Rusty CPM 154

RyanW

RyanW

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I made 4 Dive knives out of CPM 154 a year or so back... I got a call from one of the owners saying his was covered in rust after doing a salt water dive! I own a few dive knives in various types of "Stainless" and have not had them rust up like this!




It looks mostly like Surface rust, I will be cleaning it up and getting it back to him, but I wanted to open this up for discussion on Stainless Steel and ways to avoid this

There are a few reasons I think this happened with this knife:
1. I sand blasted the blades (80 Grit Alum) but did not stone wash them, so this may have left small "pores" to allow corrosion.
2. Owner maintenance, I think this played a fairly large role in what happened. How do you maintain your Stainless blades?
 
Not too many steels that will put up with saltwater in my experience. The blasting probably didn't help though giving more surface are for the saltwater to creep into.
 
Of course if I had to choose a knife for diving, H1 would be the steel of choice. Looking into Titanium might be an interesting option too.

When I go saltwater fishing I always wash everything down with freshwater at the end of the day. Then I apply an oil to the items that warrant it.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments, I am not a big stainless steel guy. I am an avid SCUBA diver and am always amazed at how well the Mass Produced blades resist rust despite being mistreated (Not rinsed well EVERY Time)
 
not a fan of sandblasting mostly for this reason. The polished'r the better.
 
what kind of sheath :)

blasted can = rust, pores for rust to stick to.
I have had stainless Strider's and Emerson's rust from sweating on them.
 
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