Recommendation? Knives vs. the Sea

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Lodd

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So, for the first time in a long while I'm having a proper vacation to a far away sunny place again in september. I'll be spending two weeks on La Palma, which is a small island in the sea. I'll be doing some hiking, some whittling, some relaxing and some food prep maybe. I'll travel light, so I'll only pack a few knives (he lied to himself) and not much in the way of maintenance stuff. Probably just a diamond pocket stone or something, like the fällkniven DC4. I won't be oiling the knives or doing maintenance that often. Just a wipe down or some cleaning, probably.

Obviously, I'm already thinking about which knives to take. They need the right level of corrosion resistance, but also can't be too hard to sharpen. For a folder, the spydiechef in LC200N seems like a natural choice, but I'll probably take a few more, too.

What steels should I consider for this? What is the right level of corrosion resistance? Can I touch them up easily enough? And which steels should I avoid?
 
Just as a matter of curiosity, are you talking about La Palma in the Canary Islands? I would suggest any fixed blade in M390, Elmax, CPM 20CV or CTS 204P. All are particle metal with high Stainless and Vanadium content. They all have high corrosion resistance and shouldn't need much touch up since the high amount of Vanadium carbides will keep them sharp.
 
I'm in and around salt water a good bit - especially on vacation and have had very good service out of Spyderco H1 knives both folding like the Pacific Salt serrated as well as fixed blades.
 
tim37a said:
Just as a matter of curiosity, are you talking about La Palma in the Canary Islands? I would suggest any fixed blade in M390, Elmax, CPM 20CV or CTS 204P. All are particle metal with high Stainless and Vanadium content. They all have high corrosion resistance and shouldn't need much touch up since the high amount of Vanadium carbides will keep them sharp.
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Yes, in the Canary islands! Really pumped to go there, I've heard great things. And I could use a bit to unwind too.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm making a shortlist of knives I might take. (Strangely enough, a lot of these knives I still have to buy. Hmmm. :))
 
I've just found out about the knife laws in spain. They don't seem to like knives to have a blade over 11cm (measured from the end of the handle, so some knives get the short end of the stick even though their blades aren't that long).

With that in mind, I'm partial to buying the White River FC4 in CPM S35VN. How do you guys think that will hold up?

wrfc4$02-white-river-knives.jpg
 
I've been EDCing a Spyderco Caribbean for about a year. No salt water but plenty of NW rain. Rust is never a problem, the handle fits my hand perfectly, and the blade shape is very versatile.
 
Spyderco has a large variety of "waterproof" knives. I wouldn't really consider the Spydiechef if you're actually gonna be doing carving. Personally I think the Siren would be best suited to the tasks you're gonna use it for. FFG for food slicing, nice steady belly for carving, and only 3.4oz. Id also look at the Pacific Salt 2, the Caribbean, and the Waterway.
 
M390 is known for good corrosion resistance.

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2020/06/01/m390-steel-history-and-properties-and-20cv-and-204p/

A Viper Berus or lionSTEEL M1 would be high on my list for fixed blades.

https://www.collectorknives.net/product-category/viper-knives/viper-fixed-blades/

https://www.collectorknives.net/product-category/lion-steel-knives/lion-steel-fixed-blades/

Paired up with a Spyderco Dragonfly Salt, I'd feel pretty well equipped.


EDIT: I should say, I don't have either of those fixed blades so I don't have first hand experience with them.
 
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Lodd said:
I've just found out about the knife laws in spain. They don't seem to like knives to have a blade over 11cm (measured from the end of the handle, so some knives get the short end of the stick even though their blades aren't that long).

With that in mind, I'm partial to buying the White River FC4 in CPM S35VN. How do you guys think that will hold up?

wrfc4$02-white-river-knives.jpg
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that will be fine.
Wipe it dry and the worst you should get is a few spots (maybe) that will polish off easy enough.

Or just buy some cheap stainless steel fixed blade while on vacation.
Won't matter if it gets a few stains, won't be too expensive, AND it's a souvenir that will have happy adventure memories attached to it. :)
 
I'm a very big fan of the spyderco native 5 lw salt and the spydiechef in florida.
 
stabman said:
Pretty sure that will be fine.
Wipe it dry and the worst you should get is a few spots (maybe) that will polish off easy enough.

Or just buy some cheap stainless steel fixed blade while on vacation.
Won't matter if it gets a few stains, won't be too expensive, AND it's a souvenir that will have happy adventure memories attached to it. :)
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Stabman is all over this. The knife will be fine, just wipe it off. I'm in salt water on the Washington coast all the time, zero worries.

I like the idea of finding a knife when you get there. You might find a diamond in the rough that makes a great souvenir of your trip!
 
