I'be been thinking about a project for a while: take an uncoated knife and do a salt spray on it and leave it until it pits real deep, then buff it back off, light patina, then resharpen. This finish would sell on an Expat knife.
3.75...I polish the bevels just a bit, hone that beastie an she be Ina mah kitchen. . I'm just a little suspicious of a "totally ruined" tool in what looks like a laboratory clean setting. The video would carry more weight if it was at a workbench, or shown in the processing lean to of a deer camp.
I saw this post on YT and in the ESEE group and chose NOT to comment on it bc I would've had a harder time being diplomatic.... @BackwooodsNomad (Mike Brown) comment on the FB group summed up my thoughts... The rust in this looks chemically accelerated and VERY deep for something that was left sitting "for a few days" in a wet leather sheath... The Vinegar etch that was left overnight is the likely culprit. I left my CR2.5 wet in a kydex sheath for about a week...and it rusted quite badly...I cleaned it up with steel wool and a now it has an awesome patina and nice character...NOTHING NEAR this condition....
I'm gonna go with the wire wheel and then some kind of chemical soak, I experimented with paper towels soaked in etching solution wrapped around an old hickory, only left it on for an hour or so but the pattern from the paper towels was etched into the blade to the point were you could feel it with your fingers, really cool results imo, whish I knew where that knife was right now! I could see an overnight soak doing that kind of damage. Or a wipe with etching solution in an attempt to restore the finish and then not clean off the residue before returning it to the sheath.
Dude should have just taken a plasma cutter and cut it, the warranty would cover that. . He could have just sent the pieces in, taken the all out USMC cussing Mike was going to give him...and gotten a new cleaver to use. ( That's what I'm gonna do when my Izula blade gets worn down to 50%....the fact that it's 10 years old and hardly worn past the factory grind is not very encouraging. )
I bet he still wouldn't have called ESEE, he would have just made a video complaining about how "just 15 minutes with a plasma cutter after soaking overnight it in sulfuric acid, and this thing's a total loss!!"
These two screenshots, especially the first one look suspect. But Ive never allowed my tools to reach this level of neglect. Id hate to see the inside of his guns.
with a YouTube name like "That FLXR Guy", that says it all right there..... flexer..... flexing...... aint nobody flexy like Sexy Flexxy @Flex
There is some seriously suspect doo do going on for sure. I'm not good with the modern tech but I did what BW Nomad did, went to you tube, watched the vid in full screen, freeze and enhance and say"Dude..liar liar pants on fire." I left a Mora in vinegar for 3 days and it don't look like that...left a carbon machete wrapped in brown paper towels soaked in acv for 48 hours clamped between 2 boards...it don't look like that. I've got photos to prove it. I don't know what was used but the intent was nefarious IMHO. I patterned a 52100 steel blade with sulfuric acid once, made it look like Damascus. Even that did not eat grooves in the blade. Whatever this cat is up to, it's tainted...bad.
Well, I use my junglas hard in extremely wet BC rain forest conditions...................Its often put away in the sheath wet. Few whacks thru a branch or firewood round and its good to go. Its a hell of a lot thinner than the Cleaver, so i have no idea why that dude claims his Cleaver is a total loss. If thats a total loss, then my junglas is due to be replaced by Esee. As well, if his cleaver is a "Total Loss", then my Expat Cleaver is also due for a replacement, see as it sat in the bottom of the sink filled with dirty dishes for a month oh wait, i don't grind my knives with a wire wheel mounted to an angle grinder - and thats exactly the scratch pattern thats on his cleaver , caused by one of these: LINK
It looks like the surface of a sand dollar. I don't know how you would manage that, but I don't think vinegar could do it.
6% vinegar will most defiantly cause this kind of etching, I made the mistake of cleaning some rusty mechanics tools using 6% and left them over the weekend and was not happy with the out come. Spots that were rusty etched very deeply compared to clean steel. This guy is a attention whore and a ****wit for ruining a perfectly good cutting instrument and then whining about it.
Happy to say my last knife purchase for 2018 was an Expat Cleaver from Whitty just yesterday evening! Now I’m getting excited because I’m thinking a sticker comes with it