Strider Rust

G

gafirefighter

Joined
Jun 23, 2010
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122
Today I go into work with my pretty much new SNG in my pocket. We had training this morning, and I did not think twice about keeping it in my pocket. We were in our gear for about 2 hours, and there was a good bit of sweating involved. When we finished, I decided to take my knife out and see if there was any moisture on it.

Unfortunately there was. Along with quite a bit of brown surface rust spots. I have never had a blade rust this fast. I guess the combination of the heat, and my sweat put a hurt on it. I am not mad at anyone but myself. I used some oil, and wd 40 and got a lot of it out, but I do no think I can get all the stain out without messing up the tiger stripes. I know it is not damaged, but it sucks.

I just wanted to see if you all have any suggestions on cleaning it up.

Thanks,

Adam
 
Bar Keepers Friend is awesome at removing rust. Be careful because it is mildly abrasive so don't scrub hard, no gurentees it will not rub off some of the coating. I have used it very successfully on my BM710D2 with no scratching, but that is a stonewashed blade with no coating.

It's amazing that stainless steel rusted through whatever coating they put on their blades. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty upset about that on a $400 knife. What in the world do they coat those blades in and why wouldn't it be a rust preventive coating (what other purpose could it possibly serve)? If that coatings sole purpose is aesthetics, then shame on Strider. Could you post a pic of what rust is left?
 
I have had a very similar experience with Striders. I was very disappointed with the finish on the blade. Almost immediate surface rust with minimal use in the pocket. I think their coating is simply for looks, It does not protect the surface. It did not take much to get the blade clean again, but I stopped carrying it because I had to do it every day after work.
 
My friend also a firefighter, carries a serrated Spyderco Atlantic salt during training and work. Never has any problems. When he is rolling in the bus, he carries a XM-18.

Edit: +1 on the BarKeepers Friend. that stuff works great on rust.
 
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Sweat has a lot of salt in it. ;)

Salt and steel don't interact very well together and S30V isn't that rust resistant compared to some others.
 
Yeah, not a big deal. Like I said, it is not hurt, just stained. I guess this will become my away from work blade. The funny thing is, it has rusted, and has to go back to Strider because it is not locking up all the way, but I absolutely love this knife. There is just something about it.

Adam
 
being old school when stainless was'nt invented we just washed & oiled our blades after coming in from hikes & hunting. yesterday i was standing in the sun & noticed a light rust on my endura zdp. remarked to a friend i'm not even going to clean it off, just wash the blade. minor rust was never a big deal with us oldies but i've noticed the yougins really worry about it. as long as its only surface rust & doe'nt interfere with operation i usually just oil it ever now & then. funny thing when i spent a year in the tropics with the marines, it rained on us for days we never got rust on our m1s or our ka-bars . our training kept us doing the daily maintenance. remember in the 60s the lubricants were in the stone age compared to what we have now.i think the tuff glide daily wipe will solve your problem. dennis
 
My buddy has a tigerstriped SNG that had some rust spots on it. We used some scotchbright on it and it took care of the problem. Did not mess up the look of the blade, just use light pressure and you should be pleased with the results.
 
DennisStrickland said:
being old school when stainless was'nt invented we just washed & oiled our blades after coming in from hikes & hunting. yesterday i was standing in the sun & noticed a light rust on my endura zdp. remarked to a friend i'm not even going to clean it off, just wash the blade. minor rust was never a big deal with us oldies but i've noticed the yougins really worry about it. as long as its only surface rust & doe'nt interfere with operation i usually just oil it ever now & then. funny thing when i spent a year in the tropics with the marines, it rained on us for days we never got rust on our m1s or our ka-bars . our training kept us doing the daily maintenance. remember in the 60s the lubricants were in the stone age compared to what we have now.i think the tuff glide daily wipe will solve your problem. dennis
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I think that when someone pays $400 on a knife, he/she is entitled to expect the blade not to rust in 2 hours in contact with sweat.
 
sjhong said:
I think that when someone pays $400 on a knife, he/she is entitled to expect the blade not to rust in 2 hours in contact with sweat.
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I guess I just did not think about it. I have other S30V blades that I have never had rust on, but most of my knives are not saturated with sweat for 2 hours. I will get it cleaned up, the lock up fixed, and use the crap out of it.

Adam
 
I wouldn't worry about a bit of surface rust spots one bit. When I had my Strider, it went to work with me and I caught enough jobs that rust spots came quickly enough. It never bothered me, though. For the past 4+years, I've carried either a Sebenza or an Umnumzaan and both got some very slight rust spots on them from sweat. As a matter of fact, I just cleaned my Umnumzaan from a worker the other night just a few hours ago and it had a couple very small spots around the detent. I used a potato brush with some soap and put a bit of minral oil on the blade. Almost as good as new:thumbup:


Off subject, but I thought I screwed my Blackberry about a month ago at a job where I forgot to take it out of my shirt. It wouldn't work for a few hours, but after it dried out, it was fine:)
 
It has black oxide applied, and then bead blasted off to create the stripes. Bead blasted blades always rust easily. And black oxide isn't the best rust resting finish. SO, I would just hit it with a scotchbrite pad, and not worry about it.
 
gafirefighter said:
I guess I just did not think about it. I have other S30V blades that I have never had rust on, but most of my knives are not saturated with sweat for 2 hours. I will get it cleaned up, the lock up fixed, and use the crap out of it.

Adam
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Actually, I'm very surprised. After all, most of the times when we're using our knives there is some level of sweat involved. After a heavy usage day I clean my knives with a damp cloth and WD40, and that has been sufficient to keep them all rust free.

You left me paranoid with your story. :eek:
 
There was a youtube knife reviewer by the name of Apophysis7 who had a similar problem with near instant rusting on his SNGs. Well he was rightfully upset and asked Strider what was up and he basically got told he was an idiot and that it was normal... blah blah blah... Eventually they realized it was a legit problem and put a protective black coating over the blade.

So I suggest maybe giving Strider multiple calls/emails to see if they will do the same for you. My SNG has zero rust problems but it's in a stonewashed finish so that might be why. Makes no sense either way but yea that kinda rusting is unacceptable for a 400 dollar knife with a stainless blade.
 
misterjuiceman said:
I've heard matte finishes can rust more easily than satin or polished finishe.
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Sand/bead/shot blasted finishes have up to twice the surface area as a polished finish (least surface area possible). Not only do you have a lot more surface to rust, water also is able to "stick" to the pores where it will normally bead on a polished finish. Textured surfaces on steel also mess with the homogeniality of the crystalline structure which is what causes oxidation (annealed steel is much more rust resistant than hardened steel).

samhain73 said:
It has black oxide applied, and then bead blasted off to create the stripes. Bead blasted blades always rust easily. And black oxide isn't the best rust resting finish. SO, I would just hit it with a scotchbrite pad, and not worry about it.
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Well, that explains why the "coating" is not rust resistant. Black oxide does a marginal job at resisting rust as-is, let alone when you start blasting it off...
 
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