For the water

B

BeyondTheBox

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Apr 13, 2016
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What's your go to for a water blade?

Ceramic is super sharp and stays that way for a long time, but it's also super brittle because of its high hardness. Still, no need to worry about corrosion though, right? What do you use to touch up a ceramic edge?

What about titanium? Softer metal? Does edge retention suck if so? It is antimagnetic and rust proof, no? What do you use to touch up a titanium edge?

Maybe some sort of high corrosion resistant steel instead?

H1? Easy to sharpen quickly, but doesn't hold a candle to holding an edge. Quite expensive stuff. Eek!

N680, seems to be a solid performer, across the board, excelling, most notably, in corrosion resistance. In fact it's just behind H1 in that regard and without the failure in edge holding, hardness, or wear resistance, let alone the cost difference. Seems like a no brainier in comparison, but what about salt water?

Some 420 variant perhaps? Not quite as high corrosion resistance as the aforementioned steels, but not too far behind. Found in very affordable blades from very well known manufacturers and extremely easy to come by, let alone quickly sharpen. But not great for edge retention or hardness. Nothing perfect I guess.

Am I missing something?

I lean heavily toward ceramic! Followed by N680.
 
BeyondTheBox said:
What's your go to for a water blade?

Ceramic is super sharp and stays that way for a long time, but it's also super brittle because of its high hardness. Still, no need to worry about corrosion though, right? What do you use to touch up a ceramic edge?

What about titanium? Softer metal? Does edge retention suck if so? It is antimagnetic and rust proof, no? What do you use to touch up a titanium edge?

Maybe some sort of high corrosion resistant steel instead?

H1? Easy to sharpen quickly, but doesn't hold a candle to holding an edge. Quite expensive stuff. Eek!

N680, seems to be a solid performer, across the board, excelling, most notably, in corrosion resistance. In fact it's just behind H1 in that regard and without the failure in edge holding, hardness, or wear resistance, let alone the cost difference. Seems like a no brainier in comparison, but what about salt water?

Some 420 variant perhaps? Not quite as high corrosion resistance as the aforementioned steels, but not too far behind. Found in very affordable blades from very well known manufacturers and extremely easy to come by, let alone quickly sharpen. But not great for edge retention or hardness. Nothing perfect I guess.

Am I missing something?

I lean heavily toward ceramic! Followed by N680.
Click to expand...

Check out Dendritic Cobalt as seen on David Boye Knives.
 
Gave a couple of Spyderco Salts, Pacific and Aqua to a salt water fishing friend of mine to use on his fishing boat. They had the bright yellow handle, and he is very happy with them. He is a retired Admiral so knows something about salt water.

 
I end up using s35vn because I am not on the salt water long, and I can rinse after. But were I out longer, I’d get one of three things, depending on what i needed:

  • Spyderco Caribbean as a normal folder, just in a salty environment.
  • Spyderco serrated H1 for a rope knife.
  • Boye folder if I was actually sailing.
 
tim37a said:
Yes, you are missing M390, Elmax, and S35VN. All are good blades for salt water.
Click to expand...

I would have to venture a guess, then, that so are S30V, VG-10, & 20CV - in corrosion resistance comparison.

Not sure I'd go so far as to include Elmax myself. Seems rather low on the corrosion resistance totem for me, but, as someone else pointed out, as long as you rinse with fresh water after and dry it, there's no reason you couldn't take D2 out diving with you and be fine.

So I think I'll stick with that theory. In fact I'm now recalling a time I spent about 30 minutes swimming in Miami with my cheap Chinese travel watch. Guessing it's likely 316. Anyway, I didn't rinse or dry it, there was a little bit of rusting around the Chrono pushers, but other than that, came out still functioning and looking just fine, nary an issue.

NJBillK said:
- LC200N for plain Edge retention.
- H1 for serrated edge retention and toughness.
- M390/204p/20cv for everyday carry that sees occasional water (salt or fresh)
Click to expand...

