I have the clear. It's more of a grey actually. It seems to be wearing well. I bought the grey because I heard horror stories of how the handle would rough up your hands. I thought that if I modified the handles and gimping, I wouldn't have to refinish them (the liners or back spacer) black. But I found no reason to modify the handles. I think they are fine the way they are. If the blade (clear) ever starts looking really bad I will strip the finish off of the blade. The rest of the knife does not have the finish, so I think it would look good. The black knife has black liners. That would still look good with a stripped blade, or a guy could always recoat the black blade.