rusty steels

[ladybug93]

why is everyone in such a hurry to throw so much money at steels that readily rust? some of these sprints and exclusives don’t make sense to me. i live in a salty environment, but even in a more arid environment, i wouldn’t want to buy a knife in a steel that prefers to be rusty. patinas are great and all, but wouldn’t you prefer something that withstands rust better than m4? why all the hype over these steels? what good is toughness if you have to keep it locked away with silica gel so the air doesn’t eat it?

[tvenuto]

I can see the appeal. After all, people will spend more for natural indigo jeans so they’ll fade in use. No doubt the garment makers rejoiced at the advent of colorfast pigments and thought it was an improvement that everyone would want.

My gripe is that people seem to like a particular quality in a basic non-stainless (“52100 takes a keen edge easily!”), but then focus only on the downside of a similar stainless alloy (“AEB-L doesn’t have enough wear resistance!”).

[SF Native]

I enjoy a wide variety of steels. Steels like m4 and k390 have the advantage of taking a really fine edge and holding it for a long time. And sharpening is not as hard to get right like s110v.

[Catamount123]

[TkoK83Spy]

I find the non stainless steels easier to sharpen for the most part. Plus, once I start to develop a patina, for me...it becomes much easier to use the knife because it's already been "compromised" It's no longer in pristine condition. Now, My GB2 isn't used around any humid environments or salty situations because I just love the classy look of that knife without a patina. I certainly still use it on a weekly basis though. I've got the BHQ Para 3/DLC in M4 that has my "user" M4 knife and that's where I learned to love M4 steel.

It's really not that difficult or take THAT much work to keep a non stainless in good shape. Clean the blade after use, wash out your pivot, coat it with a bit of mineral oil and you're good to go in most situations.

Another thing for me is the look. I like a different look on some knives, not everything has to look brand new and pampered like a classic car...their just knives folks!

[Enactive]

I like all sorts of steels. I live in a very humid environment and some basic care goes a long way. Some of us are used to and like took steels from other tools that we use, and want folders made of them too. That said I respect your saltier experience. I love LC AND V-Tokul 2. Both very good steels. I am completely polyamorous when it comes to good and great steels!

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

It is a good question but I would not throw M4 under the bus as a rusty steel. K390 Yes, 52100 yes, REX45 yes.

M4 Has yet to rust on me and I live in Florida Atlantic side. I do keep mineral oil on M4 but not often.

One of the reasons is the way the steel cuts.

Different steels do cut differently and have a different feel to them some get allot sharper than others and sharpen easier also.

Another factor is honing a blade more often yet always having a truly sharp blade versus a working sharp blade that is only truly sharp for a very short period of time. S30V is a good example of a steel that holds a working edge for a long period of time but does not approach the sharpness of other steels you can get it very sharp but it does not last long. It is also more difficult to sharpen than other steels like VG-10 and get truly sharp. VG-10 is an excellent choice in a steel and is very corrosion resistant.

I love VG-10 even though it has been receiving far less love than it deserves it can take a very sharp edge hold it for a good amount of time and only need minor honing to bring it right back to hair shaving sharp, this is also true of LC200N Which is Rust Proof, and M4. Another steel I have noticed this to be true of is CTS-XHP.

[curlyhairedboy]

I've got several seasons where I can't carry M4. K390 was a lot better behaved for me.

[The Meat man]

I use and enjoy steels ranging from H-1 to Super Blue. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and any steel decision is going to involve trade-offs somewhere.

I enjoy low-chromium steels because I find that many of them are 1) easier and quicker to take a screaming sharp edge, 2) are generally less prone to chipping [i.e., tougher], and 3) seems to have improved cutting performance over high chromium steels (subjective).

I have not had any significant rust problems at all with any of my non-stainless knives.(including CPM M4 and K390) The worst I ever experienced was on my Maxamet Native, after using it for a week in NC doing flood cleanup after Hurricane Florence. I cut soggy carpet, drywall, pex tubing, carved driftwood at the beach, and other things, never doing anything more than occasionally wiping the blade off on my pants. All that resulted in just a few tiny orange dots which easily rubbed off with a finger.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I find for myself that the extra effort to maintain non-stainless steels is miniscule.

[Mattysc42]

Eezox on knives that never touch food. Edci on knives that do. Never seen a spec of rust even when using 1095 in a downpour while backpacking for 3 days.

