H1 is rust proof but what about the hardware?

dodgeem33

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I recently got back from a week in Turks and Caicos where I had my trusty Pacific Salt with me. Diving, snorkeling and swimming several hours a day and the blade made out fine but the knife is now gritty and I can see rust around the "show" side of the pivot. Is this normal? Just disassemble and clean?

Thanks,
Brian
 
Are you certain what you are seeing is rust? I recall an incident a few years ago where what someone thought was rust turned out to be dried red algae.
 
I'll check, it was salt water and I didn't see any algae but stranger things have happened.
 
In that case, the "rust" flaked away once it dried out completely. I think it took a couple of weeks.

If I recall correctly (hey, I'm getting old) the first run of Salts had a washer under the pivot pin on the outside of the scale that wasn't quite totally rust proof, and would occasionally show some red oxide. The newer ones with the screw pivots should be totally rustproof.
 
If there is rust there something unusual is going on as they are designed to not do what you describe. If you sharpened them on something you had used for other steels that diust can get on your Salt and cause what you see, for instance. The grit may be an indication there is something else other than Spyderco Salt knife in there. Just washing it out then cleaning the parts you can get to with pipe cleaners, rolled up paper towels and q tips or whatever is handy then lubing it should be enough. I used to take my non Salt knives into the ocean with only a fresh water wash and oil afterward and have no problems. As in all problem solving begin with the easiest, most obvious solutions first before getting into the complicated stuff like trying to take a knife apart. Salts shouldn't need the owner to go that far. Jack is correct about the above. IIRC, there was some goop from something from the ocean causing the discoloration and it was pretty tenacious in not coming off which made the guy think it was rust. After a few weeks of drying it flaked off.

Joe
 
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Definitely agree with the other posters, it is either something else besides rust or there is something wrong.
My mother and family friend retired and moved to Cozumel, Mexico a few years ago and have a diving and deep sea fishing business. I bought my mom a dragonfly salt and the family friend a pacific salt about a year and half ago and brought them down for them. Visited last month on vacation and they both carry their knives everyday in town, on the boat fishing, and diving and swimming, pretty much exposed to moisture and salt water daily. I inspected both knives and there is absolutely zero rust on the blades, hardware and liners.
There is some oxidation on the engraving on the blade but from what I've read, that's actually material left over from the tooling and not the actual H1 steel rusting.
 
So far still rusty but I'll scrub it up this weekend and see where we are come Monday. Thanks for all of the replies!
 
So far still rusty but I'll scrub it up this weekend and see where we are come Monday. Thanks for all of the replies!

When you do your cleaning I would highly recommend using "Bar Keeper's Friend" which you can get at most grocery stores and I would say at about 95% of all hardware stores here in the USA. BKF not only eliminates rust and other corrosion residue but it also seems to aid the metal in prevention of corrosion as well.

There are a couple of really super grades of grease that I've used for preventative purposes. The company that makes "Militec 1" synthetic oil for firearms and blades also makes a heat resistant grease that is just phenomenal. Also Sentry Solutions Company that makes all kinds of maintenance products for knives and firearms also has a really super grease that adheres about as good as the Militec grease does.

Keep us posted and let us know what finally works for you. I've personally never had this problem with any of my Salt Series H-1 Spyderco knives.
 
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