blade coatings

M

Metric

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Mar 4, 2002
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133
What has been your experience with blade coatings? Which manufacturers do them best in your experience, and which material have you found to be best?

I have used a couple different ones, over the years -- a Benchmade and a couple Microtechs.

The Benchmade I think was teflon and wore very quickly to the point of looking pretty bad. The Microtechs were boron carbide I think, and they have been nearly invincible -- still look great ~7 years later (though use has been pretty light).

What has been your experience?
 
I really like that old Microtech coating of boron carbide. I'm with you there.

I really dislike the new Benchmade coating. That coating looks like crap quickly and even when it is new, oils and such change the coloration.

The older Benchmade coating, like on my 750, took a long time to wear away and still looks good when worn.

I like some of the Ti coatings, too.
 
Good question. I only buy black blades...well almost only. I have a few satin users. All of the black coatings on my knives are fairly fragile...except one. My Microtechs and Benchmades seem to wear easily. I have these Eickhorn SEKs that are coated with something that seems indestructible. Its some type of Marine coating...not sure what it is but it is awesome. Its not as black As the others but its certainly worth the tradeoff. I actually tried removing the coating from a tiny part of the blade edge where some of the coating bled over and I couldn't get it off. That stuff is awesome!

I've seen some threads lately where guys have been sending their blades in somewhere to have them recoated. Do you guys know of anywhere that does this...or is it even worth it. If it is I would be more liberal about the use of my black blades...safe in knowing I could have them redone!
 
I actually prefer uncoated blades, but sometimes can't avoid the coated ones. The coating that's held up best for me has been the tungsten carbide coating on my Gerber Freeman S30V folder. It's two years old, is carried daily, and still looks brand new.
 
I have an older Benchmade with the BC1 boron coating and it's bomb proof. Same for my Ti/ZDP-189 Kershaw mini-cyclone with DLC coating - a flame thrower wouldn't phase it.

I just got a new Benchmade 943 Osborne with some sort of poor excuse black paint on on the blade and it's a complete joke. Honestly, I cannot believe they have the balls to put such a crap coating on the blade. I'm actually thinking about sending it back.
 
I would prefer if all my knives were uncoated, I would love an uncoated RAT. Even carbon steel knives I would rather have no coating.

The powder coat on my Cold STeel True Flight Thrower is surprisingly resilient. I was throwing it at trees, chopping branches and even batoning and the only place it's showing anywhere is near the tip where it stuck into trees.
 
Spyderco's DLC coating is great. :thumbup:

BM's isn't really a coating, more of a paint I think.
 
The older Benchmade BT coating was much better quality than the new BK coating.

When I was touring the factory, I asked if Benchmade did their coatings in house, and the guide said that they were sent to a local mom and pop place that coated all their blades.

Mom and Pop don't seem to have a quality coating if you ask me :/
 
i despise coating and would not want them unless i lived on the ocean or something to help with corrosion, other than that i will never own another knife which is coated.
 
I have some knives with coated blades. I bought them only because I didn’t have a choice.

Al Mar has a ceramic coating that is much harder and smoother than any other coating I have seen. Al Mars are the only knife that I will buy with a coated blade ON PURPOSE.
 
Even though I now have more then a few coated knives I'm not a big fan of it. Having said that I do think they do have some practical applications to them. My favorite so far is the BT2 that Benchmade uses but my new coated Buck 882 is gaining as it is really holding up well!
 
I dislike all blade coatings for aesthetic reasons. I have yet to see one that did not wear quickly on an actual "using" knife, soon looking like @#$%& and some of the less expesive ones (like powder coating) look like @#$%& to begin with. :barf:

If for some reason I need a "low visibility" knife, I perfer satin finish blades. :thumbup:
 
Any coating interferes with cutting ability, there is absolutely no good reason for having a coated blade. If you live near the ocean take care of your blades and you're good to go.
 
my only experience was with a BM Grip form cabela's. Black coated blade. I hardly used it, but i did cut an aluminum can with it (blah blah abuse blah blah) and the coating scratched. Now IIRC it had been called a DLC coating (i might be wrong, correct me if i am), and in my opinion, a DIAMOND like coating, should be able to withstand a scratch form an aluminum can.
 
The coating on Becker's is good, too. It really does help prevent oxidation. Sure, it's easy to keep the blade oiled, but not so easy under the scales.
 
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