mother’s Mag, or similar. Those are mild abrasives, harder than most dirt and corrosion but softer than steel. They will typically remove dirt and oxidation without damage to metals. Sandpaper regardless of grit contains abrasives (aluminum oxide or silicon carbide) that are harder than steel and most metals.

Based on this and your prior posts your approach to cleaning seems mostly “bull in a China shop”. Recommend putting away the sandpaper, and some reading and study on the topic to prevent damaging your knives. Here’s a link to some posts giving members’ tried and true techniques. Hope this helps viewtopic.php?f=37&t=54157

Ken

[dbe4876]

Okay, good advice. I found this post by Scott to be very helpful in that is actually has "how to" information.

[Mumbleypeg]

Okay, good advice. I found this post by Scott to be very helpful in that is actually has "how to" information.

Most knives simply need his "15 minute knife clean/polish" which entails no sandpaper, and no power tools.


Ken