Rust on liners of a brand new Meadowlark

[afultz075]

I just got my Meadowlark the other day. While I was playing around with it I noticed some major rust spots on one of the liners. Seeing as it's a $16 knife I really didn't mind voiding the warranty by taking it apart so I quickly removed the rust on the liner with my dremel at lowest setting. The knife reassembled easily and the only hard part was tensioning the screws for smooth opening.

The rust was thick rust that didn't scratch off with a fingernail. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing with the byrds? Is the steel used for the liners particularly prone to rust? I'd think the blade steel would be more likely to rust than the lower grade steels normally used for liners. I did however notice the liners were much more roughly finished than the liners of my Seki knives and more dull looking. Maybe that's a reason for the rust?

[ghostrider]

Too bad you didn't get a picture of the rust before you removed it. Was it pitting, or just discoloration? Often times some of the 's will have discoloration from the laser process. This is sometimes on parts of the blade, and sometimes on other parts of the knife. However, I don't know if this would apply to the bryd line, but it could be possible. The fact that it wouldn't scrap off with your finger makes me wonder.

I can say that the byrd steel is very good in corrosion resistance. Many knives (VG-10, AUS8) will develop pitting in my pocket after a week or two during the summer time, and need to be treated at least once a week with some sort of rust preventative (My body sweat tends to be more corrosive than other peoples). However, I've been carrying my Crossbill for over a year and had no such problems, even though I've never even done anything for it in the area of applying a rust preventative. The steel is just that corrosion resistant! Furthermore, my Crossbill has been modified in a way that would increase the potential for rust because of the grooves that have been cut in the handle, thus providing pockets for moisture to collect.

That said, these knives are made in China, and IMHO the QC doesn't seem to be as consistent as the Spyderco knives. There have been examples of byrds arriving at a new owners home with rust. In the future, I would recommend contacting W&R on something like this because Spyderco is the type of company that likes to know about things like this. When things go wrong with their knives, they like to investigate the problem in an effort to make any improvements that may be necessary.

[afultz075]

Oh, if this were one of my expensive Spydies, heck, even a Delica, i'd definately send it in, but I really wouldn't find it worth it to send a $17 Meadowlark in for repair/replacement when the knife itself only costs twice what it would cost to send it to W&R.

The rust wasn't pitting. It was the raised type of rust that will catch on your fingernail.

[redback]

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