Knife Steel, Ritter Griptilian

[jake9095]

I have been looking into upgrading from my mini griptilian to a Doug Ritter Mini, I have always bought coated blades because I have the tendency to get my knives wet or at least be around water. I have had very good luck with avoiding rust with my 154cm coated benchmade blade but the Ritters available now have M390 blade steel but no coating. Is M390 resistant enough to corrosion to not require a coating or should I maybe just look for a coated S30V ritter or just another coated benchmade? Or maybe invest in some tuff-glide or something similar? I'd Appreciate any opinions or input.

Thanks,
Jake

 

[darks]

M390 is pretty corrosion resistant... According to most charts I've seen it's way more so than 154cm, but slightly less so than S30V. According to my "Fat guy in the humid Southeastern US sweaty pocket" test, you should be fine unless you plan on sheathing it in a saltwater aquarium. If you're really worried about it though you can always look at something in N680 or H1, like Benchmade's dive series, I think they're model 111 or something like that...

 

[craytab]

How about one of the new grips in 20cv? That would be my choice. Benchmade had some issues with their recent run of M390 and has no switched to CPM-20cv. Any stainless steel will rust without proper care. I've had S30v develop a bit of rust on my Military and PM2. Easily taken care of with no lasting negative effect. If you want a true rust proof knife the H1 with Spyderco is the way to go. I've had no rust even with years of use in a pool, the ocean, rivers, lakes, and on my sweaty self at the gym. If it is a benchmade you want I can also say their N680 does quite well. On a vacation I forgot my H1 spyderco, so the triage filled the roll as a water knife. No rust after 7 days of submerging in central Florida pools, rain storms, and my own sweat.

 

[Knave]

What were the issues with the M390? I haven't seen any with my Mini Ritter Grip.