440A is really all you "need".
Consider the "lowly" "Demo Knife", standard issue to all branches of the US military beginning circa 1948 to whenever they ran out of stock post 2004.
100% 440A

They survived the climates of arctic, jungle, desert, and aboard Navy vessels operating in all of the world's oceans and seas, in both combat and peace time conditions.

When I was aboard my then employer's charter yacht operating out of St. Croix, USVI, I had a couple inexpensive Tumi brand 100% 440A Marlin Spikes. One with and one without a deck key for the fresh water fill, and diesel fill screw caps, along with my ever present Western made Demo Knife the Army Reserves issued me in 1975. Never a speck of rust on any of them.
In 2001 we sailed to Tampa, Florida for some refitting. I was with the boat until 2007 or 2008, riding out at least a couple hurricanes on board while "on the hard"/hauled out of the water. (68 foot at the waterline, and 72 foot over the deck Irwin Ketch)
Still never a speck of rust on them.

For a folder, I'd actually recommend either an previously owned Camillus (or other contractor manufactured) Demo knife or the current production Marbles MR278. (about 1/8 inch shorter than the Issued demo knives, lacks the "CAN OPENER" stamp on that blade, and has match strike pulls)
You'd be surprised how often the punch/awl comes in handy, how well the can opener works, (one of the best, if not the best manual can openers I've ever found) and don't forget the bottle opener for those bottles of cold brew and/or soda that lack a screw/twist cap.
The screwdriver blade (in addition to turning screws) also makes for a dandy light pry bar.
 
image.jpg I went to destin fl a couple 3 years ago with family, swam and was in the surf off and on all day. Had a my small sebenza clipped iwb. I had brown colored rust on the blade at the end of the day, swished it in the cooler and rubbed some lip balm on it. There was some wd40 at the rental house we were staying at I used the next day. I think that was pretty minimal and effective.
Relatives thought I was insane taking a knife to the beach, until they needed it to cut the band on their child’s connected flip flops. They worked like hell to bust the strap before asking me for the knife lol.
I’m not promoting crk by any means, take what knife you like and enjoy your vacation.
 
VG-10 works just fine in saltwater and its easy to sharpen. I would be more concerned with detent balls and bearings than any of the popular stainless steels.
 
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone!

The link to knifesteelnerds led me to this article on corrosion resistance: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/10/14/corrosion-resistance-testing/

And, handily, these images:

24-hour-corrosion-chart2.jpg


corrosion-rating-table-12-10-19.jpg


Which I'm putting up here for others with the same kind of questions.

I've also spent a bit of time googling and the consensus seems to be that 440C and everything above it is good enough in terms of corrosion resistance for being around seawater.

I've liked the recommendations so far, especially the spyderco Siren.

I've been reading up some more on the knife laws in Spain and things apparently aren't as straightforward as I initially thought. In addition to the max blade length of 11 cm, the law is vague on a few points. For starters, one-handed openers may be considered 'automatics' which are illegal and might get you into trouble. The whole 'spydieflick' thing, while cool, probably won't help. There is another ambiguity in which pointy blades (like thin spearpoints) might be considered to be a dagger or in the same league as a double-edged knife.

After a bit of googling, I found that it mostly depends on the cop. About 50% of my hits had some story about them confiscating the knives, which seems to be the biggest risk. There was allusion to some horror stories of high fines and even a prison sentence, but I don't think it'll go that far if I behave normally.

So I've decided to take 1 good fixed blade + a victorinox huntsman + a stainless opinel. That way, I'm not carrying around a small fortune in knives and if they confiscate them I can replace them. I'll also have more spending money left to buy a nice souvenir knife or two, locally.

(The spydercos are great recommendations in my eyes, but I don't wanna take my chances with the local knife laws and they are a bit expensive to risk getting confiscated, otherwise I'd be all over that Siren. Some of the other recommendations in this thread are very good, but not available to me as I'm located in the Netherlands).

So, thanks for all the help, guys!
 
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That Viper Berus comes in a Wharncliffe version.

EDIT: Sorry, I missed the Netherlands part.
 
I would consider the Mora Companion in stainless. I think that it is under 11cm, easy to maintain, cheap to buy, and looks like a work knife instead of a weapon.

The plastic sheath, while dorky, kinda completes the package of it being a utility knife. Added points if you get the one with the fire steel that rides in the sheath. Looks very muck like a no nonsense work knife and shouldn't rust much at all. I've beat the hell out of mine.

It actually spoiled me whe it comes to neglect. I purchasd a Mora Robust in carbon because I wanted something a bit more stout. Completely ignored it and ended up with a severely rusty knife after a long day's work in the rain. That's on me, not the knife, but the Companion never gave me a lick of trouble.
 
I live a a few minutes from the beach in Florida, so I'm familiar with the climate. Unless you're going in salt water with your knife, any of the main-line stainless steels will be fine.
 
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