Which knives/steels have held up to rust the best?

whitty

whitty

Dealer / Materials Provider
Joined
Aug 25, 2005
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I just got back from a wedding at the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay. My cousin, who is on the water all the time, pulled out his ZT 0350 to show me how well it was holding up. He bought the knife from me over a year ago. There was some very visible rust but considering all he does is rinse it off with a hose every once in a while, I was amazed how little it was. I took it and cleaned it up for him with some WD40 and a paper towel. With in minutes the knife looked almost new. I was shocked that this knife was avoiding rust amazingly well with the S30V steel.

So my question for you guys is outside of the Salt series in H1 steel from Spyderco, which knives have avoided rust much to your surprise?


Side Note: I am not a rust freak. I don't think a little rust on a knife hurts a thing!

Whitty
 
I've had rust show up on almost all of my knives, as I have extremely corrosive body chemistry. The only exceptions to this have been S30V and S35VN.
 
amg137 said:
I've had rust show up on almost all of my knives, as I have extremely corrosive body chemistry. The only exceptions to this have been S30V and S35VN.
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I sweat like a mad man and my knifes in S30V and S35VN also seem to do great!
 
whitty said:
I sweat like a mad man and my knifes in S30V and S35VN also seem to do great!
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I also second this. I have trouble carrying any carbon steels because they start rusting sometimes in only a day for me without regular oiling or the use of a rust inhibitor.

S30V, S35VN, M390, and Elmax are the steels I've had the most luck with in terms of corrosion resistance.

I find that the finishing of the blade matters a lot as well. I won't even buy blasted blades anymore, after one rusted up on me while on a camping trip (not a cheap knife either, had it stonewashed after), but stonewashed, polished, and some finer satin blades work every well at aiding the corrosion-resistance of the knife from my experience.

Of course, a coated blade is extremely unlikely to rust, but unless I know the coating is very well done, and won't have any longevity issues, I avoid those for the most part. Hate having to baby a knife :p
 
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Nitrobe-77, 14C28N, 12C27, N690, RWL-34 all in customs.

Here is Nitrobe-77 last year.

[video=youtube;ZKFeVML59ZI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKFeVML59ZI[/video]
 
S90V, S110V, 440C

Be aware that all the steels mentioned ( not Nitrobe, etc. These aren't "proper" steels) will have different results in corrosion tests depending on which heat treat and temper was used. You can look this stuff up on their Data sheets. The same will be true for maximum toughness and /or maximum wear resistance. There are some cases where you might have final hardness of rc 61 on two other wise exactly similar knives you made yet despite both having rc 61 hardness one will have better corrosion resistance and one will have substantially lower corrosion resistance but have max wear resistance. Heat treat charts give time and temp's and will help you select the info you need including the number of tempers and if Cryo is needed..

Joe
 
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I haven't really tested my knives around salt water but I honestly think if you just rinse your knife well after use around corrosive fluids you shouldn't have a problem with any steel ranging from 8cr13mov and up. I use a Spyderco Resilience in the kitchen. I've cut tons of fruits, veggies and meats with it. I do rinse the knife after each use. Not a single spot on the thing.

That said I've had rust show up on a cheap ass non specified steel blade from just exposure to air. It was a beadblasted finish on that blade. Like someone above said, I try to steer clear of beadblasted blades. The only exception being my SOG Pentagon Elite 1.
 
Managed to have stone washed M390 get some minor surface rust the last few days, but came off pretty easily.
Sucks living in a sub-tropic basin during typhoon season. Oddly enough, 3V came out unscathed.
 
CTS-XHP is very corrosion resistant. I purposely carried one of mine literally in the lake, fishing in chest-deep water and kept it in the wet leather sheath all weekend just to see what would happen... not one spot of rust or tarnish. Of course that's a terrible idea in general and I certainly wouldn't recommend it... but it was fine.

Finish is indeed important. The smoother the surface, the less likely a blade is to corrode.
 
underdog406 said:
Managed to have stone washed M390 get some minor surface rust the last few days, but came off pretty easily.
Sucks living in a sub-tropic basin during typhoon season. Oddly enough, 3V came out unscathed.
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I lived in Taiwan (Taipei) for many years (1985 to 1993) and my Victorinox Spartan SAK never rusted. Although it did get lots of gunk in the inner workings, because at the time, I rarely cleaned it. After I returned Stateside, I finally thought to clean it out, and everything was fine. If something can resist corrosion while being carried/used in Taiwan over several years, I'd say it's very corrosion-resistant.

Jim
 
Elmax is doing well for me so far (in stonewashed finish).

Cronidur 30 evo and vanax 35 are both high n2 steels similar to h1 that are very resistant. I love my cronidur shiro but vanax I found rolled kinda easy.

Blade finish does play a part. A satin finish (grind finished) will resist a little better than bead blast (which can open up pores and allow materials to stay in even after cleaning). Not sure where stonewashed falls on that but as I said, my SW Elmax is doing very very well.
 
i'VE BEEN KNOWN to strip cables in rain,in manholes and in sub zero wheather for 40 years with my two dot Buck 112 NEVER showes rust.
 
I have a stretch with VG-10 that I mistakenly took in the salt. Now I have some rust stains on the blades. Anyone know how to get these off?
 
KC Huntin said:
I have a stretch with VG-10 that I mistakenly took in the salt. Now I have some rust stains on the blades. Anyone know how to get these off?
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Try Flitz.

Perhaps a Spyderco with H-1 steel like Pacific Salt.
 
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