Blade Coatings: yes or no?

Oh yes, Cerakote all the way!

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non coated blades will get scratched just as easily, the higher the finish the easier to scratch. That being said all coatings will wear... But DLC is some pretty amazing stuff from what I've seen.

Here's my non-coated edc, it has scratches all over the blade (may be hard to tell w/ this specific lighting). I don't really care whether something's coated or not, everything will wear and will need refinishing. But as others have pointed out, coated blades do make repair work difficult (such as fixing a chipped tip or regrinding the main grind). But some don't care about this. Basically what I guess I'm saying is everything will eventually need maintenance or repair :rolleyes:

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I figured this would've ended up in the maintenance and tinkering forums by now lol

Yes as to everyone said, DLC does provide corrosion protection with that said so do a lot of others but none are "perfect"
 
Blues Bender said:
If I gave a DLC'd knife to one of the guys I work with, it would come back to me with a stonewashed finish within a week.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make:confused:
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I'm pretty sure he hit the nail on the head with his point. Sounds like you use knives for things you should be using other tools for. The way you were wording your statements was in a way that sounded like you used your knives for things us mere mortals could never dream of, it's pretty obvious that was your tone. But hey, they're your knives so go nuts.
 
Mick_1KRR said:
I'm pretty sure he hit the nail on the head with his point. Sounds like you use knives for things you should be using other tools for. The way you were wording your statements was in a way that sounded like you used your knives for things us mere mortals could never dream of, it's pretty obvious that was your tone. But hey, they're your knives so go nuts.
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Here's an example of what it takes to put even small scratches in a good DLC coating. I really have no idea what these are guys are using and calling DLC.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1305088-ZT-0180-Hard-Use?highlight=Zt+0180+hard+use
 
As a general rule, I do not like coatings on folder blades. I do have one or two knives that have coated blades (one of which is a Cold Steel Recon 1 I use as a camping folder), but I generally do not buy them if I can help it.

That said, several of my most used fixed blades have coatings. SwampRat, Becker, a few others. Even my GSO 4.7 has it. I don't worry about it too much.
 
DLC scratches, comes right off with 30 mins of spare time and a soft abrasive wheel. But in the real world under normal cutting tasks? not coming off easy at all. Unless you're a hero who uses his knife to cut bricks and pry up concrete slabs.
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Fixed blades I could go either way. Folders non-coated as they tend to get abused more often.
 
Depends on the knife. Some knives look horrible with coatings. I like my FDE DLC Spartan Harsey Hunter, but something like a Chris Reeve folder using tactical colors or camo would look horrible.
 
Mick_1KRR said:
DLC scratches, comes right off with 30 mins of spare time and a soft abrasive wheel. But in the real world under normal cutting tasks? not coming off easy at all. Unless you're a hero who uses his knife to cut bricks and pry up concrete slabs.
rii3r8.jpg
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I noticed that the DLC coating on my D2 Leatherneck took some long scratches simply from removal and insertion into the sheath.
 
upnorth said:
I noticed that the DLC coating on my D2 Leatherneck took some long scratches simply from removal and insertion into the sheath.
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Was it actual DLC and were they actually scratches? If DLC scratched like that just from a sheath then it was defective coating. Unless it wasn't DLC. Or maybe cold steel just uses a crappy or inappropriate deposition method. Cold steel knives aren't cheap because of Lynn Thompson's good heart...
 
DLC is the only coating I like. I have done some rough stuff to my guardian 3 and it does not show a single sign of wear yet. Did it need DLC on the M390 steel....nope. I just like the way it looked and read that DLC didn't scratch up super easy. Not disappointed.

 
upnorth said:
I noticed that the DLC coating on my D2 Leatherneck took some long scratches simply from removal and insertion into the sheath.
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The DLC I had on my recon 1 was unlike any I had ever seen. It almost seemed polished. Sort of wonder about that. DLC should not scratch from just a plastic sheath IMO. Real DLC will scratch from use though depending on what you are doing. Like Blues Bender said above about his construction coworkers:

Blues Bender said:
If I gave a DLC'd knife to one of the guys I work with, it would come back to me with a stonewashed finish within a week.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make:confused:
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I prefer low-grit satin on stainless, as I can use 600 or 400 sandpaper (or a 3000 to 8000 grit for a "subtle" scratch pattern on mirror or near-mirror surfaces) to simply sand by hand, as perfectly straight as possible, while carefully going parallel to the "grain", thus erasing scratches without altering the original appearance.

It does require practice to get the sanding motion really right... This erases scratches while reproducing the original satin appearance evenly, even when going over it with a bright light (although completely obliterating the original scratch pattern means it will never look perfect again)... Sometimes you have to sand the whole thing to make it look "even" under bright lights, but it should not be so heavy as to replace the original scratch pattern: The idea is to disrupt the scratches while "bringing out" the original machine-applied satin finish...

Ideally I would like a blade-parallel scratch pattern on the flats, and perpendicular on the primary bevels: I actually use masking tape to not "spill" on the other surface. On narrow daggers the pattern should be all parallel, as it is on Gerber Mark IIs.

I don't like the look of stonewash in photos... It gives me an impression of "fake" aging...

I avoid Carbon knives, but on those I like Cerakoats, or I would try this DLC...

On knives that are not grails, I do like the "character" a worn coating gives. It can't really be a favourite though...

Gaston
 
nothing looks better with wear than stonewash
ill never buy another dlc knife again wrecked a BM and a ZT cutting bags of soil open

used my stonewashed
cant even see the difference
 
Yeah I'm thinking some of these "DLC coatings" are being false advertised. Aaron Gough uses them exclusively with his fixed blades and praises the coating. And he puts his knives through he'll when testing. I think some manufacturers are pulling a fast one.
 
craytab said:
The DLC I had on my recon 1 was unlike any I had ever seen. It almost seemed polished. Sort of wonder about that. DLC should not scratch from just a plastic sheath IMO. Real DLC will scratch from use though depending on what you are doing. Like Blues Bender said above about his construction coworkers:
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It ain't the sheath that scratches the blade, but what's inside it. A lot of people think kydex alone scratches blades. It doesn't. It's much softer than the steel. It's dust, grit, etc that's doing the scratching.
 
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