I'll look into the LC200N, never heard of it

GatorFlash1 said:
Gave a couple of Spyderco Salts, Pacific and Aqua to a salt water fishing friend of mine to use on his fishing boat. They had the bright yellow handle, and he is very happy with them. He is a retired Admiral so knows something about salt water.

Click to expand...

I'll definitely have a look at these. Thanks!

Leftytwogunz said:
My spyderco light weight native in S110v gets sweaty and wet almost every day and has never seen a spec of rust. It has great edge retention.
Click to expand...

Interesting, that's reported to have about the same corrosion resistance as 14C28N. Guess it true, as long as you rinse and dry, all will be fine.

Thanks again fellas.
 
H1 does not have edge-holding failure in serrated edge. I have rolled an SE H1 edge a bit when accidentally contacting something harder or metallic while cutting, but otherwise SE H1 is quite good. Especially if the serrations aren't too aggressively (deeply) ground.

Boye's Dendritic Cobalt is good, especially in serrated version, and his serrations are gently ground, providing for smooth cutting.

As already mentioned, LC200N for plain edge. It may not be quite as rust-proof as H1, but for many uses there wouldn't be much noticeable difference in corrosion resistance between the two. And unlike H1, LC200N can be FFG.

Jim
 
If it is going to see a lot of water LC200N is probably my top pick at the moment. I would avoid ceramic as when I think of a "water" knife I think of dive knife or boat knife where there it a fair chance impact which the brittleness of ceramic makes me leery of.
 
LC200N(ZFinit) holds an edge for quite a while and sharpens up extremely easy. Extreme corrosion resistance

M390(20CV, 204P) has great corrosion resistance! Even if there is rust spots, you will easily be able to rub the rust off, and your blade will be good as new. It will not be deep pitting unless you leave it for a very long time. Rust is not the end of the world, in corrosion resistant stainless steels, if is very easy to clean off.

Elmax is another that has very good corrosion resistance.

Boye knives are great, you won't get any rust on those.

Stellite - Not a steel, but completely saltwater corrosion resistant. Downside, expensive.
 
My "water" is fresh water. Rarely if ever in salt water, so I don't need H1 or LC200N. I do a LOT of canoeing in fresh water, and when I am out in the canoe, I have this on me.
BY17SOR2.jpg



It's not glamorous, and I don't think I've ever photographed it to show it off. It's very inexpensive, coming in under $25, it's bright orange so high visibility, very grippy even when wet, no pointy tip to stab holes where they don't belong, long serrated edge for awesome performance on straps, ropes, etc... and it just plain works. 8cr13mov is more than corrosion resistant enough for use in fresh water.

And if it does end up in the bottom of a lake, you can bet the first thing I do when I get home is order the replacement.
 
There's also that corrosion inhibiting spray called Aegis Solutions EDCI. You just spray it on and wipe it off and apparently it prevents rust/corrosion. I haven't used it myself but it's worth a shot.
 
Most of those sprays and such to my knowledge are an oil based spray protector/lubricant and you are just as well off to put a thin coat of mineral oil on your knives.
 
I used a Salt 2 in PE all summer, I having trouble seeing "the plain edge failure" everybody is talking about. It held its edge perfectly fine doing lotsa hard cutting.

So I'd say H1 holds an edge fairly well, maybe not up at the top in edge holding but it's not THAT far behind either. And it is a breeze to sharpen if you need to.

And the no 1 feature of course is you'll never have to worry about rust, even if you get blood or saltwater in the pivot and dont have the chance to rinse it out with fresh water. H1 is a fantastic summer holiday season steel, especially if you live near and use the sea. :thumbsup::cool:
 
M390, N690, VG-10, LC200N...
I don't think there's a need for Titanium and ceramics for knife-blades
 
I have a couple folders in H1 that I use when fishing saltwater. After several years of use they are doing very well. I don't see any issue keeping them sharp or corrosion free. In freshwater I carry a SAK and or stainless Mora, both work great and corrosion has never been an issue. I bought my father in law a Hellefisk which has a blade made of Sandvik 12C27 stainless steel. He speaks very highly of it.
 
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