Caribbean One Year Teardown.

[Sumdumguy]

Well I've been carying the Caribbean for a little over a year straight. In that time it has traveled the country several times over, spent countless hours in the ocean, been used with reckless abandon and subjected to almost no maintenance. I rinse it off with fresh water every once in a while and keep the blade relatively clean(more for food, than care).

Here is the result:


There were a few slight spots of rust on the liners, which I have to attribute to metal contamination due to a rougher(relatively) finish compared to the blade. There was possibly some galvanic corrosion where the standoffs were.

I wiped everything down with mineral oil, which removed 90% of the "corrosion". The rest was removed with my fingernail, it now looks shiny and new.

The blade itself has zero discoloration of any kind.


After cleaning it and reassembling it, the action has improved ten-fold. It is now as good as any Golden made Comp lock, slick as ice.

All that has been done to it is a cleaning, drying and application of a miniscule amount of mineral oil to either side of the blade tang where the washers ride(used a toothpick).

I feel safe calling it rustproof.

Nothing else has or will be done to this knife. It will go back into my pocket until this time next year, at which point we will open it back up.

Thanks for reading!


Also, thank you Sal for this fantastic tool!

[curlyhairedboy]

This is definitely making me hunger for another one...

[sok]

That's actually pretty impressive. Thanks for sharing.

[PayneTrain]

The best kind of review! Thanks indeed for taking the time to share. It's good to know that the most minimal amount of care will keep this sort of knife running like new!

[vivi]

Not quite what I'd consider 100% rust proof, but it looks a world better than my Police 4 did after its one year break down! Thanks for sharing.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84857

[Sumdumguy]

Not quite what I'd consider 100% rust proof, but it looks a world better than my Police 4 did after its one year break down! Thanks for sharing.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84857

I believe most, if not all of the corrosion is from surface contamination during manufacturing.

The blade has zero corrosion at all. But it has a finer finish, where the liners are fairly rough.

I'm going to open it up one more time and go over the liners and everything with some high grit sandpaper. I'll clean it back up and start the clock for a year and then we can have a better idea as to whether or not it is surface contamination.

[phaust]

Great pic. I will be looking forward to the next year follow-up as well. I'm sticking with H1 when I want rustproof for now.

[vivi]

Not quite what I'd consider 100% rust proof, but it looks a world better than my Police 4 did after its one year break down! Thanks for sharing.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84857

I believe most, if not all of the corrosion is from surface contamination during manufacturing.

The blade has zero corrosion at all. But it has a finer finish, where the liners are fairly rough.

I'm going to open it up one more time and go over the liners and everything with some high grit sandpaper. I'll clean it back up and start the clock for a year and then we can have a better idea as to whether or not it is surface contamination.

Thanks for taking the time to do that. I'll be interested to see your follow up! No rust on my Waterway so far, LC200N is good stuff IMO.

[Sumdumguy]

Glad you all liked it! I sure have enjoyed getting it to this point.

I'm going to get some of those fancy CBN glass stones and start working on my freehand sharpening skills. I want to see how different edges act on it.

Random though, the Caribbean's handle design is still my favorite. The only handle that is better, is the Micarta Street Beat. Both are perfection in their class.

[Bill1170]

Glad you all liked it! I sure have enjoyed getting it to this point.

I'm going to get some of those fancy CBN glass stones and start working on my freehand sharpening skills. I want to see how different edges act on it.

Random though, the Caribbean's handle design is still my favorite. The only handle that is better, is the Micarta Street Beat. Both are perfection in their class.

Thanks for posting this. Your handle remark is some impressive praise.

[Pelagic]

Fasteners are hard to keep stain free unless absolutely everything is made out of the same steel. Dissimilar metals often eat each other alive. Knife looks great for a year of use. I often use knives for a week or 2 that look worse than that!

