I havent had an esee uncoated and I wonder if you would get rust under the scales? I hate having to excessivly maintain stuff, I would go a coated esee. With my esee I use it, put it back in its regalia pants and forget it.
Alrighty then! I'm going to share with the whole of the forum 2 little tricks that ya'll can use to solve 2 issues brought up here. (Then I'm going to try to get a pic to load...dang Internet! ) Slade brought up that storing a blade sans sheath can be difficult, agreed, go thyself to wallyworld or other big box store and get flexible cutting mats. Using scissors, duct tape, and zip ties you can make a storage sleeve or whole box to store your knife in. #2 worried about rust under scales? Any knife that has removable scales (like Esee), take em off, put just a dab, a red bean sized drop of clear silicone on each scales inside, spread thinly from end to end/edge to edge. Wait just 7-10 minutes till silicone is just tacky/sticky, re-install scales, lay knife aside and 24 hours later any squeeze out along the tang edges can be easily removed with nylon scrub pad (dry) or steel wool (also dry). Presto, nothing will ever get under the scales to cause corrosion.
What I hope this is, is an un-coated carbon steel blade that got a double done apple cider vinegar treatment like, 2 years ago. It's been wet for days, left coated in fish gore overnight, soaked in salt water for over 24 hours (along with some deer parts) where I forgot it late one night. Nothing has happened, I do nothing but rinse with water and wash with soap n water sometimes. No rust, no pitting, no...nothing really.
I apologize for the picture quality. My phone is ancient, like Samsung flip phone ancient. I wanted to hate this knife, I wanted to prove that no less than $20/not full tang/not min 3/16 thick knife could survive my hands. I used it, I beat on it, I used it harder. It simply will not die under "normal" knife usage. A pipe and a vise can break any knife, knives cut things, green sticks, dead firewood, fish, deer....the more I used it, the more I liked it. It's a treasured friend now, but I still don't baby it!
Really dislike coating on knives. Feel, looks. I just dont like it. Sometimes it comes off on stuff. Friction. Really, i just dont like it. I own three knives that came coated. Two of them are stripped. My only coated knife is my izula. And I like it just the way it is. Perhaps because I am a weirdo.
I used to strip the coating on all my knives but i don't care anymore. Don't have enough time to modify knives, I use them as is these days
