Rusty Flair

Adi · Aug 9, 2004

Hi guys.Great part of the forum by the way!
I want to pick your brains.
I went out with the wife yesterday on a picnic and took my LM Flair.
I rinsed it in the sea and when I returned 2 hours later I noticed that the pliers part has gone rusty.
Is this common with LM?

dunc5 · Aug 9, 2004

Adi said:
Hi guys.Great part of the forum by the way!
I want to pick your brains.
I went out with the wife yesterday on a picnic and took my LM Flair.
I rinsed it in the sea and when I returned 2 hours later I noticed that the pliers part has gone rusty.
Is this common with LM?

It is if you rinse them in the sea

I live right by the sea and im also a trainee crew member of the local inshore lifeboat , everything that goes in the sea is washed down with fresh water when it comes out , this includes the boat , trailer , our drysuits , helmets , everything.
The best thing to do with a multitool that comes into contact with salt water is to rinse with fresh water ,dry thoroughly (you can use a hair dryer to speed this up ) after this its a good idea to spray with wd40 just to make sure all the moisture is out .Then use some light oil like 3in one or any of the many others available .

dunc

bama_lou · Aug 9, 2004

you know what? even if the LM's don't come in contact with seawater, they become spotty if you're not vigilant enough. that made me disgusted with LM. :barf:

Adi · Aug 9, 2004

Me too!
I've just bought another SAK this afternoon!

ckl · Aug 9, 2004

bama_lou said:
you know what? even if the LM's don't come in contact with seawater, they become spotty if you're not vigilant enough. that made me disgusted with LM. :barf:

so can stain be removed on the tools?can it be cleaned??

btw,we need the best steel,that's why we choose vic's tool.

i hope LM will know about this issue and use a better steel in the future....

bama_lou · Aug 10, 2004

I guess it does not affect the performance in anyway, purely aesthetics really. But who wants to use a spotty tool? I don't! :grumpy:

dunc5 · Aug 10, 2004

Am i right in saying the more stainless the steel the softer it is ?

JoeBW · Aug 10, 2004

Hi Dunc5,

I'm afraid that the issue of stainless hardness and corrosion resistance is a bit more complex than that. For my 50 cent tour of the subject, the fully austenetic stainless GENERALLY have the highest corrosion (or staining resistance. This comes from their nickel content. Unfortunately, you can't harden that family of stainleses by heat treating. Not helpful when strength or edge holding come to mind.

The hardenable stainlesses are chromium-based and are heat-treatable. They aren't as rust resistant as their austenitic cousins. There have been lots of advances in improving their corrosion resistance, but those with high resistance require special melting and heat-treating procedures and probably won't make good castings. The Leatherman plier jaws (and many of the tools) are investement castings.

About all we can do is as advised - wash with fresh water (no chlorides) and dry and oil.

Best - Joe

Josh Muller · Aug 10, 2004

bama_lou said:
I guess it does not affect the performance in anyway, purely aesthetics really. But who wants to use a spotty tool? I don't! :grumpy:

personally, the more worn looking my tools get, the better i like them. well, not so much like them, but become more comfortable and happy to use them. ya, if the performance is getting lowered by corrosion, i'll do something about it, but ive taken a dremel to my lm-wave and been perfectly happy with the fact that here are scratches gallore all over it, same for the sheath. personally, if my leatherman took on a partial patina, i would do one of three things with it, iether patina the whole thing (vinegar on the outside), buff off the discoloration, or not care that its spotted with discoloration because im using it, not admiring it. nothing stays gold forever, and who wants to actually use gold anyways? (lol, lots of people, but this entire paragraph is personal opinion, so i'll disregard reality for the sake of being able to use a classic line)

ckl · Aug 11, 2004

i think the steel in vic's tool is much stronger,becos i never had any stain on em....

just remember to make they clean after use.......

dunc5 · Aug 11, 2004

JoeBW said:
Hi Dunc5,

I'm afraid that the issue of stainless hardness and corrosion resistance is a bit more complex than that. For my 50 cent tour of the subject, the fully austenetic stainless GENERALLY have the highest corrosion (or staining resistance. This comes from their nickel content. Unfortunately, you can't harden that family of stainleses by heat treating. Not helpful when strength or edge holding come to mind.

The hardenable stainlesses are chromium-based and are heat-treatable. They aren't as rust resistant as their austenitic cousins. There have been lots of advances in improving their corrosion resistance, but those with high resistance require special melting and heat-treating procedures and probably won't make good castings. The Leatherman plier jaws (and many of the tools) are investement castings.

About all we can do is as advised - wash with fresh water (no chlorides) and dry and oil.

Best - Joe

Thanks Joe thats made things a bit more clear .

Duncan

Charge guy · Aug 12, 2004

ckl said:
so can stain be removed on the tools?can it be cleaned??

btw,we need the best steel,that's why we choose vic's tool.

i hope LM will know about this issue and use a better steel in the future....

Actually better steel doesn't mean more corrosion resistance. Salt water can eat through alot of things like one of the posters was mentioning. This is why you need a special type of steel to resist this. For more information read up on spyderco's salt water knives. A knife that does not show rust spots from saltwater is not always a better steel. You still have to consider edge retention, hardness, ease to sharpen, brittleness, etc...