Black coated delica blade question

[jec88]

What can you tell me about the black coating used on the Delica blades. From the website, I believe it is called black titanium carbonitride?
I guess more specifically, how will it wear? I like the look of knives with black blades where after a lot of heavy use, the black shows wear, fade and scratching. I've seen this look on some of the Byrd knives and I was wondering if a Spyyderco will show the same wear, or is this coating too durable? Thanks in advance and feel free to show some pics of wear on knives with this blade coating.

 

[MatthewSB]

Spyderco's DLC coating is great, among the most durable coatings I've used. I had a black bladed Military for years that hardly had a scratch on it after lots of use.

The DLC coating is so tough that most of the 'scratches' you see are actually material embedded in the coating, it washes clean with some CLP (or whatever you want to use) and a rag.

 

[yoda4561]

Titanium carbonitride/DLC and similar coatings are both thinner than any paint or teflon like coating, and also harder than the steel itself by a large margin. Most "wear" is just foreign material that's stuck to the coating, similar to how a sharpening stone picks up marks that wont rub off easily after it's been used. If you cut lots of abrasive material the high spots will eventually start to thin out, I'd say it ages gracefully.

 

[tap78]

I think it wears quite well...

This is my used delica...