User S35VN knives and corrosion

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Hermit_Knight

Joined
Mar 19, 2018
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Just wandering about s35vn steel on user knives and what your experience has been in regards to their corrosion resistance. Have you used them in summer or humid conditions or in/near the ocean? How did it hold up?
 
Living in south Louisiana about 30 minutes from the gulf, where the humidity in the summertime averages 80%, S35VN has not been a problem. I’m very pleased with the corrosion resistance. So far my CRK’s, ZT’s haven’t had any signs of staining.
 
I’ve used S35VN from ZT, Kizer, and WE quite a bit. No issues at all.

A friend of mine had light spotting on a Bestech Pterodactyl, on the bead blasted flats.
 
Ajack60 said:
Living in south Louisiana about 30 minutes from the gulf, where the humidity in the summertime averages 80%, S35VN has not been a problem. I’m very pleased with the corrosion resistance. So far my CRK’s, ZT’s haven’t had any signs of staining.
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That’s reassuring thanks, so does s35vn stain before it rusts?
 
RBid said:
I’ve used S35VN from ZT, Kizer, and WE quite a bit. No issues at all.

A friend of mine had light spotting on a Bestech Pterodactyl, on the bead blasted flats.
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A lot of threads mention bead blasting and corrosion would you know if bead blasting and sandblasting are the same thing? Thanks.
 
Depends on the blade finishing mostly. Like mentioned above bead blasting will rust easier than say a mirror blade. Anything where water or humidity can bead up and make a home for rust. It can be easily removed for the most part.

If you don't dry your knives they can rust regardless.
 
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I carried a CRK inkosi, in s35vn, this summer, clipped inside my waistband. Lots of typical edc tasks, opening mail, breaking down cardboard, making fuzz sticks and so forth. Usually would strop on hardwood once every week or so to maintain bragging rights sharpness.

Anyway, clipped it into my waistband and spent the day swimming in the Columbia river with it. I’d actually forgettin about it till it was time to build a fire that evening.

I had just stroped it to hair popping sharp the day before and now it was dull as a door nail.
The sharpened edge had rust along the whole length.

The next day I disassembled the knife to inspect the rest of the blade and found spots of rust near the edge of the choil.

From what I’ve read hear and elsewhere this isn’t a common occurrence, especially in a freshwater environment.

I will say, however, that that blade has a film of mineral oil on it when carried in the same environment.
 
peppercorn said:
I carried a CRK inkosi, in s35vn, this summer, clipped inside my waistband. Lots of typical edc tasks, opening mail, breaking down cardboard, making fuzz sticks and so forth. Usually would strop on hardwood once every week or so to maintain bragging rights sharpness.

Anyway, clipped it into my waistband and spent the day swimming in the Columbia river with it. I’d actually forgettin about it till it was time to build a fire that evening.

I had just stroped it to hair popping sharp the day before and now it was dull as a door nail.
The sharpened edge had rust along the whole length.

The next day I disassembled the knife to inspect the rest of the blade and found spots of rust near the edge of the choil.

From what I’ve read hear and elsewhere this isn’t a common occurrence, especially in a freshwater environment.

I will say, however, that that blade has a film of mineral oil on it when carried in the same environment.
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Yeah I don’t really see many threads that mention crk knives rusting so fast!
 
No problems with my ZTs. I carry them as work knives during my construction work, and on the days I work with my crews, they get soaked with my salty, really acid sweat. I can cause just about any steel to rust during the summer months and the most I have seen on my 0909 after carrying it a week on site without any maintenance is a few tiny rust spots. They easily flicked off with my fingernail, so I am quite pleased.

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
No problems with my ZTs. I carry them as work knives during my construction work, and on the days I work with my crews, they get soaked with my salty, really acid sweat. I can cause just about any steel to rust during the summer months and the most I have seen on my 0909 after carrying it a week on site without any maintenance is a few tiny rust spots. They easily flicked off with my fingernail, so I am quite pleased.

Robert
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That’s pretty impressive!
 
Hermit_Knight said:
That’s reassuring thanks, so does s35vn stain before it rusts?
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From what I've experienced with stainless, you will see rust spots before any stains. I've got a couple in ZDP189 and have seen light rust spots. Nothing a cleaning won't take care of. That's about the only stainless I've encountered that has issues with light rust.
 
I use some s35vn culinary knives extensively in a professional environment and have had zero instances of rust or staining. The petty knife that I use often for butchering meat often sits with blood on it for a little while. When I wash and sanitize, I usually do not wipe it dry, simply hang it on the knife rack. It does get wiped dry after the final wash/sanitize of the day but other than that it is in use and in a humid kitchen all day.

I do not have an EDC knife in that steel but I can't imagine anything I did to it would be harder than a commercial kitchen. It has become my favorite knife steel. Razor sharp and easy to keep that way.

The knives I use are from New West Knifeworks.
 
I've heard with some alloys, that as the RC hardness goes up, the stain resistance goes down?
Wonder if that's true with S35VN.

Where's Larin?
 
The main knives I own in S35VN are CRKs. I've carried and used some in damp/wet weather, and haven't really had any issues so far, other than a bit of rust in the choil area (the indented area where the blade contacts the stop pin when closed), and occasionally a tiny bit in between the jimping. It's been easy enough to scrape off with a toothpick or a pin. I've become more mindful of drying the choil area after doing thing like cutting fruit, or working with it outside in a damp environment. A Q-tip works fine for that.

Jim
 
Akcir said:
I've heard with some alloys, that as the RC hardness goes up, the stain resistance goes down?
Wonder if that's true with S35VN.

Where's Larin?
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I wouldn't say that is true in general. The main heat treatment effects that change corrosion resistance are 1) austenitizing temperature (higher is better) and 2) tempering temperature (use the low range instead of the high range). Higher austenitizing temperature usually leads to higher hardness, the choice of low vs high tempering isn't necessarily to get higher or lower hardness.
 
I live very close to the water and the humidity is usually pretty high. Any knife that you take care of will not rust. I have many high carbon knives that are merely wiped off and dry that do not rust. How do you think mariners kept their blades rust free? Just take care of any steel and it will not rust.
 
The trouble with bead-blasting is that it increases surface area for exposure and can trap more dirt, residue, salt, etc. A good steel like S35VN is naturally more resistant but it can still have problems if badly neglected. Even more corrosion-prone steels like 8Cr13Mov and D2 can do well if properly cared for. Just keep your blade clean and oiled.

To clean, I usually wipe down the surface with a little rubbing alcohol or vodka on a cloth. It dries quickly. Then I wipe down the surface with a little mineral oil using a different piece of cloth. This fast and simple maintenance goes a long way.
 
I used my Fiddleback Pro-Hiking buddy on a fishing & snorkeling trip to the keys last year. I wanted to see how it would hold up. It did get an orange slim on it while snorkeling for a few hours, but it wiped right off. I washed it off when we got back to the boat dock. My gut feeling is that the s20v will do a bit better, but can't prove it yet. Maybe this summer after we move to Perdido Key I can test this theory.
 
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