All this nonsense about a little rust or staining seems silly to me. The darned things come with coated blades in most cases anyway. Look at one of my favorite kitchen knives, a Russel Green River. So it's a little gray. Its 1095. The new Mountain Man next to it is shiny 52-100 (like SR101).

Now look at the mountain man after slicing pickles, lemons, and God knows what in my kitchen. So it's a little gray now. Who cares?

Now here is a well used Swamp Rat Chopweiler. I used Tuf Cloth on it. I live and use this knife on a salt water marsh. Still nice and shiny. No big deal if it wasn't.