Sweaty pockets???

Monofletch

Monofletch

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
10,352
I am curious. Those of you that work outside all day in the heat (like me) -I walk ALL DAY at work and I get soaked with sweat. I know my knife gets wet also. The salty old man sweat can't be good for my S30V!!

Do you carry a special knife or do you take any extra precautions when wiping your blades? I use Break Free (CLP) every so often- is that enough?
 
I work outdoors as well, year round. In jeans since we arn't allowed to wear shorts for safety reasons.

I have not had one speck of rust on my S30v Military. With no special treatment of the blade at all.
 
I do, but I mostly carry something lightweight. Dragonfly, Delica, Tasman and 556 Mini-Grip. I don't baby them, but the've been without issue.
 
Among my many jobs was carrying mail for over 35 years in the El Paso Texas . Break Free CLP should be fine.
 
I've had knives develop a few spots of rust while in my pocket, but the common theme among them has been a bead-blasted finish. I find that, for me, finish seems to make a bigger difference in corrosion resistance than steel type, as I've carried stonewashed D2 that has done fine and seen bead-blasted ATS-34 and 440C rust.

Of course, if you're particularly worried about it you could always pick up a nice, H1 folder from Spyderco and completely eliminate the worry. ;)
 
I typically carry a traditional in my coin pocket in either ATS-34 or 154CM steel. I do construction so I get sweaty all the time, and often times I can feel the moisture built up in my pocket. I've never had a problem with rust...

I put a drop or two of Tuf-Glide on the pivot maybe once every 3-6 months...
 
skyhorse said:
Among my many jobs was carrying mail for over 35 years in the El Paso Texas . Break Free CLP should be fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wipe down my blades with one of those rags that are manufactured with gun oil in them, and plus the fast 4 years I've been using it to wipe CLP on my guns so its soaked with that as well. Just wipe all of the metal down with something like that and it should prevent any rusting. Reapply after you get sweat on any blade, otherwise just reapply when ever you want. It gets finger prints and smudges off very well too so I'm typically wiping them down a lot if its a blade I want to snap a picture of.
 
One quick note, if you use your blade on food at all I would wipe it down with mineral oil rather than the various synthetic options. Mineral oil will be food safe (I'm sure some other option are as well, but I don't know which ones) and it won't go rancid like olive oil or vegetable oil.
 
I noticed a little on one side of the blade on my Lahar (VG10). This was after handling it often for several days and shoveling stalls one evening. The side the rust was on was against my leg. It wiped off. Rubbed some Rem oil on it. I have some Frog Lube I use on my handguns. I will see if it would be ok for knives. I think it's supposed to be edible.
 
jaredrg said:
I noticed a little on one side of the blade on my Lahar (VG10). This was after handling it often for several days and shoveling stalls one evening. The side the rust was on was against my leg. It wiped off. Rubbed some Rem oil on it. I have some Frog Lube I use on my handguns. I will see if it would be ok for knives. I think it's supposed to be edible.
Click to expand...

I don't think it is "edible"... however, I dont think it is harmful if it contacts food.

In other words, don't eat the lube:)

MSDS: https://froglube.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/OSHA174-MSDS-FROGLUBE-2014-final.pdf
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I've had knives develop a few spots of rust while in my pocket, but the common theme among them has been a bead-blasted finish. I find that, for me, finish seems to make a bigger difference in corrosion resistance than steel type, as I've carried stonewashed D2 that has done fine and seen bead-blasted ATS-34 and 440C rust.......
Click to expand...

I strongly agree. I will not buy a bead-blast blade or steel case. In the last case of that it saved me some money because I bought the "lesser" steel satin model because the upgraded steel version was bead-blast.

In my experience, the closer a steel is to a mirror finish the better it resists rust.
 
I sweat out jeans completely some days and almost every day ill pull out my knofe and it had sweat condensation all over it, had not affected my pm2 s30v, 801 elmax, or domino xhp. Its always on the back of my mind but still blows me away how resistant anf tough all these steels are.
 
I'm outside in Florida wearing painter's pants all day long. My EDC rotation includes a ZT301 which is S30V and a Mini-Commander with 154CM. By the end of the day I'm totally soaked in sweat. I really pay little attention to my knives except to wipe them down when I think of it. No problems yet.
 
It's really about your own body chemistry. I have seen spots on my own Kershaw and Benchmade S30V folder blades after having one in my pocket all day. They are exposed to enough sweat to where the sweat literally drops off the blade.

I find that a rinse and dry after I come in is more important than anything else. I use a nylon belt holster sometimes. That helps also. Spyderco H1 knives have never been a corrosion problem.
 
EChoil said:
In my experience, the closer a steel is to a mirror finish the better it resists rust.
Click to expand...

This :thumbup:

I use a SE Salt 1 when I go mountain biking or do other sweaty stuff. Probably wouldn't need to since I have a lot of coated knives, but it is a really nice knife.
I don't sweat at work, we have water cooled ceilings :D
 
I've never had a problem. I usually clean my knives with some 99% isopropyl alcohol, it gets all the gunk off and evaporates cleanly.
 
Monofletch said:
I am curious. Those of you that work outside all day in the heat (like me) -I walk ALL DAY at work and I get soaked with sweat. I know my knife gets wet also. The salty old man sweat can't be good for my S30V!!

Do you carry a special knife or do you take any extra precautions when wiping your blades? I use Break Free (CLP) every so often- is that enough?
Click to expand...

In the past I have worked outside doing construction. I have never had rust issues with any stainless blade that I carried under those conditions. Zero precautions taken.
 
For years I worked outside getting very sweaty while in a saltwater environment. Break Free CLP is what I used and it does a great job preventing corrosion.

The key is though to wipe clean and apply BF regularly. It's good stuff but will only provide protection for so long once metal has been exposed to direct saltwater / sweat. Regular wiping of the blade and and application of CLP will keep it rust free though. If some corrosion does develop, a blade treated with CLP will make it easier to remove.

Break Free also recommends a 2 hour min cure for best results. I'd do this every so often at night when I wouldn't be using the blade. I'd apply, leave wet letting it sit overnight and wiped of the excess in the morning before use. This worked very well for me with both knives and firearms.
 
Buy yourself a nylon pouch for it, for the extra protection, wear it on your belt instead of in your pocket. I know that this will slow your deployment time down considerably, but it will protect the knife from damage and corrosion, which is more important?.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top