Verdigris problem.

[tom black]

I have a nice old Browning Model 4518 belt knife. Problem is verdigris forms on the guard. It pretty much just wipes off but is there anything I can use to prevent it from forming? Thank you.
Tom

 

[sceva]

Discussed often on the S&W Forum holster section

http://smith-wessonforum.com/gun-leather-carry-gear/467080-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh-verdigris.html?467080=#post138987412

http://smith-wessonforum.com/gun-leather-carry-gear/584229-1917-holster-verdigris-verdi-grease-what.html?584229=#post140350858

 

[powder smoke]

Brasso got to do it ever so often tho. ps

 

[Kevin]

Would some wax take help?

 

[eveled]

Store it outside of the sheath.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I have the same problem with a Schrade folder--Buck 110 style. Brass polish, followed by Johnson's Paste Wax, helps for a while. I've used a couple of different treatments on the leather and assume one of them is causing the problem.

Rick C

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Never heard of it. I have a couple of folders on the nightstand and I sure hope they don't catch it. Are they working on a cure? :mrgreen:

 

[coach]

All I know that when fabricators want to age real copper they use some sort of acidic wash to get the pretty blue/green patina.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Never heard of it. I have a couple of folders on the nightstand and I sure hope they don't catch it. Are they working on a cure? :mrgreen:

Hi,

What they do, Jimbo, is wait until the knife starts showing symptoms. Then they test it. "Yup, that's verdigris, all right" is the report, after a week or two delay. Then they tell you to take the knife home and isolate it from leather for 14 days. Mean time, treat it the best you can. Some cases are worse than others. Mild cases often respond well to brass polish which is approved for such use, and isolation from leather, while more severe cases can cause permanent marking of the metal, though they're seldom "fatal." Verdigris can return, so any immunity the knife has developed is apparently very short lived. There is no cure currently, nor a vaccine, though authorities who know little or nothing about vaccine development promise one in the next few weeks before baseball season really gets going.

Be sure to wash your hands a lot, too, if you think you've been exposed to a contagious blade. Verdigris can get on your skin and turn it green.

Right now, the best thing to do seems to be to stay inside, put away all knives with any metal in them (even though verdigris hits the cupric community disproportionately, we don't want to appear discriminatory) and use plastic cutlery, for everything.

Rick C

 

[blume357]

Could just be something those crazy 'upper class men' came up with but a long time ago when I was attending a fortress by the sea we would do the final polish on brass with a toothpaste that contained fluoride and they claimed the fluoride would retard the tarnish.

I polished a lot of brass as well as leather.... one of the few things I actually learned my first year of college... that and how to jump out of helicopters and eat.... (if I finish that statement it will insult/upset many here)

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Never heard of it. I have a couple of folders on the nightstand and I sure hope they don't catch it. Are they working on a cure? :mrgreen:

Hi,

What they do, Jimbo, is wait until the knife starts showing symptoms. Then they test it. "Yup, that's verdigris, all right" is the report, after a week or two delay. Then they tell you to take the knife home and isolate it from leather for 14 days. Mean time, treat it the best you can. Some cases are worse than others. Mild cases often respond well to brass polish which is approved for such use, and isolation from leather, while more severe cases can cause permanent marking of the metal, though they're seldom "fatal." Verdigris can return, so any immunity the knife has developed is apparently very short lived. There is no cure currently, nor a vaccine, though authorities who know little or nothing about vaccine development promise one in the next few weeks before baseball season really gets going.

Be sure to wash your hands a lot, too, if you think you've been exposed to a contagious blade. Verdigris can get on your skin and turn it green.

Right now, the best thing to do seems to be to stay inside, put away all knives with any metal in them (even though verdigris hits the cupric community disproportionately, we don't want to appear discriminatory) and use plastic cutlery, for everything.

Rick C

Now that is funny. Thanks, now I know. :mrgreen: