I have a medium and a large. I carry the large everyday and am in the middle of sharpening it today, with sandpaper.
The medium is the slickest(easiest to open) lockback I own (slicker than many liner locks BTW) while the Large is the stiffest. However, I think it is a bad example, all my other Cold Steel lockbacks are close to the medium in lock smoothness.
My Medium Trail Guide has gone surfing with me in San Diego for a whole afternoon. Afterward, it was speckled with bright orange rust spots and some green discoloration around the orange. Wiped off easily (on my shorts I think) and later some flitz brought it back to a shine. Pretty good for a $20 knife!
Now, back then I worked outside in hot weather in thick clothes and my sweat is more corrosive than others. When I carried any knife in my waistband, sweat would condensate on the blade. This would affect even stainless steel on "hard" days. With the Trail Guide, it was easy to rub the rust (dark in this case) off but it would tarnish the blade. Originally, I used flitz to remove the stains every few days. Soon, I realized that the cleaner the knife was the more it would rust.
After surfing (and polishing), I found some gun blueing at Wal-mart and used it on the blade.
Realizing the stains were tarnish and that tarnish can form a protective barrier on the steel, I tried the blueing (BTW, it turns the steel black, not blue). Old time carbon steel knives would blacken with used that protected them from rust. This is why we fight rust so much today but the old timers didn't have blades rusting away constantly on them. Gun blueing simply put an instant tarnish on the blade that you can make as dark (and uniform) as you like. It works great. Even as it wears off and you can see the metal underneath, it still makes a world of difference in the corrosion resistence. I've had very little rust since.
I plan to use some Ferric Chloride etchant to see how it does.
BTW, it still has some pitting on it from surfing. It forms a beautiful swirl patten of the water that flowed around it. It reminds me of that day I had with a beautiful woman.
Hope this helps.
