Spyderco Forums

So....

After this "wonderful shutdown" I've been able to test both the Autonomy 2 and the Spydiechef but for this review I'll focus on the Autonomy 2. For the last 3 months since the middle of March, this knife has been in the gulf of Mexico shark fishing off the surf for about 4 hours a day every single day in my shorts pocket. I've noticed rust around the blade lock switch but other than that the knife is smooth as greased lightning. I'm not sure what is going on but it's supposed to be for the U.S. Coast Guard. It's not going to work for them if this is the long term goals. The knife was good for the first two weeks but now it's rusted and will not lock with the safety. It's sharp and a wonderful knife otherwise. The best Spyderco I own.

H Sharkfisher,

Welcome to our forum.

Can you give me more input as to where the rust is? Can we get the knife back and send you a new one for R & D.

sal

I thought the CG version did not have a safety lock.

Dang... not good.
Wonder if its liners, or the spring, or...

Did rust ever come back on your spydiechef after cleaning the initial rust from surface contamination?

I'm pretty sure this model has nothing to do with the Coat Guard....just sayin. The Autonomy 1 was the CG knife and even that is only the orange one without the lock.


It needs sent back to Golden. This is the sort of thing that needs professional evaluation, it's an opportunity to improve something.

Interested to see what the culprit on this model is. I know there's some ongoing CQI on the salt models. Maybe dlc on the lock slide?

The CG-approved Autonomy does not have the manual safety where the OP's Autonomy 2 corroded. The general public Autonomy 1 also have the safety. The Black DLC Autonomy 1 may not be prone to such corrosion due to the coating.

The SMKW exclusive Autonomy 2 looks like it has all the screws, safety and button in Black DLC coating but unfortunately the blade is S30V not LC200N.

Autonomy Coast Guard - Orange G-10 H-1 Satin Blade (no safety)


Autonomy 1 - Orange G-10 H-1 Satin Blade (safety)


Autonomy 1 - Black G-10 H-1 Black DLC Blade & Hardware (safety)


Autonomy 2 - Black G-10 LC200N Satin Blade (safety)


Autonomy 2 - SMKW Exclusive Carbon Fiber S30V Satin Blade Black DLC Hardware (safety)

I wonder where that rust is coming from. It's all over the flat surface of the lock and all around the inside lock opening of the G10.


Picture shamelessly stolen from barman1 on bladeforum.

And what's with the "upgraded" S30V on the exclusive? Not my first or even last choice. I own nothing anymore in S30V.

sal wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:39 pm

H Sharkfisher,

Welcome to our forum.

Can you give me more input as to where the rust is? Can we get the knife back and send you a new one for R & D.

sal

Hi Sal,

The rust appears to be under the thumb lock. It's almost completely frozen up and you really have to press on it hard to get it to move. The rest of the knife is beautiful and show's no sign of rust or corrosion of any kind. I don't know if there's a non SS steel detent ball or the like which is the culprit. I'm a huge fan of the LC200N steel and it's great for the salt. I'd be happy to send it back for investigation and what the failure mode is.

Thanks

VooDooChild wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:27 am

Dang... not good.
Wonder if its liners, or the spring, or...

Did rust ever come back on your spydiechef after cleaning the initial rust from surface contamination?

You remembered my Spydiechef! The rust/staining never progressed on the blade further than what I initially found. I'll add to the thread when I have the chance but all around the hardware is now rusting on the Spydiechef. I'm guessing it's the black oxide screws? Stay tuned...

All I can think of when I read this thread title:

https://youtu.be/PmfnsVCYB_E

Hi Sharkfisher,

Thanx for the input. Would you try to put some rust inhibiting or rust removal into the lock area and get back tome?> We'll look into it our our end.

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:23 pm

Hi Sharkfisher,

Thanx for the input. Would you try to put some rust inhibiting or rust removal into the lock area and get back tome?> We'll look into it our our end.

sal

Here's what she looks like opened up. I removed all the rust from the liner with a Q tip and some methanol and it came right up. No pitting. It appears to be the slide lock that is rusting.

It's odd that the raised button on the lock isn't showing oxidized. Maybe it's the detent ball???

Rinzler wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 2:33 pm

It's odd that the raised button on the lock isn't showing oxidized. Maybe it's the detent ball???

I know, I found that odd as well. The button is shaped like the hats Devo wore in "Whip it" lol... I'm not sure if those are two different metals? Also the detent ball looked great after the cleaning, no pitting and it was nice and shiny. The underside of the slide lock is also a corrosive mess. I'm working on getting that pic uploaded too. Could it be that small stainless particulates are generated when moving the slide back and forth that those are tiny enough to oxidize?

Hi Sharkfisher,

Thanx for the close input. I'll get that information to manufacturing. Let me know what you want to do. I can replace the knife, but the lock will be the same on all of them. We've not had this problem yet. Maybe it the time spent wet?

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 3:53 pm

Hi Sharkfisher,

Thanx for the close input. I'll get that information to manufacturing. Let me know what you want to do. I can replace the knife, but the lock will be the same on all of them. We've not had this problem yet. Maybe it the time spent wet?

sal

Hi Sal,
Thanks for prompt response. If you could replace the knife that would be great. I understand that it will have the same parts and materials and this could happen again. Maybe in the future if you implement design changes to it you could let me know so I could test it out? What do you need from me for a replacement? I'd be more than happy to send this back for failure analysis.

Thanks for the solid feedback Sharkfisher. And thanks for the prompt response Sal. This is how products evolve and improve!

I wonder if you replace the slide lock bar on Autonomy 2 with a DLC one like on Autonomy 1 DLC (and possible SMKW Autonomy 2) would prevent this rusting issue.

Surfingringo wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 14, 2020 4:28 pm

Thanks for the solid feedback Sharkfisher. And thanks for the prompt response Sal. This is how products evolve and improve!

Just to be clear, this is one **** of a knife! If it didn't have the blade lock that rusted it's knife perfection at it's finest. This is definitely a SHTF knife and still opens and closes like a champ. The LC200N steel is really the holy grail of knife steels and in an automatic package makes this the holy grail of folders IMO. I also have the Spydiechef which has some rust around the assembly hardware but it's a great knife too, no blade rust. I really put these knives to the test in the saltwater, cutting bait/bones/150lb braid/, dropping in the sand etc... Any other knife besides the salt series knives wouldn't last a day doing the stuff I do to these two knives with LC200N. It's really a testament to Spyderco and the quality of these folders to take this marine environment day in and day out.

It's funny, I've bought two "dragon fly 2" H1 knives as gifts and never one for myself so I can't say how the H1 steel compares to LC200N. Maybe that will be my next purchase as a control test. I've just read how soft the H1 is and steered away from it.