2+ years of SE Salt 2 daily use by a non knife AFI

[Evil D]

This knife was given to my buddy who isn't exactly a "knife guy" but he uses a knife daily for work. He uses it for literally anything that needs to be cut. It's been probably a year since I sharpened it last and it really shows.

The edge is literally dull...I don't know how he's even been cutting things with this knife. Practically all of the edge(s) reflect light.


I believe I read that the Japanese knives don't use DLC, they use some other coating and again, it shows a lot of wear. I wonder how a Golden made DLC blade would hold up to his uses? With DLC a lot of scratches end up being material transfer but these are indeed wear spots and scratches into the steel. The wear spots on the sides of the blade are from the finger groove points in the grip..




The clip has also wore a lot..



Also interesting is literally every screw on the whole knife was loose, and the clip was wiggling side to side.




The inside is a bit of a horror story too. He doesn't work around salt water or anything, but I think Salt knives are some of the best options for people who use and borderline abuse their knives and don't obsess over them like we AFI's do. Besides being really dirty and showing wear on the coated parts, there isn't a spec of corrosion anywhere.



^^ That brown crud on the blade, I'm not sure what it was. It was sort of like dirt, more of a dust consistency and it wiped off. There isn't any pitting or anything like that in the blade/coating.


We rotated this knife out with a combo edge S35VN Native 5. I'm anxious to see how he likes it and what his opinion is of it in use. I've really come to appreciate his unbiased and totally unpersuaded opinion.

[TenGrainBread]

Lovely-looking knife. Your buddy is lucky that you can take care of his knife maintenance every once in a while.

This is what jumps to mind when I think "patina". Not intentional acid-etching or oxidizing, but real wear from real use. The other term for it is "beausage" (beauty through use). The clip with the rubbed off paint (powder coat?) has a great look to it, even though I know a lot of people have gripes with how easy the clip coating wears off.

[Woodpuppy]

Salts are great for everything from harsh environment to benign neglect to actual abuse. Interesting running experiment you have there!

Edited to add: the clip on these Salt 2s is titanium so a little bath in acetone ought to give it a nice look too

[Evil D]

Lovely-looking knife. Your buddy is lucky that you can take care of his knife maintenance every once in a while.

This is what jumps to mind when I think "patina". Not intentional acid-etching or oxidizing, but real wear from real use. The French term is "beausage". The clip with the rubbed off paint (powder coat?) has a great look to it, even though I know a lot of people have gripes with how easy the clip coating wears off.

There was a time when this sort of wear drove me crazy but I have also come to really like it. I love a worn tool that looks like it has a lot of stories to tell. They're so much more interesting to look at than a knife that never leaves the box.

[Bolster]

The other term for it is "beausage" (beauty through use).

Ha! That's a great word, 'beausage'!

Although clearly, there's a fine line between 'beausage' and 'abeausage'. I think the photos are teetering on the latter.

[autoxer]

Wow, this is cool. I have this exact same knife, so it's nice to see what this one has gone through. Mine has had an easy life in comparison so far, even though it is my go-to knife for any and all outdoor adventures.

[Evil D]

Although clearly, there's a fine line between 'beausage' and 'abeausage'. I think the photos are teetering on the latter.

I dunno. I think I've finally got him to not scrape and use his knife as a screwdriver, otherwise I think we'd see that kind of wear and damage. I think this is just honest day to day real world use and the kind of use that the majority of Spyderco's customers probably put their knives through. This is what happens when a guy really only uses one knife everyday for over two years and he doesn't coddle it. The lockup is still rock solid, that tells me he isn't batonning with it or doing anything excessively hard with it (especially given that this is a linerless knife).

[VooDooChild]

Interesting that all the screws were loose.

[ladybug93]

d, my son has been waiting for the coated s30v pink delica to come out for a couple months now, but this thread helped me finally convinced him to save some money and get the black salt 2 instead. he knows how much i love my pacific, so that helps too, but seeing this thread and how durable the knife is helped.

[James Y]

Actually, the knife looks to be in pretty good shape, considering it’s been an only knife that hasn’t been babied. Wear like that on the pocket clip happens easily, especially on Salt models. IME, the LW H1 Salts tend to show wear on the blades and clips pretty easily.

Jim

[Haunted House]

I think it looks great, tons of character. Hopefully you can sharpen it up and send it once more into the fray.

I can’t wait till Spyderco makes a Salt 2 LC200N SE. It’s one of the very few knives I can forsee kicking the Cruwear Delica out of my pocket.

[Wartstein]

I always love to see Spydies that really get used.

That he still can "cut" / separate stuff clearly shows one advantage of SE I guess - PE that dull would be pretty much useless.
And I think: Good thing in his case that the knife has the stouter sabre/hollow grind tip - a thin ffg tip probably would have snapped off at some point with this kind of use
Funny that all the screws were loose, but non actually lost

[TkoK83Spy]

I wish I could devote myself to use a knife for longer than a week at a time to see how well they truly hold up. I definitely give mine a lot of use, but I have too many and rotate them too frequently, also give them a cleaning and sharpening after each week of use. I know I'll never thin the herd enough to do this, as I'm sure 99.9% of people on this forum would also have the same problem. So, it is nice to see something like this. Thanks for posting David.

[M Sea]

Lovely-looking knife. Your buddy is lucky that you can take care of his knife maintenance every once in a while.

This is what jumps to mind when I think "patina". Not intentional acid-etching or oxidizing, but real wear from real use. The French term is "beausage". The clip with the rubbed off paint (powder coat?) has a great look to it, even though I know a lot of people have gripes with how easy the clip coating wears off.

There was a time when this sort of wear drove me crazy but I have also come to really like it. I love a worn tool that looks like it has a lot of stories to tell. They're so much more interesting to look at than a knife that never leaves the box.

Same!!

[StuntZombie]

For being in the hands of a non-knife nut for the past 2 years, that Salt is in pretty good shape.

Crazy as it sounds, I miss the days of being a one knife guy. You know what you'll be using every day, and you know it's capabilities and what it can't handle. And it makes it a lot easier to figure out what you're putting in your pockets each morning.

[tonijedi]

The Salt 2 SE is my all time favorite knife.
Yes, it has a lot of things that "on paper" aren't perfect, but it is a capable tool.

I'm tempted to get a PE H1 as well, and both versions of the LC200N.

I may sell my entire folder collection just to have "simple" Seki Salt Spyders.

[Fred Sanford]

Hey David,

Great write up and thread. Love seeing well used knives. That's hilarious about all of the screws being loose. LOL.

Nice to "see" ya. I'm still around, just lurk more as life has been busy. :)

-David Lowry

[Bemo]

Love a well used tool with honest wear that have the story of a life well lived on it. It's that Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi. Would love to see more pictures like this.

[ladybug93]

what i love most about my pacific salt is that it begs to be used more than any other knife i own. i have very similar wear on mine as is pictured here and i couldn't ask for a better knife. i'm glad my son saw this thread and changed his mind for the black se salt 2. i ordered it for him tonight and i know he's going to love that knife for a long time.