Cheap stainless swimming in the Gulf Of Mexico

JC972

JC972

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Mar 17, 2015
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For the last 7 days I was with the my kids, my girlfriend, her two kids, and her granddaughter at Panama City Beach for a long overdue vacation. Before leaving home I grabbed a cheapie folder specifically for swimming and beach use. I had planned on ordering a Spyderco Salt knife just for this trip because I never ever go anywhere without a knife. Or a few!

I messed around and didn’t buy a Salt in time before leaving and I grabbed a cheap folder out of the knife pile. As a side note, I didn’t want to risk losing a pretty expensive knife in the water and if I lost this one I wouldn’t be real upset. Luckily it has a very strong pocket clip that held onto the pocket of my swimming trunks superbly. It went deep sea fishing with me and my kids but I didn’t need to use it on that adventure. I had my Delica with me as well but wanted to take the S&W along for this ad hoc experiment.

7 days of swimming in the Gulf for 3-6 hours each day AND swimming in the pools at the condo and getting full of sand playing on the beach with the kids and it’s no worse for wear. To put it in perspective, it’s aluminum handles, stainless blade and liner lock, stainless clip, and Teflon washers. All it says on the blade is “Smith&Wesson Extreme Ops” and on the other side it says “China”. No clue what kind of stainless it is.

The only care it received after salt exposure was that I rinsed it off in the sink and shook it dry before leaving it wet on the bathroom sink before I showered and went out to enjoy the evenings with either my Delica or my Kershaw Launch 1 clipped to my pocket. No oil. Nothing. Early this morning I tossed it in the gun bag and put it in the truck for the drive back to Tennessee.

I’m pleased to report that after all that salt water and pool water exposure it only had a couple surface rust spots on it and upon arriving home I sprayed some WD40 on it and the rust wiped right off with a paper towel. There was two spots that didn’t wipe off and I left it dripping with WD40 on the kitchen counter just to take that rust off.

Some of y’all might remember that that’s the same model of knife I posted about 4 years ago using it as a deputy sheriff one fateful day. This isn’t the same one but an identical one I found for sale at a truck stop in Arizona the first summer I was driving trucks. I seen it and noticed it was identical to the special one and picked it up just because. I’d never carried it until this past week.

I’d expected much more rust from all the salt water and chlorine in the pools but I’m surprised at the metallurgy of it. I honestly expected an unusable pile of rust by the time we got home.

Here’s my question, in your experience does the high quality knives (spyderco, benchmade, Kershaw, Emerson, Buck, etc.) stand up to salt and chlorine better than cheap ones like this? I know the spyderco salt series is made for this but I’m curious about the others. I’m sure the exact steel type comes into play but how much?

I usually edc VG10, AUS8, 440C, 154CM and just recently S30V and wonder if they’re that corrosion resistant? What are your experiences
 
VG10 and S30V have not been as rust resistant as AUS8 and 440C/420HC in my experience.
Usually, at the lower end, as I understand it, higher chromium content does a great job at preventing rust forming but usually means a poorer edge/poorer edge retention.

I know the H1 steel is effective at almost being 'rust proof' but carries the same caveats - poorer edge and retention of it - which is why I went with a serrated Pacific Salt.

Seems like you have found a knife you like, with qualities you like. And had a good holiday.
 
JC972 said:
Here’s my question, in your experience does the high quality knives (spyderco, benchmade, Kershaw, Emerson, Buck, etc.) stand up to salt and chlorine better than cheap ones like this? I know the spyderco salt series is made for this but I’m curious about the others. I’m sure the exact steel type comes into play but how much?

I usually edc VG10, AUS8, 440C, 154CM and just recently S30V and wonder if they’re that corrosion resistant? What are your experiences
Click to expand...

The S&W is likely 440A or 420HC. Both alloys have less carbon than 440C, VG10, 154CM, and AUS8 etc.
Rule of thumb is that steels with lower carbon content are more corrosion resistant than steels with higher carbon contents.
 
JC972 said:
7 days of swimming in the Gulf for 3-6 hours each day AND swimming in the pools at the condo and getting full of sand playing on the beach with the kids and it’s no worse for wear. To put it in perspective, it’s aluminum handles, stainless blade and liner lock, stainless clip, and Teflon washers. All it says on the blade is “Smith&Wesson Extreme Ops” and on the other side it says “China”. No clue what kind of stainless it is.
Click to expand...
The Smith & Wesson Extreme Ops model SWA25 is described as 7Cr17MoV stainless.
 
From the Big River site ad for a blade of that name: "Blade Is Made Of Reliable 7Cr17Mov Black Oxide High Carbon Stainless Steel With A Black, Aluminum Handle." That said, I'm sure it's likely knarfeng's information is useful too, as who knows what steel(s) S&W may have switched from.

That said, my pair of saltwater knives from a long time ago were a Cold Steel Medium Voyager, clip point, in AUS-8. The other was a Benchmade version of Emerson's CQ7, in black-coated ATS-34 steel (not sure what they were using for coatings back then). The care they received in and out of the ocean and sand was just as you described. Haven't seen any rust on either one all these years later, both of them still in occasional use.

My Buck 105, in Bos 420HC, has discolored a bit in some spots, but hasn't rusted. My Spyderco Tenacious in 8Cr13MoV has rusted a tiny bit in a few spots, but those cleaned up easily. My jogging/biking knife has been a Cold Steel Voyager in VG-1 steel, and hasn't showed a spot of rust.

I have other steels, but they've not shown rust, either (AUS-10, M390, 440C, Damascus of unknown composition, Victorinox steel).

