Black Blades

Sal, you seem to be in the mood for granting wishes...what are the chances of getting the Ayoob and the Gunting with optional black blades as befits their terror inducing qualities? I know that black blades aren't to everyone's tastes but fools like me like them and its been a while since the last black Spyderco. Thanks.
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Sal Glesser

Sal Glesser

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Ferret - At this time, the customer still expects the black coating to last forever. Complaints of the coatings wearing off is a real pain. Re-coating is difficult and more expensive than the original coating.

sal
 
Mr Glesser:
Ti-Gold has a facility in Japan. I talked to Darrell Lewis personally, he spent 2 weeks there. Why don't you try to get the blades coated there. Carbon Titanium nitride is about as hard as you can get and it doesn't wear off. Ask any of the Microtech guys, that is what is on their blades and they don't wear out.
 
There may be hope yet. Perhaps if buyers were somehow made aware the coating may not last forever (in much the same way as the knife itself will eventually wear out) and that recoating falls outside warranty provisions etc etc. Still sounds like a lot of trouble for minimal gain, but that minimal gain means so much!
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This seems like an opportunity for a third party to offer blade-coating as an aftermarket customization. Naturally it would void the original warranty as the knife would be dissassembled and modified but perhaps there is a market (or even someone that already offers the service).

I can understand why Spyderco doesn't want to produce something that is likely to wear off. Also, given the resistance to corrosion of the steels used by Spyderco, the value of the coating would be mostly cosmetic and thus unneeded by most ELUs (myself included). I can understand the desire/need to have a coated blade that doesn't reflect light in certain tactical situations but I respect Spyderco's decision at this time to leave that niche to other makers.
 
Avenger - Thought I might mention that Spyderco was the first knife company to coat with Ti-gold, along with a half dozen other coatings. We've already produced Enduras, Delicas, Police Models, Harpy's, Workers, Military's as well as other models with black coatings.

We've been working with Darrel for many years. Still working on stuff.

We have a black Lum Tanto we'll be testing later this year.

sal

[This message has been edited by Sal Glesser (edited 06-09-2000).]
 
I like a black blade better than bead-blast any day, and I find black teflon easy to clean up. And word is that it keeps on protecting not-quite-stainless steels even after it looks scratched and worn. If stealth is a factor, we hope you are working for a friendly government.

Now, if they could make good cutlery steel some "other" color all the way through.....
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
As for terror-inducing qualities ...

I don't want my knife to scare people who are not my enemies by looking sinister. And if somebody is my enemy, and I need a knife in my hand, and he sees it bright and shiny, and he leaves, that's a good thing.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
James, point taken. I still think black knives have a certain menace and some undoubted stealth/concealment benefits. I've never pulled a knife on anyone and fully expect never to have to, but the are certain occupations where it may be a real possibility, and the minor asset of a black blade in these situations adds to the functional attraction of the knife for me.
 
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