Benchmade 806D2 - Black blade decision help needed

JohnnyLightOn

JohnnyLightOn

Joined
May 3, 2001
Messages
368
Hi All,

I've been wanting an Axis 806D2 AFCK ever since they came out. What's held me back is the black blade coating. I know that no matter how well this blade cuts, scratches will appear that mar the black finish. So I've been waiting for a satin version or a version in a different, uncoated steel such as S30V.

Then it occurred to me that when I held this knife in the store, the blade didn't look particularly threatening-looking. Maybe the black blade made it look smaller?

I'd like to be able to use this knife to cut a sandwich and do other tasks without people freaking out on me. I live in a big city where knives aren't that common, and haven't ever used a 4" blade in public. Does a 4" length of relatively thin, black blade seem smaller than a 4" length of thin, silver blade?

So my question is: Is the black blade more or less threatening-looking to the general public? If I get more "less threatening" comments, I'll buy now; otherwise, I'll wait.

Thanks for helping me decide!

Johnny

P.S. I'd rather this thread not turn into a political discussion, so let me just say the following: 1) I'm going to carry and use this knife regardless of what people think, and 2) The reality is that people in the big city can be skittish about knives and I have to deal with this regardless of whether it's right or wrong, so I want to lessen the stress on myself by buying the version that's most acceptable to the general public.
 
As you've already read in my review, I think the black stuff on the blade makes it look like a plastic kitchen spatula. :)

True, it's not flashy, but it still has the looks of a fighter. Both the clip point and the slightly forward inclination of the blade account for this, to me.

I presented two of my scary :D knives to my roommate, and asked him which he thought looked more "evil". The two knives were the Buck-Strider Large Spearpoint, and the AFCK Axis. He said that the AFCK is "damn wicked looking", while the Buck-Strider looked more like a work knife (albeit a very large one). He said the AFCK's black blade made it look like a crazy guy knife.

You'd better wait for the satin finish. :)
 
I don't know if the finish matters, but when people see my 806 they don't say much about it until they see it up close. from a short distance it's not bad. They only really notice the length & size when they get a good look at it. In my experiences anyway. :)
 
Two things seem to scare people about knives: black blades and serrated edges. Go figure...

When I wear my Recon Tanto, people think I'm a psyco murderer! :rolleyes:
 
OK, here's my experience:
I took some of my knives to physical therapy, (the therapists all know me, know I make knives and were interested in what I make) and the gun blued, thinner blades(clip point and straight back utility knives) were deemed as "evil" and "wicked" looking by the therapists and other patients who examined them.
Whereas, my satin finished fighters and hunters were all "cool". Go figure...:rolleyes:
I use Birchwood-Casey Super Blue which, after a few coats gives a dark, DARK blue-black finish on the straight Carbon steel blades.
I notice also that I get concerned looks more if I use my black blade Benchmade folders in public. Even for cutting mundane things like bagels, pastries and such. These include the Axis AFCK, the 710 in M-2 and the AFCK in M-2 which I carry quite a bit.

It seems that any blackened blade, especially one that is thin in profile, is not very friendly looking to most non-knife people.
I'd really like to see this demonizing of blackened blades change. The knife has a black blade, BIG DEAL! GEEZ...:rolleyes:
 
I left the black on mine until it was good and scratched up. When it started to look like hell, I removed the blade, scrubbed off the black stuff :barf:, polished the blade to a nice satin finish, resharpened it and reinstalled it. It took one evening.

I was shooting for a mirror polish, but the 806D2 seemed harder to polish than my Yari. I ran out of elbow grease and "settles" for a satin finish for the time being.
 
Benchmade's proprietary BT2 "black" coating, which is a teflon-based polymer coating, is cool to look at at first esp. when new, but after some use, it looks like sh!t. I have 4 BT2 BM's and believe me, they looks terrible after use... First off, the BT2 has rubbed off all the grind lines, and has obviously worn off from all parts of the blade from cutting. What I have done is have my BT2 blades boron coated by BodyCote. Boron coating offers amazing scratch resistance and still gives you the "black-look" blade, but doesn't scratch. Boron Carbide is 93-95 Rc and wear resistant. It is gray in color and is applied in a vacuum at less than 250 degrees F. It is a thin-film ceramic film 80 millionths of an inch in thickness. You have to see it to beleive it... The blade is actually more of a dark grey-ish color as opposed to a black like BT2 but who cares... They charge $25 for the first blade. Call 336.665.0005

In terms of your second question re: less threatening, I have found that generally, with personal experience, people freak out more when they see a black knife, rather than a satin knife. But really, who cares... if you like it, get it. The BM 806D2 Axis is a terrific knife... I have found from the non-knife community that black knife = tactical knife = killing knife. Satin knife = not as threatening as black knife, but any knife = threatening.

I too live and work in a big city... I work in an office and people don't notice my knife because it rides low in the pocket, and nowadays, with pagers, cell phones, RIM/email pagers, security pass clips, it pretty much goes unnoticed until I use it e.g. to open a package or envelope or whatever... people tend to back away and wonder anyways...

My wife, who doesn't understand why I have so many knives to begin with, thinks my "black" knives look the most threatening. My satin bladed BM705S is the least threatening knife, in her opinion. Keep in mind, it may have to do with size, because its much smaller than my BM710BTS or Emerson Commander. The strangest thing however is that she thinks my Strider GB with Tiger Stripes looks like a hunk of death.
:cool:
 
I've got a question, should I have my AFCK Bodycoted before I start using it seriously? Will it make a difference?

The price for coating includes sandblasting, to remove the rest of the nasty BT2. But will it help clean up some of the scratches from use?
 
I haven't thought about it much, but here's the thing with Bodycote. It doesn't do anything to prevent rusting, as I recall, because the coating itself is too porous. It does do a great job of staying on and not scratching, unlike Benchmade's coating.

Anyway, what I"m thinking is, bead-blasted D-2 is going to want to rust. I'd probably want to satin finish it or even polish it before bodycote-ing it, for that reason. Or, I'd probably be extra careful to keep it Tuf Clothed. Consider bead-blasted D-2 to be the same as unprotected O-1 -- something that *will* rust if you don't care of it.

So the question is: is my theoretical objection sound? Has anyone bead-blasted and bodycote-ed Benchmade's D-2 and seen rust problems, or not?

Joe
 
Thank you to everyone for your replies. They were great.

Based on the feedback I got, I'm going to wait until Benchmade releases the Axis AFCK in a satin finished blade. I am somewhat tempted to get the 806D2 and use it until the black coating looks bad, then strip it off and get it boron coated (bladerunnerjc, your description of it sounds really great). But it's an Axis lock knife with little springs and I'd rather not lose the warranty, even though I know the chance of a malfunction is small. And the black blade issue would still be there. So no knife for now. :(

One thing I've discovered about using a knife around the general public is that by not using a one hand opening, and by using two hands on the blade, they don't notice the knife as much. So you can open the knife slowly with two hands, and then place your off hand on the top of the blade as if to help push it. Then people don't see much of the knife. However, I can't bring myself to do this most of the time, I'm willing to bear surprised or even nasty looks than to follow this procedure.

Johnny
 
From my searching, I've found out that the Bodycote method for BC coating blades consists of 3 coats:

1. Hard chrome (corrosion protection)
2. Something else I forget
3. Boron Carbide

For DLC, it's the following:

1. Chromium nitride (corrosion protection)
2. Tungsten Carbide
3. Diamond-like Carbon

For the BC, there's also an optional ceramic topcoat called Tech-12 that can fill in the porous holes in the Boron Carbide.

I think that corrosion protection is going to be alright, with a Bodycote coating, so I'm not worrying about that.
 
I can't stand BT2. :barf: I wish Benchmade would offer the 806 in a satin finish S30V.

Someone told me that bodycote is no longer doing orders for individuals, only factories and custom makers.
 
shootist16, I really hope that's not true. :( I just shot off my email anyway, to see if I can get a price quote.

I guess if they're not taking individual orders, it means they're too busy with the huge amounts of factory knives that they're geting now.
 
Well, I broke down and ordered an 806D2. What can I say? I'm stuck on this knife. :)

I have seen no concrete news of a satin blade on the horizon, and I really like the design, so I went for it. When the BT2 finish starts to look bad, I'll deal with it using one of the methods put forth in this thread. In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to thinning out the D2's edge (thin back bevel with a slightly less acute cutting edge) using the techniques that Joe Talmadge and others have taught me on these forums.

Thanks for all your comments, they were still very helpful and informative.

Johnny
 
Originally posted by Joe Talmadge
So the question is: is my theoretical objection sound? Has anyone bead-blasted and bodycote-ed Benchmade's D-2 and seen rust problems, or not?
Click to expand...
Not D2, but my 710HS was blasted and coated with BC1 and the chromium underlayer. After the BT2 had worn off (it was worn completely off except for behind the thumbstud, and the start of the grind-but perhaps it penetrates the surface, and was still protecting the blade even though it wasn't visible any more[?]), I had no problem with corrosion. Now I'm having problems with rust both on the flats, and on the grinds. I have no way of knowing if the chromium layer was actually done or not, but it would definitely be a good idea to have a blade polished prior to coating, rather than have BodyCote blast it and coat it. It would look better, too, since the BC1's appearance reflects the finish underneath it-blasted finish+BC1=mottled black matte finish/satin finish+BC1=:cool:
 
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