What do you do for a living, darkaether? The reason I ask is, unless you're a full-time knifesmith with over 15 years of experience, I'm going to trust what my knifesmith told me. Keep in mind that I had already made arrangements with him to have my DMDC refinished and resharpened BEFORE he pointed out the corrosion. He had absolutely nothing to gain by doing that. He also had one crucial advantage over you in forming his professional opinion. He saw my knife and you didn't.
In discussing the corrosion issue with me, my knifesmith repeated something that has been stated in this and other forums. Bead blasting introduces microscopic pits in the surface of the blade that act to trap moisture. That's normally not a problem with knives constructed of stainless steel. But it can be a problem with non-stainless knives. And if my knifesmith is to be believed, it WAS a problem with mine.
I have a BS in chemistry, [censored] laude, from Va Tech, and a few years of research in synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry. Now I work in management in LTL trucking so I see a lot more rust than most people, and how little it affects performance.
I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to reconseed's 5 or 6 posts "I'm so worried" "Now I'm worried" Maybe "superficial" would have been a better word choice than "cosmetic" But I will say if he "fixed it" for $20, it isn't something I'd worry about, and I doubt he was worried about it either. I'm not saying anything against your knifemaker either. Cosmetic issues are extremely important to knife makers.
And just to clarify when I say "superficial" I mean "on the surface" Not derogatory either, which sounds like that's the same thing he said. It was a cosmetic problem, very easy to fix, not affecting performance, hence "nothing to worry about"
Unless you want recon to worry some more <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/loopy.gif" alt="" />