Meanwhile, the Kershaw Camp 10 has spots of rust on it, but I don't remember what they were making them out of back when I bought it. Nowadays, they appear to be using 65Mn.
 
Chinese 7Cr17MoV steel is pretty much equivalent to Japanese Aus6 and American 440A. Both the latter are rust resistant to the point of
having been used for dive knives before newer steels like H-1 came along. If I recall correctly the SOG Seal 2000 made of Aus6 was corrosion tested
by a 2 week saltwater immersion and passed.
 
I do have Salt series knives, and go/live by the beach regularly.

My SS blades, irrespective of make, seem to be fine with exposure to the sea air, sweat and the occasional dip in the sea, though I always rinse them afterwards.

What may get more damage is springs in the locks or other materials that are not SS.

My diving/spearfishing knives (decent quality older Italian blades and newer, probably Chinese or Taiwanese ones) look pristine too, though they usually get washed soon after they come out of the sea.

I sea fishermen using cheap SS knives for years and they seem to manage. They make get the odd rust spot, but they do not melt away.

My policy is, if you can not afford (not just because of cost; could be sentimental reasons or that you like it too much) to lose or damage a knife or tool or camera because of exposure to the sea then you should not be using it in this way.
 
Yeah, your experience is similar to mine. I used a Buck 420HC small vantage as my kayaking knife before it got stolen. Cheap stainless is good for this use case.
 
Ruari said:
VG10 and S30V have not been as rust resistant as AUS8 and 440C/420HC in my experience
Click to expand...
My one VG10 knife is one I inherited and its former owner had very corrosive sweat I think because I cleaned a lot of little rust spots off it when I got it. I’d never thought about it but that same man carried a Buck 503 longer than the VG10 spyderco and it’s 420HC didn’t have any rust on it at all.
 
knarfeng said:
The S&W is likely 440A or 420HC. Both alloys have less carbon than 440C, VG10, 154CM, and AUS8 etc.
Rule of thumb is that steels with lower carbon content are more corrosion resistant than steels with higher carbon contents.
Click to expand...
I had one of those duh moments when I read this earlier. Carbon rusts and the more carbon in the mix the more apt to rust.
 
KenHash said:
Chinese 7Cr17MoV steel is pretty much equivalent to Japanese Aus6 and American 440A. Both the latter are rust resistant to the point of
having been used for dive knives before newer steels like H-1 came along. If I recall correctly the SOG Seal 2000 made of Aus6 was corrosion tested
by a 2 week saltwater immersion and passed.
Click to expand...
Very interesting! I never knew any of that. Always had interest in the Seal 2000 just never could justify a need for one.
 
calm said:
My policy is, if you can not afford (not just because of cost; could be sentimental reasons or that you like it too much) to lose or damage a knife or tool or camera because of exposure to the sea then you should not be using it in this way.
Click to expand...
Yes! This is precisely why I used this knife for swimming/beach activities and reserved my nicer knives for usual edc while there.
 
I've seen some very rusty, cheap, "stainless" knives.

On the other hand, I have a $5 knife from ebay that only says, "China," not even "stainless" or "surgical." I lost it out in a sheep pasture and found it over a year later. The scales were slightly cracked, but after rinsing out the sand and mud and other substances, I could not find a speck of rust on it.

Likewise, I lost a SOG Flash II with AUS-8 and found it over 5 years later. There were a few light rust spots.

A friend lost a KA-BAR mule with AUS-8 one Pennsylvania autumn and found it the following year after the snow melted. No rust.

On the third hand, I have had SOG knives with D2 that would rust if I just carried them outdoors on a summer day in Florida. Of course, D2 is not really stainless.
 
I'm a always have a knife/swim with a knife guy too, I took my cold steel ad15 to maui last month and swam with it in the ocean and pool. I got some pretty ugly rust. When I got back I decided to get a spyderco caribbean and fell in love. Lc200n is awesome and the caribbean has lc200n liners as well. Good bye rust worries.

I've swam with knives for a long time, I swam countless times with my 0452cf without any major rust, it's predominantly cf and ti and with a rinse after swimming the blade was fine.
 
KenHash said:
Chinese 7Cr17MoV steel is pretty much equivalent to Japanese Aus6 and American 440A. Both the latter are rust resistant to the point of
having been used for dive knives before newer steels like H-1 came along. If I recall correctly the SOG Seal 2000 made of Aus6 was corrosion tested
by a 2 week saltwater immersion and passed.
Click to expand...
I believe that the SOG Aus6 has coating to protect it from rust and not bare steel.

AUS steel series is basically type 420 with higher carbon content. Still very stainless, but I don't think it is as good as 16%+ Cr steels.

Most high rust resistance steels don't hold an edge for long, unless they are PM steel with impossible composition for cheap ingot alloys, which is not great advertising points for knives. Say, AUS6 was phrased out because it can't cut as many cardboard and rope as many other steels back in the 2000s despite being extremely close to the composition of AEB-L and the current very popular 14C28N.
 
shinyedges said:
I'm a always have a knife/swim with a knife guy too, I took my cold steel ad15 to maui last month and swam with it in the ocean and pool. I got some pretty ugly rust. When I got back I decided to get a spyderco caribbean and fell in love. Lc200n is awesome and the caribbean has lc200n liners as well. Good bye rust worries.

I've swam with knives for a long time, I swam countless times with my 0452cf without any major rust, it's predominantly cf and ti and with a rinse after swimming the blade was fine.
Click to expand...
the ad15....aus10 one or s35vn?

I've always swam with a knife too. I've got h1 salts and just use those, but any of the salts work.
 
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