Which Mariner do i have?

[elchingon]

Knife friends I have a Mariner that has me stumped. It has the vent holes on both sides and was made in SEKI. What confuses me is that it has some black left in the untouched areas. The black looks to come from the factory. I took some pics and hopefully the black I am talking about is visible.

[sal]

Hi Elchingon,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[DutchBlades]

Welcome to our little corner of the interwebs!

I believe this is the 1991-1993 version of the Mariner since it has the drying vents, model name on the blade, and is unmarked GIN-1/G-2 steel.

Hope this helps

[elchingon]

thanks for the feedback. i guess i wanted to find out if spyderco put a black coating on the Mariners that have dry vents?

[yablanowitz]

thanks for the feedback. i guess i wanted to find out if spyderco put a black coating on the Mariners that have dry vents?

They did do a factory black coating on some first-generation Mariners, but I've found no mention of it on second generations like yours. That doesn't mean they didn't, but judging by the few traces remaining, I'd guess at an aftermarket mod. Factory coatings are usually more durable.