Well, the title pretty much says it. The knife will be carried when I'm dressed business casual or better. My more casual daily carry knives are a Benchmade 942 and a Small Sebenza 21 Insingo. I'm primarily curious about the durability and corrosion resistance of the stainless damascus as compared to the S35VN. If I get the damascus for its aesthetics, I don't want to ultimately feel like I should have gotten the S35VN because I really want to use the knife and not "baby" it. What are your experiences with stainless damascus?

For how long will you be carrying it out and about in Florida while dressed 'business casual' or better and what tasks will you be doing with the knife while dressed that way?

Unless you're playing back to back rounds of golf in humid weather, or jumping into pools at the resort, with your knife, I don't think that you'll have an issue with rusting, as both are 'stain-less' steels.  Now cutting up sections of rope with your pimpy new Damascus blade, is probably not a great idea.

I'm in Miami, where it's humid a lot of the time and I don't have problems with my EDC SS Seecamp 32, my SAK SwissChamp, or SS Leatherman SuperTool v.1 and I've been here for 32 years.

Chris

I'm in the Orlando area. Frequency of carry will probably be 1-2 days per week. Tasks likely to be performed with the knife will primarily be limited to the occasional opening of boxes, envelopes, random "can you cut this string for me" tasks, and self-defense against unruly wireless mice. I am just thinking of this as the purchase of a long-term asset, which I will want to be durable for that long-term. Without experience with damascus blades, admittedly "stainless" in this case, I just want to make sure that it will stand the test of time.

Pricey little elegant gentleman's folder. Love that pocket clip. I'd probably burn money on a larger version if offered.

Good question.  I wonder how Damascus holds up to regular use.  I'd be more concerned about the look of scratches on a Damascus blade than on a plain one.  You might be able to send it in later to get prettied up, but I feel like it's better to go with regular S35VN on a user knife.  I have a Spyderco with a Damascus blade (though I don't think it was true Damascus) and I scratched the blade up while hand sharpening.  It really shows.

This is pretty much what I'm going for, down to the wood.

Good post. I think I've gotten to the point that I'd prefer the S35VN as I want to be able to bring myself to truly use the knife, and I'm just not convinced that I wouldn't hesitate to actually use it with a Damascus blade.

I'm really leaning toward the Bog Oak for the inlays as it has a nice clean understated professional look (like the pic above). But man, the Spalted Beech looks good.

I'm a bit late to this thread and you may have purchased the plain stainless blade already. That being said I learned to make knives working for Devin. I worked for Devin 5 years, the last two as his production manager. I use his damascus exclusively for my damascus knives. His standard stainless raindrop and ladder pattern mix is very, very rust resistant. I wouldn't hesitate to EDC a blade made from it in humid conditions. It is easy to sharpen and takes a very keen edge. I had many dealings with Chris Reeve while working for Devin. Chris wouldn't be using Devin's steel if it didn't perform well.

Thanks for your reply. It's very helpful. I did wind up with the plain blade, but I also chose the very understated bog oak. I love the little Mnandi and will likely get another. Next time around, I'll be doing the damascus blade, probably with something like the spalted beech inlay.

I avoided this thread to avoid spending money but you'll have to post pics

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Hella hot. Damn they look great together

Funny how, as the decades have passed, I so much more prefer smaller (less than 3”) blades over larger. This duo covers everything I need outside a fixed blade.