[Sumdumguy]

Fasteners are hard to keep stain free unless absolutely everything is made out of the same steel. Dissimilar metals often eat each other alive. Knife looks great for a year of use. I often use knives for a week or 2 that look worse than that!

That's what I was expecting, but the screws had zero discoloration. Only where the standoffs touched the liners was there a little bit of discoloration and even that wiped off with no effort.

Thanks for posting this. Your handle remark is some impressive praise.

It's deserving of far more. This knife has been a 100% home run since I purchased it.

I'm championing for this design to become it's own model, with a bunch of steel variants. As a Salt it is perfect, but the design stands on it's own without that designation. I need it in M4, Vanax SC, K390, Cruwear, Supergold, Superblue, Damasteel, Maxam... I'll stop now.

:spyder:

[vivi]

The handle on this model is fantastic. I'd likely have it in my pocket as I type if it were a backlock!

[JaxBaron]

Awesome 1 year update. The Caribbean is one of my favorite knives. I carry my frequently to the beach. Glad to see the blade and liners are holding up!

[Evil D]

The handle on this model is fantastic. I'd likely have it in my pocket as I type if it were a backlock!

I'd be interested in one if it got the FRN Salt handle treatment. As long as the change to back lock doesn't create a giant kick/ricasso that eats up edge length I'm all in. I'm not sure they can do that on this model but the Centofante 3's edge goes all the way to the handle (minus the sharpening choil) so it's definitely possible to make a back lock with a blade like the Caribbean.

[vivi]

The handle on this model is fantastic. I'd likely have it in my pocket as I type if it were a backlock!

I'd be interested in one if it got the FRN Salt handle treatment. As long as the change to back lock doesn't create a giant kick/ricasso that eats up edge length I'm all in. I'm not sure they can do that on this model but the Centofante 3's edge goes all the way to the handle (minus the sharpening choil) so it's definitely possible to make a back lock with a blade like the Caribbean.

I'd like that too, that's one of the most attractive qualities of this knife outside of the bladesteel and ergos. I wonder if a salt could use a chap style internal stop pin rather than a kick?

[Evil D]

The handle on this model is fantastic. I'd likely have it in my pocket as I type if it were a backlock!

I'd be interested in one if it got the FRN Salt handle treatment. As long as the change to back lock doesn't create a giant kick/ricasso that eats up edge length I'm all in. I'm not sure they can do that on this model but the Centofante 3's edge goes all the way to the handle (minus the sharpening choil) so it's definitely possible to make a back lock with a blade like the Caribbean.

I'd like that too, that's one of the most attractive qualities of this knife outside of the bladesteel and ergos. I wonder if a salt could use a chap style internal stop pin rather than a kick?

I started to suggest that in the other post but if they can do it with the Centofante it can be done on others. The Centofante does work with a kick, it just has a handle that comes up further towards the edge than other back locks so it hides the kick.

[Sumdumguy]

While I love the backlock, the Compression lock is part of this knife's perfection. I like the flow through design on my heavy users for ease of cleaning.

Now the Shaman, that should be a backlock!

[Cambertree]

Great write up Sumdumguy. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

I’ve been enjoying my PE Leaf Caribbean a lot, it’s been my main user along with the AEB-L Urban as a smaller knife, for a while now.

Very impressed with it. I’d love a Vanax SC version.

[ladybug93]

Not quite what I'd consider 100% rust proof, but it looks a world better than my Police 4 did after its one year break down! Thanks for sharing.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84857

I believe most, if not all of the corrosion is from surface contamination during manufacturing.

The blade has zero corrosion at all. But it has a finer finish, where the liners are fairly rough.

I'm going to open it up one more time and go over the liners and everything with some high grit sandpaper. I'll clean it back up and start the clock for a year and then we can have a better idea as to whether or not it is surface contamination.

i wonder if it would've made a difference if you had taken the knife apart when you first got it and cleaned it to remove any stray metal that might have been left by machining. i guess you'll know in a year or so.