Salt water Multitool

[dks]

So, I have been snorkelling and swimming a lot lately and I was wondering if there are any special Salt water multitools (including Swiss army knives).

The Micra on my key chain has begun to show signs of rust, just from being in my pocket (not in the water, afterwards) and close to salt water, so I know I will need something more purposely designed.

I know that, theoretically, provided you wash it afterwards any SS multitool should work, for some time.

I know that there are several salt water knives, with net cutting implements on them (I have diving knives). Most fishermen just use ordinary knives and scissors, but, this is Multitool.org.

I also think that, of the standard multitools, any swiss army product should be reasonably salt water resistant, though its aluminium parts may suffer.

I have seen some fishing multitools advertised, usually it seems sold by fishing shops like basspro but the impression I got is that these are either cheap, low quality products or just ordinary multitools with a couple of fishing implements on them, like fish scale removers, but no special salt resistant materials.

The multitool I want/need will be exposed to sea water (possibly carried in the sea) sand and lots of heat, and will be rinsed with fresh water and dried afterwards, though this step may be missed on the odd occasion.

Not too heavy.
Not stupidly expensive.
Ability to be carried attached to your leg?
Tool selection?
A decent sized blade and pliers will be a bonus and it should allow some light tasks like screwing, maybe filing etc. to be performed on the beach or even whilst in the sea (I have a full tool set in the car, not too far away, anyway).

So, any suggestions for a good quality salt water multitool?

Note: you will not believe what comes up when I post Salt and water joined together...

[EZ822]

I think the Swisstool Spirit X might be what your looking for.
http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=swisstool&product=53814&
They are highly corrosion resistant and cost between $65.00-$70.00

[dks]

I think the Swisstool Spirit X might be what your looking for.
http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=swisstool&product=53814&
They are highly corrosion resistant and cost between $65.00-$70.00

I have a swisstool and believe that they are quite salt resistant, like you said. I am, however looking for something more speSmurfpillsed/targeted at salt water.

[jekostas]

They don't exist, unless you're talking about titanium one piece tools.

[tattoosteve99]

They don't exist, unless you're talking about titanium one piece tools.

I agree. Even the salt series spydercos suffer from corrosion if used in salsmurfer too much.

[dks]

Many thanks, I had the feeling that it would be quite hard to find such a tool. Plenty of salt water knives, no multitools.

[Woz]

Not even a "Fishermen" tools out there are resistant to salt water.

I took my Spirit to the sea quite some times, and cleaned it with fresh water every evening. I did never see the slights bit of rust on it, so I consider it to be the best choice for trips to the sea.

[Styerman]

Check out Dacor ( a diving gear manufacturer - then bend over an grab your wallet ! ) . another option is to maintain your toys agressivley , or wipe down daily with Marine Tuff Cloth .

Chris

[dks]

Fishermen tools tend to be for lake/river fishermen.

Dacor is now part of Mares. Their site does not have anything apart from knives.

I checked a diving equipment shop a few days ago and I will check another one in the next couple of days.

[tattoosteve99]

If price is not an option perhaps you could have a custom titanium one made.

[bushidomosquito]

Sounds like a titanium SAK is what you're looking for. It even has pliers!

[tattoosteve99]

Yes but it has stainless steel parts too. Go ahead and make some tools with titanium. I dare you. :p.

[turnsouth]

Photo by Cam Stanley, taken at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, depth 80 feet:

[bushidomosquito]

Yes but it has stainless steel parts too. Go ahead and make some tools with titanium. I dare you. :p.

Titanium isn't the best metal for things like blades and screwdrivers that have to stay sharp or go up against other metal items. There are some super expensive beta grades that can get up to RC 52 or so, not really hard enough for a cutting edge. Still, it would make for an awesome safe queen.

The Victorinox stainless is about as stainless as stainless gets but on any salsmurfer specific SAKs I make in the future I'm going to polish the tools to a mirror finish to help keep the rust away. There's other unrustable materials that cut well like H1, Talonite and Stellite 6K that might be worth looking into but nobody would want to pay what I would charge to put something like that together. It'd be cheaper just to buy a new SAK every time one gets to corroded especially since I'd be happy to buy the old one from you at half price for the parts.

Really, if you like the SAK platform then you just need titanium liners instead of the aluminum. I could even set them up to take cellidor scales and they could be replaced as needed although I'm not sure how the brass pins and bushings hold up to the sea. As this is the second time I've heard of the problem of corroding SAK liners I might just be onto something.

