Stainless? Stainless!

[Saint-Just]

Reading through this forum I started to understand that all stainless steels used by Spyderco where called exactly that, only H1 was truly corrosion resistant.
And that came to me as a real surprise.
To be perfectly honest while I cannot remember NOT having a EDC, I only recently became aware that if all steels are equal, some are more equal than others.
Before discovering the little arachnid (which was called by a forumite an insect: tss, tss :foot: ) I EDCed Opinel (both Carbon and SS), Laguiole (id), SAK (usually on top of the others), Puma (the Buck-like one), Leatherman and Herbertz.
I loved that last one. It was the model 272610, a skeletal linerlock that I once forgot to remove from my hip pocket when flying to Tokio 2 years ago. It did ring but a) I was convinced it was not there so I was very relax and b) it is so flat that security did not feel it, so I went through. I only realised it was there mid way into the journey when I walked to the bar. So much fot Heathrow security... But I digress
That knife was PSE AUS 6, and not always that easy to sharpen. But the linerlock just BROKE, no warning... So I decided no more AUS 6, let's see what else is out there : the rest is history
I also sail a lot. And now at last my point: I have NEVER had a stainless knife rusting on me, apart from a diving knife (!) my father got me when I was 12.
What sort of steel do Victorinox and all the others use? I don't know but isn't the hype around H1 at least partially a marketing ploy? Have you experienced a lot of stainless corrosion?
BTW, I just love my new Salt 1, even if I got it as a present for a very good friend)

 

[mnblade]

Uhhh, I agree. I think.

 

[Andy_L]

all stainless steels are more resistant to rust, some more so then othes. I.e. the stain less then a non stainless blade
most steels used by spyderco are high carbon stainless steels so they are still going to rust if they are put in the right environment (or wrong depending on how you look at it). Victorinox use 425m steel which is low in carbon (0.4%-0.5%)and more rust resistant to VG10 and S30V (about 1% and 1.4% IIRC) , it wont hold an edge like these will

H1 is 0.15% according to the spderco site

 

[yoda4561]

I have ats-34 develop speckles of rust on me regularly while carried in my pocket working here in Florida. Same for 440A though that was neglected for a much longer time. Basically I've seen it on almost every steel, cept mirror polished blades on SAKs.

 

[zenheretic]

... I don't know but isn't the hype around H1 at least partially a marketing ploy? Have you experienced a lot of stainless corrosion?
BTW, I just love my new Salt 1, even if I got it as a present for a very good friend)

Are you saying that all the forumites who sing the praises of H1 are really just paid spokesmen for Spyderco? :barf: That is how I read the above statement. You could be like several Spyderco.com forumites and pick a knife of any other steel of your choice and stick it in a bucket of salt water along with a H1 Spyderco and test the "hype" yourself. Or just read the tests for your self. A guy is exposing his H1 to a constant fog in an aquarium tank as we speak. Of course maybe it is all a marketing ploy.

 

[Saint-Just]

Are you saying that all the forumites who sing the praises of H1 are really just paid spokesmen for Spyderco? :barf:

:foot:
Read again (that's the kindest way I could answer on reading your post after my holiday). Plus it was not the object of my post. Andy L and yoda answered my question perfectly.

You could be like several Spyderco.com forumites and pick a knife of any other steel of your choice and stick it in a bucket of salt water along with a H1 Spyderco and test the "hype" yourself

1) there again, read my post. I sail a lot.
2) putting a knife in a bucket of water is usually not my main reason for buying a knife.
Plus, I do not dispute for one second how rustproof H1 really is. The guy I bought the salt for is an oyster farmer in SW France. I was with him at sea with my VG10 Caly for the last 10 days. No rust on either. THAT was my point, even thought I now understand that rust is more likely to happen on my caly thanks to the unpaid forumites mentioned above

 

[MacTech]

