Long ago, when i worked in fast food, I hated the sheila shine that they wanted us to used on non food contact areas for this very reason, simply because it looked shinier at first. It would trap all the dust from the nearby road and adjacent car wash vaccums pulled inside by the ventilation...
Militech-1 might solve your lubrication problem needs. It is not a lubricant, but it reduces surface friction between metal surfaces. Unoffically, Infantrymen love it for their guns as an alternative to no lubrication at all on rifles as it does not attract dust in the desert.
I dont know a darn thing about this subject, (wannabee engineer) so here is a diferent perspective:
Isnt this sort of thing handled perfectly by a flywheel? I know that is rather old school, but If I understand the problem properly, it would have the effect of damping the system through brute...
If you use brass or copper hammer head you get two benefits.
The tools being struck do not mushroom, and the softness of the metal acts as a deadblow, transfering more energy to the struck tool.
I think you should get a second die.
If it were so easy to decontaminate tooling, there would not be so many procedures and reqirements for prevention of conaminating stainless.
Highly reactive metals are often kept imersed to prevent oxidation.
Wax sometimes is used for long term cutlery storage. However, the wax would prevent the blade from slipping smoothly across the skin unless removed first.
Eureka!
How about food grade light mineral Oil. It is usually labled as...
Flounder, You were getting carbide separation.
This method is used in some knife blades. The carbide separation along with the dendritic structure makes for a "toothy" edge when sharpened.
I did search, and came up with the same awnser you did: anneal first...
Take a look at Crucible's Crucible Particle Metalurgy steels. Very high wear resistance in a stainless steel.
CPM90V CPM60V and CPM30V
http://www.crucibleservice.com/datash.cfm
Also Have you looked at the various conventional stainless Cutlery Steels?
Most of these are based on 440C with higher...