blade coatings for 3V

rustyrazor

rustyrazor

Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
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Hey guys... i want to start making my hard use knives in CPM-3V for my non stainless versions, but i have concerns about the pitting and corrosion issue... that being the case i want to protect those bad boys. Does anybody have a recommendation of what would work best for this type of steel and why compared to other finishes?

My priorities are:
1) I can put this coating on after the heat treat is done
2. maximum protection from corrosion
3. wear resistence... i want it to stay on as long as possible.
 
Ceramic powder coating is extremely wear-resistant and durable. It's available in many colors. It's baked/cured at temperatures that will not harm the temper of your finished, heat-treated blade. There are DIY products you can use at home but I haven't tried them. When I had some blades done, I found a local guy who usually works on exhausts and frames for racing snowmobiles and 4x4's. Check your local yellow pages for shops like that, as well as gunsmiths.
 
thanks guys... that's awesome. i won't be doing them for a while anyway, so this is a good start for some studying on the matter.
 
hey Night man... i was on the sight for KG gunkote and there are quite a variety of coatings. which ones do you have experience with and how durable is it?
 
Cerakote is more durable than the gunkote or durakote, they must be properly applied though.

Most durable of all would be something like an Np3 coating
 
Have and will continue to use Cerakote... Not that hard to apply but you need to gear-up to do it right:
120AO blasting media
Blast cabinet
Do a perfect sandblast prior to coating
Compressor or HVLC sprayer
Right sized detail spray gun and tip
Oven capable of holding at least ten blades hung on racks. Less than that and it is hardly worth mixing the coating which is pricey!
But that stuff is durable as hell when properly done
 
good to note... and for me, almost perfect. i just bought a new sandblasting cabinet before i came on this trip. still in the box! and i have a full size oven in my garage that i use for just this kind of foolishness... it was all i got in the divorce. Totally worth it!

only problem is, i will likely never have 10 blades ready at the same time for most of my year, so if you don't mind me asking, how pricey once you factor in everything? lets say you were gonna mix up enough for 5 blades?
 
How does Cerakote compare to Tenifer. I know you can't apply Tenifer to a knife because it's proprietary and illegal (I think) in the U.S. but it sure is tough. In armorers school we took screwdrivers to Glocks and we couldn't even make a mark.
 
rustyrazor said:
only problem is, i will likely never have 10 blades ready at the same time for most of my year, so if you don't mind me asking, how pricey once you factor in everything? lets say you were gonna mix up enough for 5 blades?
Click to expand...

Cerakote is $45 for 4 oz while KG Gunkote is $10 for 4 oz.
Four oz is more than enough to do a shotgun including all the small parts so you can do quite a few knives with that much.

I assume you already have an air compressor since you have a blasting cabinet. You will also need:
-An airbrush, a cheap one is ok $10
-Canned air or a moisture trap and thread adapter for your compressor to power the air brush $8
-100 to 120 grit AO $30
-KG K-Phos surface treatment (not absolutely required but it does help) $12
-Wire to hang your knives
-MEK to clean the steel before applying the finish $6
-An oven thermometer because most ovens aren't correct $4

I don't have any experience with Cerakote but from all accounts from experienced people it's at the very least as good as Gun-kote. Many say it's better. Chris Reeve uses Gun-Kote if that means anything to you.

I have used Gun-Kote and will probably continue to use it. It is durable, it looks good, and it's easy to apply. I don't like the look of powder coating or Duracoat (which is an epoxy finish) because they're thicker finishes. If you're trying to hide heavy grind lines then those are options. When you compare wear resistance you have to consider coating thickness. Powder coating and Duracoat can offer long finish life because the coatings are so thick. I've seen guns with Duracoat that looks like it's probably 0.015" thick. Gun-Kote could be 10 times more wear resistant but at 0.001" thick it's going to wear out faster.
 
thanks guys... i will most likely start with gun-Kote. If it's good enough for Chris Reeve, it's most likely good enough for ole Royce (that's me by the way, lol) for the price and those accolades, it sounds like a great place to start. if i don't like the results, i can always move on to something else and see what happens from there. the blades will be 3V if that makes any difference at all. im not likely going to coat any stainless unless somebody specifically requests it.

thanks again

Royce
 
Rustyrazor, before I give my recommendation here's a disclaimer: I'm not a knife-maker. I've ground a couple blades and I'd like to get into it after I finish my MBA, but I haven't used this product on a knife yet.

Brownell's has Gun-Kote in 6 oz. aerosol cans. They're fairly pricy, but since you already have a blast cabinet and an oven there would be nothing more to buy. It probably won't give you quite the finish quality you could get with an airbrush but it would be a good way to test out the product. While I haven't used it on a knife I did refinish a 1911 with the matte black and it was pretty durable in that use. I had the gun parkerized first then sprayed the coating over that. One thing to be aware of is that the finish is very thin (low viscosity) and it will run if you spray it too thick. For a DIY finish without additional investment this might be the way to go if it holds up in testing.

I see someone mentioned Tenifer as used on Glocks. Tenifer (and Melonite, as it's called by S&W) is just a trade name for ferritic nitrocarburizing, there's nothing proprietary about it, unless you market it under one of the trade names. It is done at high temperatures, a little over 1000 F, so it will ruin just about any heat treat. There are quite a few variations on the process, but I'm not aware of any that don't involve high temperatures.
 
thanks RJ80... i am of the mind i will try both and see how much difference is in the two. in my shop, i already have all the neccesary bits (including an oven... all i got in the divorce) so if it is worse the difference i will likely go with the full meal deal. if there is hardly any differecne, the spray cans might be an avenue worth pursuing... i'll let you know how it works. don't hold your breath however, i am in afghanistan right now, so it may be a while before i get around to final coats, lol
 
I mix up cerakote for one or two knives. I use really narrow syringes to measure and use a sprayer that's top loading so you can use really small amounts.
 
RJ80 said:
Brownell's has Gun-Kote in 6 oz. aerosol cans. They're fairly pricy, but since you already have a blast cabinet and an oven there would be nothing more to buy. It probably won't give you quite the finish quality you could get with an airbrush but it would be a good way to test out the product. While I haven't used it on a knife I did refinish a 1911 with the matte black and it was pretty durable in that use. I had the gun parkerized first then sprayed the coating over that. One thing to be aware of is that the finish is very thin (low viscosity) and it will run if you spray it too thick.
Click to expand...

An airbrush is worth the modest cost unless all you want to do is get the product on the metal for testing. The finish will be more uniform. You can control the flow with an airbrush so you don't get runs. I turn the flow down to just a small amount with small droplets. This gives you the ability to cover the gun/knife with 3-4 light coats sprayed in different directions. You can easily build up the thickness without runs this way. Runs can also be avoided by making sure you preheat the metal.
Parkerizing under any coating is a great way to boost durability and adhesion. The K-phos treatment isn't as good but it's better than no parkerizing.
 
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