[carrot]

I enjoy low-chromium steels because I find that many of them are 1) easier and quicker to take a screaming sharp edge, 2) are generally less prone to chipping [i.e., tougher], and 3) seems to have improved cutting performance over high chromium steels (subjective).

I agree. Not all knives are for all uses for sure.

But in places where a non-stainless can be used and maintained with some regularity it's well worth the extra effort. My favorite woods knives are carbon steel and I also enjoy using carbon steel in the kitchen.

It is night and day how easily you can put a nice keen edge onto some carbon steels whereas many stainless steels in a similar category almost feel like they're fighting you to stay dull.

[JonLeBlanc]

I love carbon steels like 52100 for the very reasons OP seems to think are not very good ones, namely ease of sharpening to a razor edge and toughness. And I live on the gulf coast and have had no problems keeping 52100 clear of corrosion. So for me, they work, and that's all I need justify and enjoy their use.

[vivi]

The thing I don't understand is why so many Spyderco folders use carbon steels VS nearly exclusively using stainless for fixed blades.

I value toughness more in a fixed blade.

I worry about corrosion more in a folder.

Always seemed backwards to me.

[bearfacedkiller]

I would say that the OP is exaggerating how rust prone many of the tool steels are. I don't find them that hard to maintain. They don't need to be locked away in silica gel and air won't eat them away.

Also, there are reasons besides toughness to choose a tool steel. The edges behave considerably differently. It could be easy to simply call S90V a stainless 10V due to how similar their compositions are but in reality they are actually quite different.

Short answer is, you need to be an edge junky to understand. :)

[Enactive]

The thing I don't understand is why so many Spyderco folders use carbon steels VS nearly exclusively using stainless for fixed blades.

I value toughness more in a fixed blade.

I worry about corrosion more in a folder.

Always seemed backwards to me.

I agree about the fixed blades for sure. Maybe why I don't have any Spyderco fixed blades (except santoku). Waterway and Bow River appeal to me tho.

[RazorSharp86]

The thing I don't understand is why so many Spyderco folders use carbon steels VS nearly exclusively using stainless for fixed blades.

I value toughness more in a fixed blade.

I worry about corrosion more in a folder.

Always seemed backwards to me.

Been wondering the same for years..!

[Bloke]

This reminds me of Mr Glesser saying, “All good, just different” (or something to that effect).

To that end I feel as it goes, it’s more a case of horses for courses as opposed to rusty versus non-rusty. For example, I wouldn’t use an S90V Sprig with a coarse edge to put points on hardwood sticks, just as I wouldn’t use an O1 Scandi with a polished edge to fillet fish or dress game and I wouldn’t wash either in the surf as I do H1.

As mentioned above I also believe if you’re having issues with carbon steel rusting, Eezox is your friend. :)

[Tucson Tom]

The thing I don't understand is why so many Spyderco folders use carbon steels VS nearly exclusively using stainless for fixed blades.

I value toughness more in a fixed blade.

I worry about corrosion more in a folder.

Always seemed backwards to me.

Agreed. I make noises on a regular basis about how nice it would be to see 52100 in a fixed blade.

My bet is that the sales numbers for fixed blades are way below folders, so we just don't see sprints and exclusives. But I could certainly see the sense is making a regular production fixed blade in 52100 (or any number of other steels). At least it makes sense from my side of the fence.

[p_atrick]

The thing I don't understand is why so many Spyderco folders use carbon steels VS nearly exclusively using stainless for fixed blades.

I value toughness more in a fixed blade.

I worry about corrosion more in a folder.

Always seemed backwards to me.

On a recent Mark of the Maker podcast, Tom Krein said something similar to this. If he wants toughness, he goes with a fixed blade. He went on to say that a folder should get sharp and keep that edge for a good while.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

The thing I don't understand is why so many Spyderco folders use carbon steels VS nearly exclusively using stainless for fixed blades.

I value toughness more in a fixed blade.

I worry about corrosion more in a folder.

Always seemed backwards to me.

On a recent Mark of the Maker podcast, Tom Krein said something similar to this. If he wants toughness, he goes with a fixed blade. He went on to say that a folder should get sharp and keep that edge for a good while.

Agreed let’s not forget unless you are taking your folder apart there will be corrosion you can’t see proved that with my CTS204P Military. Same as M390.

In today’s world LC200N comes closest to grail Steel