Spyderco Forums

Hi all,

I bought a Para 3 S110V from a reputable Canadian retailer. I've had it for 1 month.
So far I've cut a few cardboard boxes, opened some packages, and sliced 2 oranges. I've washed the knife a couple of times. I didn't blow compressed air to dry it, just paper towel and some shakes.
A few days ago I noticed some rust just below the gimping on the finger choil (where it rests against the pin when closed). I rubbed it off with paper and a q-tip.
Two days ago I noticed that the action was gritty and slow. I disassembled the knife and found quite a bit of rust, mainly on the pin (see pics).
Is this normal? This is not what I would expect from a stainless steel.

I dont think the liners and stop pin are the same steel as the blade, but they should be a stainless with good rust resistance.

Not sure. It does only take one little spot rusting to transfer rust to other areas.

Stainless just “stains less” and will still rust. I found my wife’s vg10 delica in our safe the other day with surface rust all over the blade and pivot area. I ended up wiping it down with a microfiber cloth and used some BreakFree CLP and most of it just wiped off.

Looks like some orange pulp got hung up on the stop pin or something. But really that's pretty normal in my experience. I stopped washing my knives regularly and just give them a sponge bath nowadays but if I do have to immerse them in water and can't disassemble to dry I put them in front of a fan for a bit and that seems to dry them out enough to keep the rust away.

At least the rust seems to be just surface rust in areas that you can easily access & clean out.

If I had to guess, some orange juice might have found its way to the liners/pivot/stop pin. Food acids are notorious for causing corrosion even in stainless steels if left long enough on the metal's surface. And as VoodooChild correctly noted, those parts of the knife are stainless steel, but they are a different material from the blade's S110V (if I had to guess, they are probably made from 420J2... plenty stainless, but not rustproof by any means and AFAIK not as corrosion-resistant as S110V).

Assuming that it's not a QC issue, the only other explanation I can think of is that the rust came from improper storage while the knife was in retailer inventory.

That's normal of stainless steel. Just leaving a stainless blade wet for extended periods can do that, especially between the tang and liners where its easy to get moisture trapped.

When using a folder for food prep, try to avoid exposing the pivot to any food residue or water when rinsing off the knife. Or buy a Salt.

My Shamans stop pin started rusting after being exposed to my sweat for a few hours. I have since soaked it with tuf glide and it seems to be doing the job.

Hey Oak, Sorry to see your knife looking that way. Personally, I reckon no good can ever come of "washing" a folder other than the Salt Series and your experience only bolsters my belief.

Water will always find its way into the pivot and all the compressed air on Earth won't dry it. Same as water between liners and scales.

Bloke wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 11, 2020 7:20 pm

Hey Oak, Sorry to see your knife looking that way. Personally, I reckon no good can ever come of "washing" a folder other than the Salt Series and your experience only bolsters my belief.

Water will always find its way into the pivot and all the compressed air on Earth won't dry it. Same as water between liners and scales.

I've gotta agree.

Salts are the only folders I completely rinse out.

Regular knives I keep the blades wiped clean with hot water and soap, and the pivots lubed with oil. Whenever they get bad enough I take them a part and clean off everything, re-lube and assemble.

Washing out regular knives is asking for rusted liners, pivots etc.

The stop pin on this model is quite prone to rust, though it is stainless. I think it is galvanic corrosion.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but you can always use rust inhibitors like TufGlide if you wish.

carrot wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 11, 2020 7:29 pm

The stop pin on this model is quite prone to rust, though it is stainless. I think it is galvanic corrosion.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but you can always use rust inhibitors like TufGlide if you wish.

The stop pins are always the first thing to rust for me on the Paras and Millies. Its happened to every Para 2 and Military I've owned.

Thanks guys. I'm relieved to know I didn't get a dud.
I wash the blade when it has tape/glue residue or is sticky from cutting an apple/orange/banana. I didn't think I had to be careful when washing it but I'll be more careful from now on.

I've had the S90/110V blade spot rust but hardware seems to be way more prone to it than the steel, especially the stop pin for some reason. Maybe those are tougher steels since they take the abuse of guys flicking their knives open 1000 times a day so they might be less stain resistant than the rest.

Yup, looks like it is the stop pin rusting. It needs to be a different steel that can be hardened and handle the wear and tear of years of opening and closing.

S110V is very corrosion resistant as are the liners so I do believe that all of that is coming from the stop pin.

I would clean the stop pin up and oil it to prevent more rust.

Most fruit is acidic, especially citrus. If you don't get all the juice, it's gonna cause rust. For over a decade I've kept a specific knife in my lunchbox for this. I can tell you is very tough to get it perfectly clean when you cut fruit. A year ago I bought a ceramic bladed folder for this task.