Spyderco Forums

I'm looking to buy a Millie online and I notice some of them have "military" printed on the blade up near the spine. Is this an older model? I kind of prefer the ones without the print.

Yep, just the old ones. I would suggest holding off until the new Cruwear sprint drops, but you do live tropical and might want maintenance free steel. The DLC coated s30v digicam and black G10 are about as worry free as it gets, hence the Diamond Like Coating. I bet if you and I keep howling though the H1 SE yellow G10 Millie will come true!

DLC doesn't count in corrosion resistance.

chuck_roxas45 wrote:DLC doesn't count in corrosion resistance.

probably semantics, I meant the DLC not the actual steel's characteristics

Newp, the DLC coating doesn't protect the blade from corrosion in any way. It's there for light discipline.

chuck_roxas45 wrote:Newp, the DLC coating doesn't protect the blade from corrosion in any way. It's there for light discipline.

Really? I always assumed the DLC would give some corrosion resistance to the metal, like paint.

Surfingringo wrote:Really? I always assumed the DLC would give some corrosion resistance to the metal, like paint.

Yep, Taz posted that some time ago. Besides my poor search-fu, I'm also on a phone so I can't quote her post.

Edit: IIRC, DLC is porous unlike paint.

chuck_roxas45 wrote:Yep, Taz posted that some time ago. Besides my poor search-fu, I'm also on a phone so I can't quote her post.

Edit: IIRC, DLC is porous unlike paint.

This is crazy to me...so it is just a black blade no performance improvements?

twinboysdad wrote:This is crazy to me...so it is just a black blade no performance improvements?

No performance improvements?? Are you kidding?? Come on man, everybody knows that black bladed knives are way better for fighting ninjas!

twinboysdad wrote:This is crazy to me...so it is just a black blade no performance improvements?

Besides aesthetics, and the aforementioned light discipline(tacticool for non-operators), I actually find a performance loss in.cutting thick material from increased friction probably. I do hear that BM's clear coat onthe contego(?) is for corrosion resistance.

FWIW often times places use the old stock photo of the Millie which has the Military logo on the blade when in actuality they have the regular new model.

Back to the OP, the "Military" models had the older blocky jumping and are awesome if you can get one. If you want corrosion resistance in the form of a coating, duracoat may be a solution.

I do miss that old jimping...it was so much nicer.

I am hoping to one day have a military and a Stretch with the old jimping.

Whether or not any coating lessens the chances of rust on the coated areas, there's still the edge to consider. Given that it must be left bare, or have the coating ground off during the sharpening process, it will still be subject to rust. It also creates a boundary, where corrosion can creep under the coating and be undetectable until it becomes serious enough to blister the coating. The same will be true if/when the coating gets scratched. That was one of the points Kristi made in her post which Chuck mentioned earlier. Bottom line is, if you're buying a knife with a coated blade for any reasons other than light discipline, because you like the "look", or simply because you're desperate for that model and it's the only one available, then you're buying it for the wrong reason(s). As a general rule, I'm not a fan of them, but I make an exception for DE dagger blades with a shiny black coating, purely on esthetic grounds. :o


As for lettering. IMHO, the lettering on the original ATS-34 and 440V versions was very attractive. The style that followed, IMHO, was not.

Thanks Paul, that's much more sensible.

Not to completely hijack this thread, but does s30v corrode that easily? I've never had any spotting or corrosion on my s30v blades and I live in houston texas, a very salty and humid area. At long as I keep some oil on the blades I have never had a problem. 8cr13mov on the other hand.......... not so much.

DJFrostbyte wrote:Not to completely hijack this thread, but does s30v corrode that easily? I've never had any spotting or corrosion on my s30v blades and I live in houston texas, a very salty and humid area. At long as I keep some oil on the blades I have never had a problem. 8cr13mov on the other hand.......... not so much.

I don't know anything about the steels composition, but I live right on the ocean in the tropics and I've never had any rust issues at all with s30v. As far as the DLC coating, I don't need it for corrosion resistance, it just kind of surprised me that it doesn't provide any. I will admit though that even though I only got it on my old pm2 because it was the only style available, I ended up really liking it. Makes for a nice looking knife with certain handle colors and the coating is extremely durable IMO. I don't need a DLC blade for anything, but I would not hesitate to buy one again.

I never come here and not learn something! For the record, I hate black coatings and the only black knife I own is a BM 705 that was a wedding gift from my wife. I retired it from use after anniversary #10 so one of my boys can have it when they are old enough. I was abusive to knives at the start of those 10 years and the black coating shows that, as well as the 1/8 of an inch I lost when BM had to repair the "sharpening damage" I inflicted as a noob to sharpening. I have never owned a Spyderco that was coated and never will.

It is incorrect to say that DLC does not work to prevent rust.

First of all, TazKristi never said DLC does not prevent rust. That has been repeated a number of times here (I may have even done so), but her actual post does not specify DLC does this:

TazKristi wrote:It might be worth noting, a coating can (and often does) actually make rust/corrosion worse. Water Bug, you are correct, the intended purpose is light discipline. :cool:

Kristi

Second, DLC does work as a barrier between the steel and any liquid with which it comes into contact. Further, DLC is chemically inert, so the combination of the two does reduce rusting.

Source: http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?Articl ... istance_of

Corrosion resistance is measured by exposure for 24 hours to 10% NaCl solution at 150°F and 15% HCl at room temperature. Figure 6 (a and b) shows optical micrograph of a coated 1020CS sample after exposure to HCl and brine solutions showing that DLC-Si coating provide excellent corrosion protection for the substrate. It is because DLC is chemically inert and acts as a physical barrier between the substrate and corrosion environment provided coating defects are minimized.

and from the conclusions:

Data showed that such a coating provides excellent corrosion protection to internal surfaces of pipes.

The only consideration is the process through which Spyderco applies dlc, as that will affect its amount of provided corrosion resistance.

Of course I'd be interested to hear any actual evidence to the contrary.