Black finish on ATS34

[John R. Fraps]

I have a potential customer who wants a black finish on a straight blade knife.
I do mirror and hand rubbed on ATS 34, 440C, etc. Does anyone know of a process to blacken
the finish on, say, ATS34 that won't wear off? Would bluing or that type of finish work? I have anodizing equipment but it is relative new process to me....can you use it on ATS34? Thank-you for any advice.

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[A T Barr]

Welcome to bladeforums John. I can't help you on what kind of coating to use. I'm sure someone else can. I do know that you can't anodize steel. It seems to me that brownells sells some kind of liquid that you put on a blade and then put it in a oven. Check out http://www.brownells.com/


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A.T.
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[Ansoknives]

A knifemaking friend uses FericCloride to etch the blades of ATS-34. This darkens the blade to a very nice dark dark grey.

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Jens Anso, jens@ansoknives.com
(check out my homepage)
Ansoknives.com

 

[e_utopia]

http://www.brycoat.com/ does titanium coatings. TiCN and AlTiN are both shades of black, and AlTiN is one of the hardes coatings available. I haven't actually seen their work, but they have been extremely prompt and helpful when I've talked with them.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com

 

[Running Dog]

www.kgproducts.net has a spray on finish for guns and knives called Gun-Kote...

You can use this with minimal investment in time and supplies...

Running Dog

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Running Dog Knife Company
http://www.runningdogknife.bigstep.com
runningdog@dog.com
mmurphy@premier1.net

 

[John R. Fraps]

Folks, Thank-you for your input. Further investigation shows Brownell's Gun-Kote is the private brand label that KG provides for Brownell. I'm going to try that out on a test blade. Also, Jens, Thanks about the ferric chloride....I use a solution of that for Damascus etching. I treated an ATS34 blade overnight....really like the dark gray etched finish.
The titanium nitride coating looks like a great idea and maybe best wear resistance of them all. If the others don't wear well, I will send out a blade to test.
Thank-you all!


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John R. Fraps,
Cougar Creek Knives,Inc.
AKTI #BA15