Corrosion resistance on the SEAL knives - coating differences?

[JarrodS]

I'm wondering about the Hardcased TiNi coating on the Elite series vs. the powder coating of the SEAL Team and SEAL Pup knives. In particular corrosion resistance from exposure to salt water. I can't find much of anything that directly addresses this question. I'd like to use it in and around salt water and thus a good understanding of the corrosion resistence and durability of these two coatings is an important question to me.

 

[rycen]

These might help

http://www.sogknives.com/finish-and-coating.html

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1122962-DLC-PVD-Misinformation

 

[craytab]

I dont have any sogs with tini but I do have some with powder coating (seal 2000, seal team, seal pup) and I can tell you that with any sort of use the powder coating will come off. Heck, with simply drawing the knife from the sheath the coating comes off. My hard user seal team has lost most of the coating on the first couple inches of blade. No problems with rust but I do keep it clean, dry, and protected with tuff cloth.

You may want to look at steal choice and blade matinance for corrosion resistance rather than a coating. Aus8 will rust. I have had it happen on my Flash II. The predecessor to the seal team, the seal 2000, has Aus6 steel which is supposedly more corrosion resistant. They come up here on the exchange every once and a while at great prices. This is where I got both of mine. If I know I will be on or in water I will bring my spyderco salt in H1 and my user seal 2000.

 

[JarrodS]

I have no doubt that the TiNi coating is more durable. But I don't know about corrosion resistance. Would I be able to just rinse it off after use in salt water, or??? It's just not discussed much, that I can see, other than the general inference that these knives underwent some type of government testing which included a 2-week underwater corrosion test. What does that mean in terms of real-world usage?

My first pick would indeed be a Spyderco Warrior, or even a cheap all-titanium blade dive knife. But I like the idea of the SOG Seal or Demo knife, because I feel like it's more general-purpose than either of the other two choices, and overall I like the blade design of the SOG knives better. And the SOGs are obviously a lot more economical than the Spyderco. I mean, I could let a Seal Team completely rust through and replace it three times for the price of one Warrior