How rust proof are the salt series really?

E

Eric_425

Joined
Sep 21, 2002
Messages
460
I'm looking for a low maintenance knife to keep aboard my fishing boat. My boat is a center console permanently wet slipped in a saltwater marina. Every knife I've ever used, or so called stainless steels like 18/8 rusts in this harsh environment. Even aluminum corrodes and pits over time. I hear h1 is totally impervious to rust. What about the rest of the knife? Fasteners, frame components, bushings etc. Am I safe to leave it in the boat year round?
 
They are not going to rust. Mine see regular action fully submerged in the Pacific in my surf shorts pocket. They work great on deck while dragging skirts or cutting bait.
 
I've related this before, but in case you missed it.

A few years ago my son worked for a pool maintenance company. His first week on the job, his S30V native developed a good amount of rust from exposure to the pool chemicals (he used it to open the bags). I ordered an H1 dragonfly for him. He used it for the rest of the summer and didn't get a speck of rust anywhere. I was impressed.
 
If you’re worried about a folder, there are fixed blades that make excellent boat knives.
 
If you use a sharpener or an oily rag with regular steel particles and contaminate the blade with them you will see rust developing. That works the same with Titanium. Set aside a clean cloth and new sharpener to use with it. If you can't do that try to take care to get all the hidden dust particles off. Some of the particles will be magnetized so they will be tenacious and can hide in the grinder grooves in the knife you can only see with magnification. It sounds complicated or like a lot of work but it isn't. For the most part a water wash or oil bath will clean the blade but there are rare times that isn't enough. In most cases it wouldn't matter but your situation is an exception. If I think my blade is contaminated with metal dust I wax it off with paste wax. It gets everything off and seals the blade from moisture/oxygen. I had a lot of learning on this subject with old finely hot blued rifles that would rust here at the range in July/August in half an hour wherever there was a fingerprint or palm print. Those were hard to keep looking good. Yours will be easy. :)

Joe
 
My son has a couple buddies that work the half day boats off Oceanside, They both carry fixed and folding Spyderco Salts! No corrosion of any kind In the harshest environment.

His personal H1 Pacific Salt 2 (SE)has been put away after day trips without being rinsed, With zero problems after 2+ years.
 
Hi Eric, i have used the Salt folders everyday on a saltwater kayak for years and I can give you some pretty specific feedback. For me, the main two Salt folders for my use are the Pacifc Salt and the Siren so I will use those two as my examples.

I launch the kayak probably 4 days a week and fish about 6 hours per session. The knives are soaked in saltwater from the time I launch until the time I come in. When I get home I almost never bother to even rinse them with fresh water. Neither knife has ever shown any rust, even after years of this treatment.

I have also done some heavier testing where instead of bringing it in at night, I kept the Pacific salt in a wet and salty compartment on the kayak 24/7. After 2-3 months of that type of storage you will eventually start to see a tiny bit of rust bleed out of the pivot area. Nothing that affected function but it can happen at those extreme levels of exposure. It should be noted that even when this occurred there was still ZERO corrosion anywhere on the edge or the blade itself.

It should also be noted that this only occurs when I stored the pacific salt unused for months in an enclosed and salty compartment. The kayaks are stored outdoors in the tropics and that compartment reaches temperatures well over 100 degrees every day. I’m sure the constant evaporation of the saltwater in that compartment has a much harsher effect than if the knife were simply stored on the open deck. I bet even if you stored one somewhere on the deck of your center console you would never see that. If you hit it for 2 seconds with a hose once or twice a month you’d definitely never see it. Both knives are as close to bullet proof as a folding knife gets.

ETA: The Siren has proven to be every bit as rust proof as my older Pacific Salt. Possibly even more so as I’ve never even observed any of that leakage from the pivot on the Siren. That could be due to the DLC coated pivot on the Siren. I believe they are also doing that on the H1 salts now too so the “almost never“ phenomenon of seeing a spot of corrosion at the pivot might now be a “never” one.
 
Its pretty good. I had an H1 Pacific Salt 2 and it was rust proof. Got rid of it because that steel rolled and wasn't all that impressive in everything except rust proof.

