My LC200N Mule Rusted. How is that possible??

lieferung said:
Thank you Sal, but I was actually asking about uxo2's results. But perhaps he was just being hyperbolical.
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I let it soak in Pacific ocean sea water for 3 days.
Nothing happened.
Just like H1. Not a spot.

Blade only. No scales or hardware.
No pic either.
 
went offshore fishing yesterday. Brought the mule and the Salt 2 serrated. I fileted and cut bait. I stabbed many a grunt in the brain before cutting them up. The salt was used to cut off some tails, but the Mule did most of the heavy lifting. i left it bloody and salty and scale covered all day. I had the silver twill scales on it again, same hardware. I did take the precaution of pouting multiple coats of automotive clear coat on the entire tang and sanding it smooth to ensure i didn't have any trapped water/ etc. issues.

I was also using the same Kydex sheath. This was in the Atlantic Ocean. I used the salt water in the live well to rinse it when the squid viscera and ink got too gross on the knife. I rinsed it in fresh water when I left the boat. I then put is straight in the sheath, no special treatment. The verdict after 8 hours is no corrosion. This upcoming weekend we are going to Ormond beach and I'll use it when surf fishing to cut bait, and hopefully to brain something tasty. I'll continue to update this after more use.
 
I've been cycling with my Caribbean clipped to my shorts. I sweat profusely in the humidity of Southern Illinois, and my sweats corrodes anything and everything. Previously, I carried a few different stainless blades, and they would start rusting after about an hour. Nothing at all on the Caribbean and I have not even rinsed it off. Good stuff.
 
I picked up a working prototype of the Waterway 2 weeks ago at the blade show. The Waterway has no stainless hardware and is just g10 and lc200n. The knife has been mounted on the kayak and covered in salt and blood for 2 weeks now with zero signs of corrosion. Looking good!
 
Surfingringo said:
I picked up a working prototype of the Waterway 2 weeks ago at the blade show. The Waterway has no stainless hardware and is just g10 and lc200n. The knife has been mounted on the kayak and covered in salt and blood for 2 weeks now with zero signs of corrosion. Looking good!
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I'm really looking forward to getting one of those. I like the design, materials, and price. Checks a lot of boxes for many different tasks...
 
First post but I've been lurking on this and the spyderco forum for too long, plus when I found this discussion I wanted to jump in. I love the salt series knives and I cant get enough of them. I also put them through some pretty hard use and neglect. I plan on doing some reviews of some of the salts I've had over the past few years on the spyderco forum later on. Some observations with my mule team 25 so far. Ive been using it for about a year now and it goes on the boat, goes fishing, and goes to the beach. Also gets edc when wearing jeans, and unless its cleaned fish or needed for food stuffs it doesn't get rinsed/cleaned after salt water exposure. After the second or third boat outing I had two small spots, one at the right angle at the forward finger guard and one at the bug logo. They rubbed off so easily I wasn't even sure if it was rust related or algae or some random staining. Anyway pulled off the scales today and there were definitely spots. pics at end (hopefully). Preliminary rubbing indicates that the majority of the spot comes off rather easily while leaving a much smaller black spot that may take some elbow grease. I plan on cleaning up the knife and continuing use to see if they come back or if its a similar contamination issue like the logo rust on h1. As in doesn't return because its not the actual blade corroding. Given that it seems to be limited to the mules, and as someone who has cleaned a lot of rust off knives, and considering its nowhere near how rusted a stainless dive knife would be after a year of purposeful neglect, I'm fairly certain it is a contamination issue. Although more time post cleaning is required. Further indications for my mule include the fact that neither the edge nor any other exposed part of the knife ever showed signs of staining. One would assume on a knife that can or will rust there should after a period of time be indication of that at some point on the edge. Love the salts cant wait to get some more. Not sure if pictures will work and im tired of fooling with it
 
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V VooDooChild1 , welcome! To post images from flickr, click the download this photo arrow at the bottom right and select view all sizes. Then click on the size you want, and right click on the image to get the url. That's what you put between the img tags.

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There are your images. :)
 
Nice photos voodoo, nice photos! I’ve filleted a ton of Mackerel with my Lc200n mule. I just fry the skin up and eat it though. :D

I got the same type of spotting under my handle as you (though mine was a bit worse after months on the kayak). I also got the exact same spotting under the handle of my H1 jumpmaster. I am firmly convinced that it is a result of the hardware rusting. The hardware on the Salts is HIGHLY corrosion resistant but not quite rust proof like the blade steel. The only difference I’ve noticed between H1 and Lc200n in corrosion resistance is that H1 cleans up a little easier after exposure to non rust proof steel.
 
Thanks surf. Ive read alot of your post and comments over the years in my research. As to the why im not sure. Maybe handled lc200n blades trapping moisture and interacting with hardware does something wierd. I think lc200n will be the saltwater performer that we are expecting it to be. Guess ill just have to test more of them, cant wait. Its slightly worse than the disasembled pics show. You also cant tell from those two how scratched my blade has become. Tip to others try to never let beach sand get into that boltaron? sheath. The inner crease between the two pieces traps it and no amount of rinsing or beating on it gets it out. Every few days a few grains come loose and when you resheath your knife you get another scratch. Oh well its a user I dont mind. As far as how h1 cleans up I wouldnt know Im on a mission to neglect them. Will be interesting to see what the verdict is or if others are having similar issues.
Thanks to AlwaysTomboy as well for helping me with the pics.
 
VooDooChild1 said:
Thanks to AlwaysTomboy as well for helping me with the pics.
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No problem at all. & Apologies if I jumped the gun and helped out when you didn't need it. I've been following this thread with interest. I gave my mom an LC200N Mule shortly after they were first released. She uses hers pretty much exclusively in the kitchen, but she uses it often, and I keep meaning to take the scales off and see if there's anything going on under there. I wouldn't expect kitchen use to be as rough on a knife as, say, fishing and constantly being in salt water, but her RWL-34 Mule had rust under the scales after 3 months of use, so I'm curious to see how LC200N compares. I expect it'll fare much better.
 
While I think foreign metal contamination is a good assumption. It would seem that corrosive liquid trapped between the scales for extended periods of time may cause whatever the issue is, if any, to be more likely. If that were the case kitchen use may have enough fresh water flushing out that area to be of no concern.
 
neffarious said:
Wouldn't you see corrosion on the hardware though?
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Eventually, yes. Maybe the initial rust comes from the inside of the barrels and the screw threads where it’s not polished? Just guessing. What I know is that I’ve got a couple of pieces with no hardware and I haven’t been able to make them rust at all. So whether it’s the hardware rusting and bleeding or contact with the hardware is actually causing some type of galvanic corrosion, it would seem that it is contact with the hardware that is causing the corrosion, not contact with corrosive substances (saltwater and blood).
 
I didn't have any on the hardware, but it coudl be galvanic corrosion. I've isolated that as a factor this time. I clear coated the tang under the handle and holes with automotive clear coat. No contact with hardware or scales. Now we shall see. So far so good :)
 
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