Now that it's summertime question about corrosion

Yo Mama

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Sep 25, 2011
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Where I live summertime heat is no joke. I usually end up going very lightweight with any folders I carry but I am wondering if anybody is ever had a pocket knife rust in their pocket purely from sweat and what type of steel that was?

My go-to has been BD1, 420hc, 20cv, s110v, ect......

I don't carry D2 during summer time.
 
Ive heard a lot of people with rust from sweat, not just in summer time. Sweat is particularly corrosive because it is a mixture of salt and water as well. I think practically any blade would at least spot if exposed to sweat for long enough. I've never personally had it happen to me, but I do at least look at my blades and wipe them off at the end of a work day.
 
As a large sweaty guy from the Midwest I know something about sweat…Never had a modern knife rust on me including my S35VN Mnandi which spends 12 hours a day in the bottom of my pocket. I wish I could say the same for the rear sight on my Glocks!
 
I have had SOG D2 rust lightly in my pocket and in a leather belt sheath during summers when, if it is not raining, then I am sweating. I habitually wipe off blades after using them.

I have never had rust on other steels except in extreme situations. I lost a SOG AUS-8 knife out in a pasture and found it almost 5 years later. It had about as much rust on it as D2 would get in a day.

Nowadays I have enough knives with LC200N that I can almost always carry that in summer or other wet weather. Never had rust on LC200N, but I did get some slight staining from slug slime. Those stains went away in a few years.

I suspect that some people do have more corrosive sweat than other people do. But rust resistance also depends on the grind of the blade. Maybe some one else recalls how that works.
 
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yes, but rust spotting mainly. all carbon steels, aus8, 8cr13mov and similar variations of the chinese steels.
 
I’ve been working in a kitchen for the last year and a half, and in that time I carried my (uncoated) d2 Rat 1 for over a month straight last summer. No maintenance, No problem.
Then I carried my M4 paramilitary 2 this past Spring, and was getting corrosion spots after just about every day.
Could go about a week or so without any maintenance, but that was pushing it.
I would not carry my favorite knife in those conditions if it wasn’t at least semi-stainless.

Ontario’s D2 held up surprisingly well…
That knife is now my designated back-up folder that I keep in my car. It’s a great knife for the price, it’s very tough and so is the steel. It hasn’t seen much love at all and it’s still sharp, smooth, and with no corrosion problems👌 its no wonder it’s such a popular budget knife.

I have had SOG D2 rust lightly in my pocket and in a leather belt sheath during summers when, if it is not raining, then I am sweating. I habitually wipe off blades after using them.

I have never had rust on other steels except in extreme situations. I lost a SOG AUS-8 knife out in a pasture and found it almost 5 years later. It had about as much rust on it as D2 would get in a day.

Nowadays I have enough knives with LC200N that I can almost always carry that in summer or other wet weather. Never had rust on LC200N, but I did get some slight staining from slug slime. Those stains went away in a few years.

I suspect that some people do have more corrosive sweat than other people do. But rust resistance also depends on the grind of the blade. Maybe some one else recalls how that works.
It definitely has a lot to do with the finish of the blade. A satin, DLC or even a stonewashed finish will hold up against corrosion better than a bead blast/working finish for sure.
 
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I'm by far a metal expert. In fact I don't know diddly squat. But the last knife I bought was in 20 CV. The claim is that it's more resistant to rust and allegedly holds an edge a lot better than many other steel. But I oil the blade and clean it when I get done using it. I don't know if it's necessary but I do it anyway
 
That's always been interesting to me. Why liners would rust but not the blade? Why not make the liners out of more stainless alloy?
I think it has something to do with cost effectiveness. Mine do the same thing. Even the cheapest stainless steel would be better than what they're using. I don't know what model or make you have or what brand but I don't think it matters. That's just the way it is I guess
 
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