Black Clips

W

Waldo

Joined
Nov 6, 1998
Messages
189
Sal -

Any chance of getting black clips to replace the shiny ones on my Military models? I hate to advertise the presence of my knives when in uniform and thus have so far still carried my BM utility blades on duty though my Military is by far my favorite production knife.

Thanks,

Waldo
 
You might want to try what I have tried. My wife is into crafts and has alot of acrylic paints around the house. I broke out the bottle of black and painted the clip and voila all of a sudden it blends in with the BDUs no problem.
BTW, acrylic paint works better than M-nu as it does not scratch off very easily. It too is flat black as well.
Just a suggestion as I too was put off with the clip standing out in uniform.

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Norwegian Misfit

"For the word of GOD is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword...." Hebrews 4:12

 
Funny as it sounds, try a black magic marker as well, the permanent ones work on metal, I believe.

We used to use these to blacken brass, canteen buttons, pin on rank, whatever we needed when it came time for inspections.

I agree though, M-Nu is horrible, it doesn't last long, and looks all gloppy if you don't put it on right. The best way I found to apply it was to put it on, then bake it over a heat source until it dried. Even then the item that got covered was all "souped" and should be replaced.

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
We are currently working on coatings for the Military. Should have black clips available in a month or so.
sal
 
Thanks to WIlliam and Spark for the good suggestions.

Also thanks to Sal for the info. Will the new Military have a coated CPM 440 V blade?

Waldo
 
Waldo - won't know until we're finished initial testing. Spyderco had the first black blades. We used almost 10 different coatings over a 10 year period. We're tired of the hype and the manufacturers claims. We would rather not put a coating on a blade than put out one that the ELU was not pleased with.

Now one for you. We put coatings on originally because believed we were offering improved corrossion resistance and many ELU (mostly collectors) wanted a subdued blade.

Every coating had its drawbacks. we will again test, more accurately this time and determine if there exists a coating that serves to Spyderco standards.

What do YOU want and expect in a coating and why?

sal
 
Sal,

Since my Q on the Steel Rating got buried in the Talonite War, I'll repeat some of it here.

I believe coating of ATS34/440V is more cosmetic than functional. Unless you are a mermaid, not many of us require that much corrosion protection. However, if we're talking about coating A-1, O-1, 1095, 52100, 5160, etc., etc., it's a completely different story. I personally want the best performing yet least expensive steel for my blade. If a "high carbon" non-stainless steels is stronger, holds its edge longer, and cheaper than 440V, I would like to have it for my blade COATED. The question is then this: is there any such a "high carbon" steel? If not, then the issue becomes one of cosmetics.

Cold Steel, for example, offers only one folder model with their touted Carbon V blade coated: their Opinel styled one (forgot its name). If Carbon V is so great, why don't they coat it and offer it on all their folders?

sjc
 
Sal, You should put this in a thread on blade coatings. My experience in coatings is in firearms. I have a pistol with a hard chrome coat and a pistol with Black-T as well as standard blue oxide guns. I guess I like hard chrome the best because it does not show wear and the pistol still looks new after 8 years and thousands of rounds. Bluing and Black-T show some wear. I guess cosmetics as well as improved durability is my criteria. I read of a coating called tantalum carbide that is suppose to improve cutting as will as being durable. If it can improve cutting as well resist corrosion and looked good, then thats a coating I want on my blade. I'd love to hear how your testing turns out.
 
I read in an other post a neat trick for a black clip. Try heat shrink tubing,slip it on and heat with a heat gun or hair dryer. I used it to black out my Native's clip and it works great.
 
sjc - We're not sure at this time that the steels you mentioned would be superior to something like 440V. When using a steel like 52100 (ball bearing steel), it is most often forged, providing differential heat treating and not a fair comparison with a production heat treating process. We are also still not sure that the coatings will in fact protect these steels from corrosion. We also can't test everyithing at once (small R&D dept). if the coatings we test will infact provide such corrosion resistance that they will in fact keep the blade safe for 5 or 6 years of hard use, then we'll try it.
sal
 
Well,

I would love to see black blades, but if Spyderco is not satisfied with the ones so far, that is pretty much good for me.

The only thing I could ask is to have screws at the pivot so I could get blades done after market....

But until that day I am pretty darn happy with what I have.

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You may want to travel the following hyperlink/wormhole to the Spyderco Forum, where I am building interest in a knife I like to call the Worker 2000, hopefully one day made by Spyderco. Your interest and innovation would be appreciated.
www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum20/HTML/000224.html

One may want to keep an Eye out for my review of the Bob Kasper designed, Kevin Gentile modified AFCK and interview of Bob Kasper. Sorry about the wait, my review and interview should be online shortly, look for it right here at BladeForums.com. The delay has been getting pictures, luckily Spark has graciously offered to do the pictures. Knife writer I may be, photographer I am not, yet.

Marion David Poff ska Eye, one can msg me at mdpoff@hotmail.com

"A journey of a thousand miles begins but with a single step" Lao-Tzu from the Tao Te Ching

If you are interested in a really good book, read "Finite and Infinite Games" by James P Carse.

 
I forgot to mention tennifer, the stuff they coat Glock knives and pistols with. Very durable stuff and a dark color. Perfect for reducing the shine of the clip or blade.
 
Guess maybe all the "I want a black clip" forumites are sleeping....hmmm? Sal posted some good news about this, in the Military Man Recruit thread. You go check it out, and I'll start doing some phone-answering, address-writing hand exercises to be ready!

Danelle


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I don't believe in harming any living thing, so when a mosquito bites me on the arm, I just pet it..real hard and real fast



[This message has been edited by djo62 (edited 21 March 1999).]
 
We Taureans are not exactly known for our patience so I took out the stainless clip and screws on my brand new Military and dunked it on a marker pen ink. The black clip really looked KEWL! Problem was the ink didn't stay on long.

Next plan is to look for a car painting shop and have the clip painted black, or buy a spray paint (latex?).

Anyway, if things don't turn out right, I will just have to wait for Danelle to announce the availability of their black clip.

Sal -- you might want to check this out www.arizonaresponsesystems.com for a possible source for coating blades and clip.
 
What's all the rub about? My Military has a black clip. (It used to have a black blade too.)
 
Hmmm, it'd be an older one then, yes? Two screws on the clip? Also, was your blade black from Spyderco or from a secondary source? I know of Militaries being coated after the factory, but have always wondering if Spyderco themselves ever produced any black-bladed models.

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-Corduroy
(Why else would a bear want a pocket?)
 
Yes, older, razor sharp ATS34 blade, 2 screw clip (no problems with it either). Don't know if it was factory blackened. According to the person I got it from, it was de-blackened by the factory when sent in for a refurb.
 
Ok, Danelle, does this mean I need to send you a letter to geta black clip for my milli ?
Should I include some ducats too ?
BTW, I don't have any patches to send you, but I'm going to send a picture of me at a mtn bike race, you can't see it in the picture, but I'm carrying a Delica !
 
The black Millie clips are on the way...they'll be ready before too long. We haven't decided how they're going to be distributed. Probably as a "clip kit", which is a product currently offered by Ironstone. We'll let ya know!

Danelle
 
Will the black clip kit come with a black pivot screw as well? What would be the point of offering a black clip and then having a large, shiny, metal screw in the center of it?
 
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