Besides H1, 420 & 440A, which is the most resistant to sea water corrosion

[BillL]

Hi,

I am referring to the usual "good" steel like 440C, 154CM, A2, D2, S30V, BG42, INFI, 52100, 12C27, AUS8, AUS10, VG10, etc. Which of these steel is the most resistant to sea water corrosion.

Thanks

 

[yoda4561]

Well, knock 52100 off that list, it's not stainless... it's not even "kind of" stainless. A2 is sort of in the same category, and D2 barely qualifies. I think out of that list 440C would be tops..

 

[BillL]

Hi Yoda4561,

I have seen on many postings that 440A is much more stain resistant than 440B and 440C in that order, with 440A containing the least Carbon and 440C the most Carbon.

Also many equate

440A to AUS6
440b to AUS8 and
440C to AUS10

From this can I say that AUS8 is more resistant to sea water corrosion than 440C?

Thanks.

 

[Knifeclerk]

CRKT has a new steel out. 1.4116 or something like that. Very very very very very very shiny.
http://www.crkt.com/sighunters.html
Not sure what else they make with that.
Seriously, I look at these at work and they resemble hollow ground mirrors.

 

[Jeff Clark]

You can eliminate the nonstainless steels:
A2, D2,52100, and INFI (though INFI does have pretty good stain resistance).

Next you can eliminate simple really high carbon stainless:
440C, 154CM, AUS10 (and probably AUS8)

I have hopes that some of the wonder stainlesses would do pretty well:
VG10 because it has cobalt in the mix
S30V because of the well blended constituents
BG42 because it is pure and so far it works for me

The normal way to get corrosion resistance is to have a high purity alloy with a lot of chrome and only a modest amount of carbon. So your number one bets are probably:
12C27: pure and modest carbon content
420HC: similar
AUS6: much the same
AUS4: even less carbon
440A: lots of chrome and modest carbon

You'll note that these are not high performance alloys. 420J2 is pretty corrosion resistant for that matter.

 

[robertmegar]

Missing from the list is X-15, very stainless.

 

[yoda4561]

I'm basically judging 440c off of all the stellar reports of rust resistance out there, maybe it's due to most custom 440c blades being mirror polished. I've had satin finished aus-8 develop light rust spotting and pitting before, as well as ATS-34, so I didn't even consider those out of your list. For some reason I missed12c27 on your list, I think of it as a really super-high grade 440a, so it would be my first pick.

I know I'm gonna sound like a nut when I say this, but even though Infi is less rust resistant than some stainless steels I like the way it rusts better. It just forms a light orange dust-like rust that comes off with a pass on a strop or just a wipedown with an oily rag. I've never had it pit on me, so for that it gets a bit + in my book.