Most resistant to sea water corrosion

B

BillL

Joined
Jan 12, 2005
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Besides H1, how do the other good steels (440C, AUS8, 154, S30V, 52000, A2, INFI, VG10, steel used in the Becker knives, 1095, SAKs, etc) compare with each other when used on the beach and in contact with sea water? Also which steel is it necessary to wash and clean immediately after use, and which ones you need to wash and clean only at the end of the day.

Thanks very much.
 
David Boyes Dendritic Cobalt alloy and the Beta Titanium knives made famous by Mission hold up the best along with H1 which you already brought up.

http://www.boyeknives.com/


http://www.missionknives.com/

I notice that BenchMade has chosen ATS34 and a coated blade on some of their offerings. My experience is that any knife other than the two above and H1 is going to need special treatment to sustain it for prolonged exposure to salt water.

On steels that begin to oxidize upon the first slice into a tomato like 1095, 52100 and INFI which is 52100 with some added ingredients to make it better. I don't think it is a very good idea to use them for prolonged salt water exposure. The edge is the first to suffer from the oxidation even on coated blades. A stainless would stay sharp longer in this case over a high carbon blade.
 
440C, AUS8, 154CM, S30V, VG10, SAK stainless, can stand some degree of being wet. The SAK steel is really corrosion resistant, and the others are similar in that it takes hours for visible damage to set in, but they will pit badly in extended soaks, 8+ hours.

440C tends to get praised more than ATS-34 / 154CM for corrosion resistance, and S30V is supposed to be more corrosion resistant. Surface finish makes a huge difference here as does the heat treating which is why you will often find someone praising a steel and another one complaining about it for corrision.

1095, 52100, A2 and INFI are not stainless steels and will take surface rust easier, 1095 looks like a mess after a long salt water soak, but doesn't pit bad, I have run soaks on TOP's and Ontario and with a trivial wipe down you just get a decent patina. INFI is better still and just minor spots.

L6 and O1 can rust very fast, so much so that you can cut something acidic and watch the blade turn as you are cutting.

In short, try to wipe down the carbon steels as soon as possible after getting them wet, rinse with fresh water and oil if possible. The stainless steels give you some slack, but hours soaking in salt water will tend to pit them outside of the low carbon ones like 420HC and the near corrosion free ones like H1.

STR said:
...INFI which is 52100 with some added ingredients
Click to expand...
SR101 is modified 52100.

-Cliff
 
Go with Talonite or Stellite!

Anything else should be rinsed with fresh water as soon as possible and left to dry.
 
Yeah, I looked for that to fix it. Thanks Cliff. I meant 52100 is 5160 with more alloy and more carbon. I always get those mixed up with INFI somehow.
 
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