Fast forward to my LC200N Caribbean. It's now easily my most carried knife. Absolute bomb proof knife, tough, retains edge, and I've washed it in salt water after clams squids, etc. This would be my recommendation.

I liked my Caribbean so much I bought a waterway, which is even more bomb proof. Only problem I have with it is the factory angle is something insane like 11 degrees lol. I'm afraid to use it too hard and chip/roll it...I'm sure it'll be fine haha.

I bought a quietcarry waypoint a few months ago as a lighter carry, it's in Vanax and has LC200N and Ti hardware. That knife's been good to me and I clean fish with it all the time...action remains perfect.

The QC and Caribbean are both on washers, wish I recommend.
 
The Mastiff said:
If you use a sharpener or an oily rag with regular steel particles and contaminate the blade with them you will see rust developing. ....
Click to expand...
Anyone who is into welding/metalworking should be familiar with this crosscontamination issues. If you ever use on stainless a disc/belt previously used on carbon steel... you will face this very same issues. And it is very very veeeeeeeeeeeeeery hard to correct. Better put aside all abrasives meant to be used on stainless. Even the grinding wheels on the bench grinder!

Good point for those not into welding!

Mikel
 
  • Like
Reactions: DMG
Surfingringo said:
Hi Eric, i have used the Salt folders everyday on a saltwater kayak for years and I can give you some pretty specific feedback. For me, the main two Salt folders for my use are the Pacifc Salt and the Siren so I will use those two as my examples.

I launch the kayak probably 4 days a week and fish about 6 hours per session. The knives are soaked in saltwater from the time I launch until the time I come in. When I get home I almost never bother to even rinse them with fresh water. Neither knife has ever shown any rust, even after years of this treatment.

I have also done some heavier testing where instead of bringing it in at night, I kept the Pacific salt in a wet and salty compartment on the kayak 24/7. After 2-3 months of that type of storage you will eventually start to see a tiny bit of rust bleed out of the pivot area. Nothing that affected function but it can happen at those extreme levels of exposure. It should be noted that even when this occurred there was still ZERO corrosion anywhere on the edge or the blade itself.

It should also be noted that this only occurs when I stored the pacific salt unused for months in an enclosed and salty compartment. The kayaks are stored outdoors in the tropics and that compartment reaches temperatures well over 100 degrees every day. I’m sure the constant evaporation of the saltwater in that compartment has a much harsher effect than if the knife were simply stored on the open deck. I bet even if you stored one somewhere on the deck of your center console you would never see that. If you hit it for 2 seconds with a hose once or twice a month you’d definitely never see it. Both knives are as close to bullet proof as a folding knife gets.

ETA: The Siren has proven to be every bit as rust proof as my older Pacific Salt. Possibly even more so as I’ve never even observed any of that leakage from the pivot on the Siren. That could be due to the DLC coated pivot on the Siren. I believe they are also doing that on the H1 salts now too so the “almost never“ phenomenon of seeing a spot of corrosion at the pivot might now be a “never” one.
Click to expand...
Thanks guys, you've talked me into giving it a try. It's not going to be babied at all and is going to be left in very harsh conditions. Sitting in pools of saltwater and fish blood, covered in scales and slime and then rinsed in saltwater and put away wet from spring until winter. Basically set it in the boat and forget it. I like a folder in that I can close it and slide it down the deck to my crew as needed when people are in different parts of the boat.
 
I got my very first TASMAN from the H-1 Salt Series back in 2005. I've used it along with at least 3 other Salt Series models sporadically throughout the years and in harsh environments. I've never experienced any corrosion that I can detect. The H-1 and LC200N blade steels live up to all the claims in my humble opinion.
 
I’ve got a waterway that lives on my boat. I fish the coral sea/South Pacific off Australia to the tune of 4-500 hours a year. The sheath is bolted to the bait board. It gets washed in saltwater, does all my cutting on the boat and only sees fresh water when I take it in the house to sharpen it. After two years it’s extremely scratched but has never shown a single spot of rust or corrosion.
 
I live by the beach and have had an H-1 in my car/tackle box for 5+ years. Cutting bait/line and general all purpose salt water use

still no rust
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top