Rust on inside of liner

[Falcon]

I disassembled one of my mini-AFCK this weekend in order to make some slight modifications to it and was unpleasently surprised to find that there were a few rust spots on the steel liner. These spots were on the outside of the liner so they were covered by the handle scales. I have not had this happen before, and don't know how Benchmade wants consumers to protect, clean these areas of a knife. If I had not voided my warrenty by dissassembling and modifying this knife I would not have found out about the rust until it had done some real damage. I am espeacially concerned because the knife that I found the rust on was only a few weeks old and had not been carried more than twice. I would appreciate any suggestions as to how to prevent rust on these areas as without dissassembly I don't know how to get a protectant onto the metal.
Ross

 

[Corduroy]

Here's to voiding Benchmade's warranty!

This is a serious concern. I've taken apart Benchmades straight form the factory that showed rust on hidden spots of the bead-blasted blades (970 series). The best way to prevent this (besides no &*$%$# bead-blasts) is to disassemble and clean every few months.

Barring that, I guess a hearty bath in a protectant might help, though serious capillary action would be needed to get under the scales where you're talking about. WD-40's not much of a protectant, but it penetrates nicely. Tuf-Cloth is a fine protectant but wouldn't reach there. Maybe Rem-Oil?

-Drew