[bushidomosquito]

salsmurfer. What's with all this smurf censorship?

[bushidomosquito]

Salt water?

[tattoosteve99]

Auto correct salsmurfer. Stupid auto correct

[tattoosteve99]

Did it again. Lol. Yes salt water.

[Nikos]

salsmurfer. What's with all this smurf censorship?

clicky

[Threeme2189]

salsmurfer. What's with all this smurf censorship?

It censors the tw*t part of saltw*ter.

[dks]

Many thanks to all.

I, too, did think of the Swiss army knife originally, but was worried about the aluminium liners too.

I am surprised, with the great availability of cheap salt water blades, that there are not any salt resistant multitools, at a reasonable price of course.

Do you really need to buy a titanium tool?
Most diving blades manage to do without it, so the materials should be available, from non custom makers.  I have had fishing editions of pocket knives before, but they are no more rust resistant than normal knives.

Is that titanium swiss army knife a normal production item;
I am sure most multitools can go underwater as shown in turnsouth´s picture, but how many can remain operational after they have a few days of sea salt exposure dried on them and not rust; Also, will they need oiling again, or, can they have a special , possibly dry, lubricant.

I will check one more diving shop today, see what I find.


 

salsmurfer. What's with all this smurf censorship?

It censors the tw*t part of saltw*ter.

I thought that was funny, pointless but funny. Good to see it covers non US swearwords too.

[bushidomosquito]

[quote

Is that titanium swiss army knife a normal production item;

[/quote]

Naaa, that's just me shamelessly promoting something I've been working on for a while. It would be perfect for you though, even the washers are marine grade bronze. 

[dks]

Naaa, that's just me shamelessly promoting something I've been working on for a while. It would be perfect for you though, even the washers are marine grade bronze. 

 
I will be happy to test it for you and you do not even have to pay me ! 

[tattoosteve99]

Naaa, that's just me shamelessly promoting something I've been working on for a while. It would be perfect for you though, even the washers are marine grade bronze. 

 
I will be happy to test it for you and you do not even have to pay me ! 

Wow what a great offer (rolls eyes) lol. Sorry had to do it. Hehe

[dks]

Its better than what microsoft etc do; I am not asking for money.

[ari6126]

The handles should be fine. The rest of the tool not so much:


How difficult would a H1 one piece tool be to make?

[lonediver]

I was a working diver for a number of years and never found a truly good salt resistant multitool . Now I see others suggest in previous posts mention titanium single tools but no one suggested beryllium copper tools which are more common than titanium tools (not saying that they are cheap).

http://www.ngkmetals.com/index.cfm/m/95

http://mdmetric.com/ampcocat.htm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3983/is_200009/ai_n8907250/

Made targeting the powder (explosives) and the petroleum industry out of a need for non sparking tools . So a non ferrous (non corroding) alloy was created for this need . When one searches out used items the price is not as bad . I found a used tool store in Tucson not too far from me that usually had a quanity of items as there is a powder plant not too far away . You may find these worth considering .

[Bruce909]

It's too bad that the SOG TiNi tools had only the pliers and handles coated but the other parts are much easier to clean anyway.  I would think that a TiNi Sog would provide a very good amount of corrosion resistance.  The TiNi Coating is a ceramic and very durable.  I have a few of these salted (pun intended) away for someone who wants to either use them for their corrosion resistance or make them shelf queens. 



The picture does not do the tools justice.

Bruce

[bushidomosquito]

PVD coating is awesome and can stand up to a lot of abuse. It isn't very expensive to have it done on a lot of parts vs. one or a few parts. Someone could make a good living taking various multitools apart and sending them off to have them PVD coated and then reselling them. They do lots of other colors including a titanium aluminum nitride coating that looks like black oxide but doesn't rub off, ever. They say it has the same hardness as diamond. There are even low temperature coatings that don't affect the heat treat of blades and tools and still provide most of the protection. 

[dks]

Thanks to all.

I had a look at some Diving shops but found nothing.

H1 steel. as used in the spyrco salt series should have been an option but maybe it is not suitable for anything other than knives (too brittle, too elastic, too weak I do not really know.)

A coating is good, but it has to be scratch resistant and really on a knife that you need to sharpen could not work 100%

The beryllium alloy sound interesting, but its rockwell rating is quite low (copper is soft, berillium is brittle) for a knife.

Maybe a combination of all would make one multitool that works in sea water well?


The leatherman and the SOG shown look really sweet and expensive...