I'm about as cynical as they come, I too was skeptical of the grandiose claims Spyderco was making about H-1, i figured anything hyped up that heavily *can't* be that good, so i purchased a Pacific Salt PE and put it to the test, I *could not* get it to rust, in the process i discovered my new favorite "supersteel", a nice well balanced steel capable of getting to a truly *terrifying* level of sharpness, that's easy to maintain and resharpens with almost no effort, only downside is it scratches like crazy, but that's not a problem for a workhorse knife like the Salt series

this is one case of truth in advertising, H-1 *does not rust*, I've currently started a long-term test on my Salt 1, have it in a 2.5 gallon tank filled with Atlantic Ocean water and a bubblewall spraybar to create a highly corrosive salt spray, so far, it's been three days, no signs of corrosion, I'll report on it once a month on the Spyderco forums, or until I see rust form, something tells me I'm in for a long wait...

as far as "normal" steels rusting in normal use/storage, I haven't had any rust appear on my VG-10 blades, but I *have* had a patina of cosmetic surface corrosion appear in the thumb jimping on my AUS-6 FRN Jester, and on the blade spine/swedge and spacer of my S30V Dodos, all easily Flitzed off, and the knives are now stored with a packet of Silica Gel each, no further corrosion....

bear in mind, I'm a 10 minute drive from York Beach, Maine, *AND* we have a salt marsh on our property, so the air at home has a little higher sodium chloride content than the more landlocked areas...

 

[flipe8]

I'm not a sailor, but do put, on average, over a hundred days a year in a kayak. Most of what I do is sea paddling in the Atlantic and in a brackish river at the mouth of the bay and my Gerber Shorty is very much rusted. I'm not sure of the metal, but a Salt is on the way for me to replace this knife. One day, I had a SS Spyderco with me(a Co-Pilot), as I had forgotten to attach my Gerber to my new PFD. As luck would have it, the knife came off the PFD(reason for lanyard ) and over the side. Thankfully, it was in the shallows and I was able to get it back after the tide went out a bit. I would say I probably waited an hour or so before I got it back. In that short time, rust had already started to form. The idea of having a knife that is worry free AND good quality is plenty of reason to have one. Hell, if the knife was G10, it would be my main EDC.

 

[CMSpeedy]

Come to the coast and I will show you rust!! If you sail, how do you avoid the corrosion? Do you sail in fresh water? I was very happy when I got my Salt 1. No longer do I have to completely wash and re-oil every time I get it wet (Every time I go boating - mostly gutting & gilling fish).

It may be that you are protective of your knives and don't get them near the ocean spray and if they do get wet you immediately rinse them and re-oil.

I for one have always had a little corrosion appear if I did not pamper my stainless knives. Now keep in mind that I spend alot of time in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Most of my boating buddies have rusted blades as well. So far no rust has formed on my H-1 blade. I was in the Pacific last week for 10 days - did not rinse one bit - got completely soaked with ocean water repeatedly - NO RUST!! All other deckmates (Mostly with Endura 3's) got rust spots. It made believers of them all!! When they were rinsing their blades later - I was having a beer. True story.

I'm sure I'm not alone here - CHIME IN IF YOU GET RUST!

 

[eyeeatingfish]

Read my review of my salt in the review area. No rust on my h-1

 

[USSR]

There have been two reports of what people thought could be rust that I can recall. One of them happened to be discoloration inside the hole caused by the cutting laser, the other was in the text on the blade. Turns out tiny pieces of metal from the machine used to write on the blade were in the letters and had started to rust. Once those were cleaned out, there were no further problems.

 

[skinnybenny]

yeah. ive got a salt 1. and part of it is the fact that i dont have to care for it at all. i mean polish and what not is really not an issue. but it isnt just hype. for the ppl that dont adore their knives. and might put it away for a while without wiping it off. the h1 is nice. i have a berretta bushfield that is aus8 and it has small rust spots all over and hasnt been to mistreated.

 

[cgjones]

I've got a pair of Pacific Salts. Not a speck of rust on either. I got soaked in the rain working outside this past weekend, the PE was in my pocket the entire day. Granted, this isn't as harsh as salt spray, but I've had other knives speck just from getting damp in freshwater. It's nice to have a knife I can use without having to concern myself with rust prevention.