I'll soon be going on a several day hike along the WA Pacific Rim Trail... any recommendations on what blade to carry? Will rust due to ocean mist and humidity be an issue? Thanks for the feedback!

One of the stainless Scrappers should do. Scrap Muk? And a good Swiss Army knife.

carry a rag impregnated (soaked) with silicone spray, and wipe down your blade after every use. I use my (1095 carbon) blades all the time near the ocean and have never had rust. Any spray that woodworkers use on tablesaw blades is gangbusters!

Yep - I always hear about how badly carbon V rusts, but I've carried several knives made from it while backpacking along rivers in that thick Georgia humidity where you're more swimming than hiking.

Keep the blade oiled up and you'll be fine. Actually, that's one thing that makes me lean towards leather sheaths a lot - oil your knife regularly enough and the inside of the sheath gets pretty well soaked with oil, and simply putting the knife in the sheath gets some oil on it to help prevent that rust.

To me any blade is fine as long as they are coated. You only have to worry about the edge. And since they are users you won't have worry about the edge rusting either because it will just wear out with use.

I live on salt water. Things do rust more easily here than some places, but I use carbon steel knives all the time. They do require some care, though. I just thought that the best choice might be a stainless one for his trek.

+1 on the stainless

Oh I agree, stainless is an excellent choice for sticking around salt water. Especially a short trip of only a few days, where you don't have to worry about field sharpening <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I personally wouldn't decide based on blade material at all - I'd take the knife that I felt best fit my needs for the type of use it would be getting...



And then I'd take two or three more. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

I'd recommend a BlackJack Grunt, great sturdy stainless knife with a awesome convexed edge, mine is the origional version made in Japan, the current versions are now made in China and can be had for $20.97 from Newgraham knives !!!!

For that price if you only used it for that one trip you wouldn't mind eh !
And don't let the cheap price fool you they are still a great knife !!!

So would I. I'd take my Sarsquatch. But then, INFI seems to be fairly corrosion resistant. If I had a coated SOD, that would be a good choice, but mine is the LE. The Scrap Muk might be a good choice if I didn't prefer big knives in the bush.

Coated or SS would be my choice.

For 0% chance of rust, check out the Spyderco Salt knives. You'd sooner get plastic to rust. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />