Best Blade coatings

C

Capntrade

Joined
May 4, 2011
Messages
7
Hi Guys. I have a few knives with black coatings and I got to wondering: I don't know squat about which black coatings are considered the best. I DO know that they vary widely and that some coatings are more durable and longer-lasting than others.

Is there a widely recognized database of main blade coatings? Is there one coating or class of coating that I should look for?

BTW Anyone familiar with a black coating called "black idroglider"? It's used by Fox knives of Italy but I can find nothing about it on their sites. I just e-mailed martineden about why he chose that particular coating for his Parang 6" design for Fox, but haven't yet received his reply.
 
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Stay away from Phosphate (Parkerized), painted (powder coat), PTFE (Teflon), and Chrome plate. The new stuff is much more durable. Look for TiN (dark gold), ZrN (light gold), TiAlN (dark gray), TDLC (black), CBN (dark gray), and TiCN (purple). These PVD and CVD coatings are very hard and very corrosion resistant, and they look great.
 
I dont know a whole lot about the topic but I have a kershaw chive with a coating that the website says is tungsten dlc which is the best I have personally experienced, I really like it. In general I like dlc for blade coatings but I have no idea if they are the best or how they even rank at all.
 
tiguy7 said:
Stay away from Phosphate (Parkerized), painted (powder coat), PTFE (Teflon), and Chrome plate. The new stuff is much more durable. Look for TiN (dark gold), ZrN (light gold), TiAlN (dark gray), TDLC (black), CBN (dark gray), and TiCN (purple). These PVD and CVD coatings are very hard and very corrosion resistant, and they look great.
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Not all metals benefit from a nitride-type of coating. Stainless steel will actually become less resistant to corrosion if it is nitride coated. Free chromium that acts as a passivation layer will bond with nitrogen to form chromium nitride(CrN).
 
Coatings are fine if you're never going to use the knife, in which case it doesn't really matter what is best. If you do use the knife they inevitably wind up looking like crap, in which case (again) it doesn't really matter. If you gotta have a blade that's not 'steel' colored, Krylon is the way to go. Then you can touch it up any time it's needed.
 
VA27 said:
Coatings are fine if you're never going to use the knife, in which case it doesn't really matter what is best. If you do use the knife they inevitably wind up looking like crap, in which case (again) it doesn't really matter. If you gotta have a blade that's not 'steel' colored, Krylon is the way to go. Then you can touch it up any time it's needed.
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Im going to have to disagree with you. I live in a very humid area, so the coating does help me, and I like the look of quality coatings like dlc as they wear a bit.
 
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VA27 said:
Coatings are fine if you're never going to use the knife, in which case it doesn't really matter what is best. If you do use the knife they inevitably wind up looking like crap, in which case (again) it doesn't really matter. If you gotta have a blade that's not 'steel' colored, Krylon is the way to go. Then you can touch it up any time it's needed.
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I'm with you. The best blade coating is "none." The only thing a coating brings to the party is that it can reduce the cost of a large chopper/basher/smasher by allowing the manfacturer to have a less finished surface underneath. And if its a large chopper/basher/smasher....who cares what the finish is. They might as well reduce the cost even more by eliminating the coating.

On a small knife...the finsh of the steel needs to be very good to allow it to slice well. So there is no need to cover it up. No need for a coating.
On a small, stainless knife....a coating is purely decorative. Check that...the coating doesn't allow your knife to reflect light and give away your position while on late night sentry deanimation missions.
 
marcinek said:
I'm with you. The best blade coating is "none."
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Yep! The only coating I want on my knives is wax or mineral oil (for kitchen carbon).

This trend towards coating blades began as a way to hide inferior finishing work on knives, not for corrosion-resistance. If you know how to use a blade, you'd know enough to take care of it and not need it coated.
 
Contained said:
Im going to have to disagree with you. I live in a very humid area, so the coating does help me, and I like the look of quality coatings like dlc as they wear a bit.
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If you like the looks of a coating, that's all the reason you need and I won't argue against it. I've seen quite a few coated knives that I like the looks of.

But because the coating doesn't cover the edge, the exact part of the knife that most needs protection from the elements, I think the argument about their use for corrosion resistance is bogus. Rust is a highly overrated enemy who holds no terror for those who know its' ways.:D
 
Hmmm interesting to see that most people dislike coatings. On stainless knives I agree coatings suck, but on carbon blades I prefer the rust resistance. Sure the coating wears but it still offers more rust resistance then a forced patina, at least in high humidity environments like an Ottawa summer. Having to oil the entire blade IMO just adds to the pain in the ass factor.
 
CWL said:
I guess you missed VA27's posting above.
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Nope, but I do disagree, I just saw no need to bring it to attention. We live in different areas and different climates so whats true for me may not be true for you.
 
I'm not a big fan of coatings but I'm glade my M4 Rift has it. I have used it a ton and the coating looks surprisingly good. It also keeps the blade and pivot where it is hard to clean, rust free. Yeah the very edge can rust but I don't have to worry about wiping the blade down real well and having red rust in a couple hours and maybe even pitting.

That said you won't see too many DLC blades that look like crap unless you try to cut metal a lot. Even then the marks are normally a layer of metal that is rubbed on the blade and can be removed and not an actual scratch in the coating. However the coating is mainly for looks because it can still rust although it seems to wipe off and not look bad. I don't know if severe rust can cause the coating to flake off?
 
CWL said:
Yep! The only coating I want on my knives is wax or mineral oil (for kitchen carbon).

This trend towards coating blades began as a way to hide inferior finishing work on knives, not for corrosion-resistance.
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That's a pretty broad brush you have there. Do you have any information that shows this to be the case?
 
There is a huge difference between coatings and metal "treatments". The latter of which is more wear resistant. There are many options, but I favor IonBond as an excellent rust inhibitor.
 
if you want a great coating see if jeff or mike from esee will tell you what they use:) i have many esee knives and it takes almost 3 coats of paint stpipper and 3 hours for me to get the esee coating off. i like my knives with a patina. (forced or el-natural)
 
I will say that on most knives, I prefer the clean look of non-coated blades, and i do oil and lubricate my knives before they go out with me in the mornings, but some knives just look plain awesome with coatings. For example I love the look of the coated benchmade 943SBK, but for most of my stainless steel knives, I go against coatings.
 
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