Ceracoat on a blade?

ChiefTJS

ChiefTJS

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Nov 22, 2012
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Ok, I'm a gun guy and have had a ceracoated gun in the distant past and it didn't hold up worth a damn. I see it on knife blades and have to wonder, why? Does it hold up now? Is it there not to hold up so it looks like it was used hard and put away wet so you look like a high speed low drag operator type? Am I missing something? Thanks to all for responses.
 
If you have doubt, keep it out of your collection.

Buy what you can, use what you buy.

How do you plan to use such a knife?
 
I have very limited experience with Cerakote but the Cerakote finish on my Benchmade Mini Bugout’s blade has held up way better than I expected it to.

I have only owned it for just shy of 3 months but I’ve used it lightly and the finish still looks the same as it did when the knife was brand new.

Based solely on some of the comments that I’ve read, the finish should have started to come off by now but it hasn’t.

It’s holding up better than I thought it would. So far.
 
I'd simply use the knife for anything I'd use a knife for, all around use. No babying allowed, a collector piece that would never be used or sharpened then sure, coat it in gold leaf I'm just wondering how it holds up is all. Thanks. Pics?
 
I have an Adamas with a Cerakote CruWear blade and I’ve been using it daily for the last few weeks. I realize that a few weeks isn’t very long but in that time , the finish has held up remarkably. Any scuff I got ended up coming right off with the wipe of a damp cloth. Still looks brand new. No wear to speak of thus far.
 
ChiefTJS said:
Ok, I'm a gun guy and have had a ceracoated gun in the distant past and it didn't hold up worth a damn. I see it on knife blades and have to wonder, why? Does it hold up now? Is it there not to hold up so it looks like it was used hard and put away wet so you look like a high speed low drag operator type? Am I missing something? Thanks to all for responses.
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It depends on the application. Lots of tactical blades use it to reduce reflection in an operator type environment. I’d say the secondary type is to coat a high carbon blade that might be used on food or other type of materials that don’t ruin the coating as easily.

In my experience, it doesn’t hold up well in a hard use application. It will scratch the coating.

You might want a DLC coating instead, although it can eventually scratch as well.
 
ChiefTJS said:
I'd simply use the knife for anything I'd use a knife for, all around use. No babying allowed, a collector piece that would never be used or sharpened then sure, coat it in gold leaf I'm just wondering how it holds up is all. Thanks. Pics?
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Same here. I use the knife as needed. No babying. Just trying to answer your question there, Chief.

I don't hunt or fish and I'm not a bush crafter. If you want advice from those who are, perhaps you should have stated so in your first post.

Brand new on 5/21/24.
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Photos taken 10 minutes ago.
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Can't see a mark on it Railsplitter. Actually Benchmade is what got me asking the question when I got an ad about the PSK this week and was thinking real hard on it. I wasn't meaning any offense at all, after two Stellas I sometimes don't write as well as I should.
 
it doesn't hold up well. depends on what your cutting though. slicing up food and non abrasive stuff it's holds up. cut up a bunch of nasty cardboard or fiberglass ductboard and watch it get streaks and be removed completely in a very short while.

dlc is a far better coating.

cerakote serves one purpose to me...
limited corrosion protection that is better than the teflon and various other "painted" coatings used for the same purpose......that is until it's worn away......I don't care about not reflecting light....I'm not ramboing in my neighbors backyards at night..so I have no fear of being seen......

at best it's okay......but not great and doesn't last.....
 
ChiefTJS said:
Can't see a mark on it Railsplitter. Actually Benchmade is what got me asking the question when I got an ad about the PSK this week and was thinking real hard on it. I wasn't meaning any offense at all, after two Stellas I sometimes don't write as well as I should.
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Don’t give it a second thought, friend. I just finished a 6 ounce glass of Barrell Craft Whiskey myself. 😌

I’m impressed with Benchmade’s Cerakote so far. I expected the finish to start coming off after the first cut and possibly just from pocket carry. My experience so far has been far from that.
 
I have always regarded any blade that has a color coating as being basically Painted ~ It's going to show wear on the color pretty fast if you use it frequently ~

Sugar coating in a way ~ Don't get me wrong I have had a few in my time but I won't buy another unless it's a collector not to be used
 
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For best results, the answer is going to depend on what you want and how you're going to use it. There are a lot of different coatings that are tailored for a lot of different applications.

I prefer the thinner coatings like cerakote and even thinner still GunKote, as it doesn't interfere where parts interfave or tolerances. These have the advantage of being able to be recoated almost indefinitely, unlike powder coat and epoxy coatings and dlc. Those can be redone, but it often is not feasible for the end user.

That being said, the thicker Coatings like powder coat are going to give you more durability in certain applications. GunKote and cerakote are going wear more quickly while batoning, where there's an extreme amount of pinch and pressure on the blade and coating. They have no give to them because they're so thin and so hard, so they will wear faster in those situations than the powder coat or others.

That being said, the gun code and cerakote are virtually immune to solvents, Once cured you can wash them off with acetone as many times as you want with no ill effects.

I'll put a couple of pictures below of knives with GunKote on them. The one that has the wear on it has had that coating on it for going on a year now. It has been used for almost everything except heavy batoning, just light batoning.
So you have to decide what you want to do with it, and then select which coating is right for you.

Coatings are also used for uniformity in production, and whenever certain types of surface finishes are just not feasible economically. I could go on, but that's a good bit to chew on.

Sam⚔️⚔️


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Certainly not being argumentative, but if it flakes at all it was applied improperly. Cerakote, and even more so GunKote, should be applied so thinly that flaking is not possible. If it flaked, surface prep wasn't done properly or was applied too thick. Applied properly, it will just slowly wear through.

For reference, on GunKote I apply it at 5-10 ten thousandth of an inch wet, that's .0005"-.00010". For reference, a sheet of paper is commonly .003"-.005" thick. Count them zeros.

Sam⚔️⚔️

AntDog said:
It holds up alright in lightly used folders, flakes and wears right off on fixed blades that are used hard. That’s been my experience. YMMV.
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This is a larger blade I did a couple of years ago (Diablochete) and the owner reported back a couple of times at various intervals.

That is GunKote on an 11.5" blade, and it was used a lot. I think this pic is earlier in his ownership, but the same results. Done properly it will just start to wear thorough.

I left his user name on there because he deserves a follow or sub, his YouTube videos are great and are the reason I know he used the knife a good bit.

Sam⚔️⚔️

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I took my old Benchmade to the Cerakote shop, but I asked them to bead blast the blade. They Cerakoted liners and parts of the Axis lock and it's holding up fine. I decided against doing anything else to the blade as I felt it won't hold up long during any, serious use basing on my experience with the firearms.
 
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