I recently bought a CRKT M16-04Z, and it looks like it’s got a very slight case of rust in one spot on the blade and on the insert inside the handle that is exposed by holes in the handle. All of the parts of the steel insert/locking piece exposed by the holes show shines of rust on the side that touches my leg. The other side is fine.Aren’t these made from a rust resistant metal like Stainless Steel? It’s barely two weeks old. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, so there’s not much humidity, but I imagine my leg may get slightly sweaty sometimes during activities at work. My old stainless steel Spyderco Delica II knife never had any hinting of rust at all, so this worries me. Has anybody else had any trouble with their M16 knife?

I'm going to lube/clean it up with some CLP when I get home, but this has me worried.

Also, do they need to be sharpened after purchasing? Doesn't seem like the factory did the best job on sharpening it.

Dont know about the rust issue.

But these knives come pretty sharp from the factory, I have no doubt about that. I "pricked" my thumb on the tip of one by accident, and it dipped into my thumb pretty damn good. It bled for a few days (I should have gotten stitches but no health insurance and I'm a citizen), but I managed to hold it closed with copious amounts of nu-skin. Took close to 3 weeks to heal.

Alien, don't worry about it too much. I bought my M16-03Z back in Austin, TX when my family and I used to live there. Had it for 2 years there, and have had it for 3.5 years here. Sure, the liners are rusted some where the holes are cut in the Zytel handles, and the blade doesn't look like new, but it still holds an edge like it was right out of the box. After 5.5 years, though, the bearing that holds it shut is kinda worn. Need to get that liner replaced. After that, it should be good for another 5.5 years unless I lose it.

they are sharp, i learned the hard way, ouch

My M16-13 has rust spots on the blade, and my 12Z's inner liner has tons of surface rust.



Both of them are still sharper than hell, so I'm ok.

I went ahead and returned it, but that's because I plan to get one of the M16 models with a blade made from better quality steel and that has an aluminum handle.

those are nice knives, and a little rust will just add character

Both the blades and liners are made of stainless steel. HOWEVER, like any of the knifeworthy steels, the blade WILL rust . Just not as fast or badly as carbon steel. Stainless steel rated blades must have a high degree of carbon so that it can be hardened retain an edge well.

The more rust resistant the blade is, the generally worse edge it will hold.  The liners should actually be more rust resistant than the blade since it can be of a more rust resistant steel since it does not need to hold an edge.

Still though, even stain "resistant" steels need a little care. Treatment that gets a few spots on stainless rated steels, will completely ruin a carbon blade.

I'm betting that since CRKT contracts out the making of their knives, they probably get batches of parts that are a little bit more or a little bit less stain resistant.