I recently picked up a knife made of A2 tool steel. First and only time I used it (sliced up an apple) the blade got stained even tho I wiped the blade down after use. How do I go about cleaning the stain off the steel and prevent the steel from staining again?
Thanks
Any of the high carbon steels will stain when you use 'em to cut fruit and flesh. Just the nature of the beast.
You can clean those oxides off with a little metal polishing paste. I use Flitz, but semichrome works well too. Flitz leaves a protective film on the steel that'll help protect it against staining... until it wears off.
I like the stains. To me it looks good when the whole blade gets like that.