I’m new to this forum and new to collecting Randall’s. I have acquired a few and would like to use one as a fishing knife in saltwater. In my earlier years I was a diver and every knife I used would rust to varying degrees although these knives were relatively inexpensive and it isn't clear what steel was used. I recently acquired and used a knife made from CPM S30V stainless in saltwater and it would spot within a few hours of getting dunked in the surf. To those who currently use their Randall knives in saltwater my question is what degree of “stainless” can I expect from a stainless model? Will I need to rinse it immediately when I get home from an outing (sometimes that’s 2 or 3 am) or can it withstand 6-8 hours of sitting with salt possibly in a wet sheath without rusting? I may be wrong but judging from the high level of magnetic attraction using a magnet I’m guessing this will get rust spots pretty quickly. I hope I'm wrong and that's not the case. Thank you and I have to say this is a great forum. TomD

I cannot get it to rust in my salt tests. I'm sure as long as it dosnt sit overnight you will be fine.

I've never really believed in testing my saltwater gear to find out "when it will rust"---rods, reels, knives, lures, etc. For me, that means at least a fresh water nozzel hose and quick rub down before sleeping & hitting it again in a few hours depending on the tides, weather and what's hitting. Not a speck of rust on my Randall#10-7" ---or my old Rapalla, early "70's Penns, old classic lures, etc. that will still slay "em on the right hour on the right day.

Keep it a little clean and don't worry. On the Outer Banks you may just be starting at 2 am.

I agree Duke.
Keep it clean and with proper care, it'll last forever.
Tony

The model 10 is not 440B like randalls hand forged knives.

Hi Leatherman - I'm curious what your salt test consists of?

A couple of points here. First of all, "stainless" means just that - it doesn't stain. There is no implicit corrosion resistance. If there was, they'd probably call it "rustless."

Everything corrodes in salt water. It's the nature of the beast. It's only a matter of time. Now, how much time is where it gets interesting. The industry actually has standards for these sorts of things, and it's actually a surprisingly short amount of time before even the best stainless steels start to show signs of corrosion when totally immersed in salt water. As in hours, not days.

But that's total immersion. You're not doing that. Still, how much time does it take to run a little tap water over the knife to rinse it off before going to bed? That's a valuable investment there. I think I'd find the two minutes to make sure it doesn't get ruined.

I have done tons of salt tests on all sorts of knives and steels. I cannot get a Stainless Randall to rust. I think it has to do with the steel being uncoated and a high chromium content. liquids roll of very easy too.

As to the above comment: Generally the knife wont rust half as fast when under salt water for even days as it will when kept wet with salty water or sweat. I have left some knives in the water for days and nothing has come of it, but when exposed to the air and kept wet it will rust badly overnight/within hours. 01 rusts in minutes.

I have left sweat (from exercise) and salt water on the blade of randalls for days and try and try but I cannot get my 14 Stainless to rust.

Sweat is very corrosive in my experiences, very hard to avoid in the summer months. Camping in muggy august with a 01 blade...

Hi Condor - You make a good point on the few minutes of rinse off maintenance if that's all that's needed. Unfortunately the knife will be getting totally immersed multiple times in an outing. Given that, if it's rusting during the hours out in the surf it may not be worth using.

Leatherman - Thank you for the response. This is the answer I expected to hear. The S30V knife I'm using has a blade coating that I'm not crazy about but it does prevent that. Unfortunately the edge is still exposed and suffers the problem you describe.

It will not rust, I guarantee it. Make sure you have a Micarta handle and your good to go!