Blade finish on SwampRat knives ....

[tbird911]

Hey guys,

Just ordered my first Swamp Rat , a RMD in Tan micarta with muddy blade. When looking at some pics, the grey and sage blade finishes appear smoother. I stumbled across a post somewhere and a guy was saying that the smoother finishes (gray an sage) hold up better, don't wear as fast etc. is this true or are all of the finishes equal?

This is going to be a user, but just curious .

Tbird

 

[SpyderPhreak]

Not necessarily. What I'm about to post is general coating info for all Bussekin, not specifically for the Swamp, but it applies.

The Sage is about the same surface roughness as the standard black coating, and wears about the same too. They're both "crinkle" coats (so is the muddy you ordered). In general, I'd say that the black, sage, moss, and muddy are the most wear-resistant that I've beaten on, but that's also in part due to the fact that they're also the thicker ones too. One of the smoothest coatings is the jungle (dark) green, but it goes on pretty thin and doesn't wear as well.

Some of the newer colors like orange, zombie green, and arctic white are really smooth finishes (glossy; no crinkle texture at all), but are also relatively thick, so I'd suspect they'd also wear pretty well.

My most recent example of the Tanker Gray was actually pretty smooth (NMFSH from last Christmas), and about as thin as the jungle green. It was not wearing very well so I stripped it. However, earlier examples I had seen of the tanker gray were much more like the crinkle coats.

The take-away is that the coatings can vary. IMO, the biggest factor in the wear resistance is the thickness of the coating.

HTH.

ETA: Just noticed this is your first post on BF after being signed up for 7 1/2 years. Welcome!!! Don't be as shy as you have been. Tan canvas on a muddy blade looks great! It is one of the classic Swamp color combos. I have a chops riled in that combo. I think you'll be pleased! :thumbup:

ETA2: (lol) Here is a good close-up of the sage coating that shows the crinkle. You can see how thick it is along the exposed edge where it got smoothed when I polished the edge.

 

[tbird911]

Thanks for the great info.....I actually probably haven't been on the site in that long I have been busy with life and work, but things have settled a little and I stumbled over Swamp Rat knives the other day...had completely forgotten about them. I was going to order one way back then but got disgraced ...lol. We'll , now it's finally ordered.

 

[SpyderPhreak]

No problem! Hopefully you saw my edits. Refresh the page and look again if not. Welcome to the world of Bussekin! Run away now while you still can!!! Otherwise, hang on to your wallet!