Black blade coatings

[AusLoX]

The coating on my contego is holding up nicely. It's gray Cerakote and I prefer it over the black

 

[Boris74]

The coating on my contego is holding up nicely. It's gray Cerakote and I prefer it over the black

My SCHF26 has a cerakote like finish on it and it's indestructible so far. Some scuffs from heavy use but no wear off yet. Same coating is on the SCH211 I EDC. hasn't worn at all. Post a pic so we can see it! Everyone loves pics of knives.

 

[FA1BladeGuy]

All very good points, thanks. The CS TM is the only knife that I deliberately had "blackened".
It wasn't for any "tactical" purpose. I use it in my backyard when clearing brush and such, and I didn't
want the bratty little kids next door go sceaming into their house yellying "Mommy!! The guy next door is swinging
a HUUUUGE KNIFE".. LOL
Like most, I prefer regular polished blades, much easier to take care of and frankly, look better.

KenHash, I too am mainly using my Fallkniven A1 in the yard for clearing brush, carving up pork ribs, and other mundane around the house summer chores until hunting season begins. I'm not worried about scaring the neighbor kids because you should see some of the mid-evil implements the neighbors walk around with. A coworker of mine who was an Army Ranger said I should get the blackened blade, of course he did, and my wife said get the satin finished blade because it looked pretty. Go figure. I suppose if the SOD asked me to get "my team" back together then I'd go all black-ops private contractor with my blades. LOL.

 

[evanPGH]

I'm not a huge fan of coatings but I do own one.

To my eye, the Protech tuxedo configuration looks way better with a black blade, so that's what I went for. At least it's DLC so it should hold up well. I've heard from others who have DLC Protech's as users and the consensus is that it's about the best you can get.

 

[ejames13]

I have a black on black Spyderco Military. I already had a black/satin PM2 and wanted something different (I'm not a huge fan of camo). I figured it's already a pretty intimidating knife anyway, so having a black blade won't make much of a difference. I normally prefer plain blades, but I like the look of the black DLC on the black G10, but not because it's tactical. It's merely aesthetically pleasing to me.

 

[AntDog]

Would like to hear other people's experiences with blade coatings on "user" knives.

I like coated blades. They just look cool to me. I like uncoated blades as well, but one of my favorite things is seeing how the coating wears over time. It just takes on more and more character.
The bevels start to polish then wear first. Then scratches start forming, going through the coating into the steel. It eventually all blends together and creates a very handsome look IMO.




Sometimes I'll strip parts of a blade. This knife is made of A2 tool steel. I stripped the coating from the grinds and left the rest alone. I wanted to form a nice patina on the grinds, but have the protection of the powdercoat on the flats and under the handle:


This coating is no bueno. Boo Cold Steel! The good news is that it almost comes off with your fingernail. Bad news is that it wears UGLY as hell until you take it off:


When I took the coating off of this one, not much was left of it. The whole thing was almost bare metal. I used this knife heavily for years for almost everything. I bet I could polish it up and make it look great, but I'm not erasing all the stories that blade tells me.


In conclusion, some coatings are good, some bad. Some look great when they wear, some don't. The good thing is, if you don't like it you can always take it off.

 

[grownstar]

I like a good DLC coating. Something about that smooth, matte finish just speaks to me. Plus, it doesn't hurt that DLC is tough as nails.