Stainless steel knifes even worth it

[sdexcalibur]

Picked up my first knife. a 420 stainless steal tipped blade. Boy does this thing look sweet. I'll make sure it dried real well after every dive.
Low and behold two weeks after my new knifes first dive. I take it out again and ;-0 , RUST!!!. How could this be I dried, rinsed, and redried. I know, their must of been some water in the case.
My question is stainless steal knifes even worth it when you pay a little more and get something that doesn't rust. I know nothing stays nice and new for ever but ONE dive. Maybe it was being careless on my part.

 

[Soggy]

I had the same experience. Good thing I only paid like $5 for it on ebay.

 

[chickdiver]

SS knives are a paradox. In order for the metal to resist all reusting, the grade of stainless has to be VERY soft. High grade stainless is brittle and breaks very easily. Consequently, dive knives, while being SS are a lower grade of stainless (more impurities) and they do rust a bit.

You can help to prevent this effectby doing the following things:
1. put a light coat of siliscone grease on the knife, prevents as much salt water contact.
2. Post dive thoroughly clean and dry the knife. This means SOAK the knife in fresh water, dont just rinse it. I throw mine in with the regs for 3 or 4 days in the bathtub. Dry and recoat with silicone grease.

To repair the damage already done:
1. Soak the knife a couple of hours in freshwater or a freshwater/vinegar bath. If you have a sonic cleaner, this is even better.
2. Rinse and go to work on it with very fine grade sand paper or a wire brush to remove the surface rusting that has occured.
3. Once you have removed the surface rust, coat with silicane grease.

Dive shop monkeys often don't know/care about the effects of salt water on low grade stainless, so they dont tell you how to care for things correctly. That way they get to sell more knives.

Good luck.

 

[notabob]

Or you can avoid the rust problem alltogether and hunt on eBay for a cheap titanium knife. I got mine for <$50, if I remember correctly, and it's been a great. Not a spot on it after 3 years. You pay more up front for a titanium knife, but it'll last you much longer than a SS knife would, and maintenance is a lot easier. Pays for itself in the long run.

-Roman.

 

[wetman]

I got one of the UK SS knives and have never had a rust problem yet with it. Still quite sharp too. Never dried it and it always just sits there on the waste belt.

steve

 

[Scubaroo]

Or you could go for a pair of EMT shears - the same ones you buy in a scuba store for $20, I found in a hardware store for $8.95. They are stainless steel, and so far the only problem I've had with them is the pin holding them together requires a silicon grease smear on it to stay corrosion free. But for $9, you can buy a new pair every year and stay sharp! I've pulled mine a couple of times to cut monofilament, and they are much easier to use and more effective than a knife for that application.

Dumping the knife altogether may be a bad idea, but definitely investigate a pair of shears.

 

[MechDiver]

chickdiver once bubbled...
You can help to prevent this effectby doing the following things:
2. Post dive thoroughly clean and dry the knife. This means SOAK the knife in fresh water, dont just rinse it. I throw mine in with the regs for 3 or 4 days in the bathtub. Dry and recoat with silicone grease.

This isn't necessary. Rinse the knife, shake it off and put it back in the sheath. The silicone will stay for a long time unless its rubbed off.

Phil

 

[MikeS]

After the first few dives with my new knife I had a few rust spots. Since then after every dive I rinse the knife, let it dry and then wipe it down with gun cleaning solvent/Lubricant ( had it laying around anyway, thought I’d give it a try) such as:

Otis Bore Solvent CLP (combination solvent, lubricant, and rust inhibitor) - contains PTFE that coats the bore to eliminate lead and plastic build-up.

Walla, no more rust! You can buy it at just about any sporting goods store or discount store with a sporting goods department ala K-Mart, WalMart, etc. It works good on all SS hardware such as snaps, d-rings, etc.

I had the same problem, and used the same solution (no pun intended), on my sea snips. The rivet that holds the two halves together is not stainless steel (SS is not hard enough) and it rusts very quickly.

If you go with Titanium, not only is it more expensive, but being a “softer” metal it tends to not hold an edge as well as the harder variants of SS.

Mike

 

[100days-a-year]

316 SS ala Remora doesn't rust.Mines almost 3 and is rinsed on the B/P and has never seen silicone or grease and gets sharpened bi-annually(serrated)Titanium is fine but I get by with $2 SS shears from big lots ,a z cutter and a Remora just to pry or poke fish in the brain to stop'em from squirming.

 

[MikeS]

316 (18/8) SS is more corrosion resistant but does not hold an edge as well as 440. Guess there’s no free lunch.

Mike