Cerakote wear progression

[Railsplitter]

I have decided to carry this Spitfire exclusively for an undetermined amount of time. Starting this thread might help me stick to that plan because I will be committed to posting periodic updates.

I thought some folks might be interested to see how much usage it takes until my knife starts to look like crap from the worn Cerakote. At this point, I have no idea how long that will take but I want to find out and I thought I would share my progression.

This same configuration can currently be built in the Custom Shop except that S30V is not an option. The knife is a Copper and Clad exclusive that I bought several years ago.

These first two pictures are before the knife saw any usage. It was still in like new condition.


The only thing I have used it for since then is to open and breakdown one medium size box. I estimate that I probably cut about 5 feet of cardboard in total and some packing tape. I also accidentally dropped the knife onto a concrete floor which caused a ding in the handle and some minor chipping on the edge. This is how the Cerakote looks after that. A few scratches on the blade that can only be seen in certain lighting.





I don’t use my pocketknives a lot so my updates will most likely be occasional but I’ll be back after I see enough additional wear to justify an update.

Thanks for reading.

 

[jmh33]

I have decided to carry this Spitfire exclusively for an undetermined amount of time. Starting this thread might help me stick to that plan because I will be committed to posting periodic updates.

I thought some folks might be interested to see how much usage it takes until my knife starts to look like crap from the worn Cerakote. At this point, I have no idea how long that will take but I want to find out and I thought I would share my progression.

This same configuration can currently be built in the Custom Shop except that S30V is not an option. The knife is a Copper and Clad exclusive that I bought several years ago.

These first two pictures are before the knife saw any usage. It was still in like new condition.
View attachment 3223293
View attachment 3223294
The only thing I have used it for since then is to open and breakdown one medium size box. I estimate that I probably cut about 5 feet of cardboard in total and some packing tape. I also accidentally dropped the knife onto a concrete floor which caused a ding in the handle and some minor chipping on the edge. This is how the Cerakote looks after that. A few scratches on the blade that can only be seen in certain lighting.
View attachment 3223298
View attachment 3223299
View attachment 3223300
View attachment 3223301
View attachment 3223302
I don’t use my pocketknives a lot so my updates will most likely be occasional but I’ll be back after I see enough additional wear to justify an update.

Thanks for reading.

I will be watching as I am sure others will too!!
John

 

[afishhunter]

Question:
Will Buck re-coat the same or different colour when it looks ... bad?
Or, is a fresh coat limited to a replacement blade option down the line?

How do you like the knife?
I was thinking of getting one to match my 1989 KHS Montana Summit's (then) factory racing colours. ("hot pink"/"raspberry" blade & spacer, blue handle, silver screws & clip.)
From the front, my bike looks "hot pink"/"raspberry", thanks to fork, head tube, and down tube colour. The Rest of the bike is a nice sky or ocean blue.

 

[Railsplitter]

I don’t know about a re-coat or a blade replacement but I am personally not concerned about that.

For several years I felt that the Spitfire was too big to be a practical EDC for me. I put it up for sale a couple months ago but I didn’t have any takers.

Since nobody wanted it, I tried carrying it and now I have a whole new perspective. I love the dang thing! It’s rock solid and the ergonomics are excellent. I also like the blade shape a lot and the hollow grind. I recommend the Spitfire to anyone who likes the pictures they see online. It’s a very, very good knife. I have another one in standard silver and 420HC but I have several other items with the black and white color scheme including other knives. I chose to carry this one over the 420HC model because of the colors. It had nothing to do with the blade steel.

 

[Railsplitter]

I was going to wait until I saw more wear but I’m posting this because I expected the plastic to do more damage than it did.

I could have gone in from the back of the package but I wanted to see what kind scratches the plastic would leave behind. You can tell how far I stuck the blade into the plastic but that’s about it.

 

[Lesknife]

For stainless blades I can not understand why they would coat the blade especially with cerakote. I have a Alaskan guide 110 with the black aluminum titanium oxide coating that has stayed pretty good but the cerakote coating on my other knife blades has worn off and look pitiful trashy. My son and I use our knives in fairly harsh conditions around the farm and ranch cutting hay bale twine and net wrapping, feed sacks, triwall cardboard, poly rope and all kinds of materials. This kind of dirty abrasive stuff just eats the cerakote off in a short time. The uncoated blades I have that are used in the same manner don’t show much wear at all especially the tumble finish. I prefer un coated finish in all my knives!

 

[failbot]

For stainless blades I can not understand why they would coat the blade especially with cerakote. I have a Alaskan guide 110 with the black aluminum titanium oxide coating that has stayed pretty good but the cerakote coating on my other knife blades has worn off and look pitiful trashy. My son and I use our knives in fairly harsh conditions around the farm and ranch cutting hay bale twine and net wrapping, feed sacks, triwall cardboard, poly rope and all kinds of materials. This kind of dirty abrasive stuff just eats the cerakote off in a short time. The uncoated blades I have that are used in the same manner don’t show much wear at all especially the tumble finish. I prefer un coated finish in all my knives!

I don't even know if it's because of the trend for all things tactical or just for variety. I recently picked up a Fox Vulpis with a black blade just so it would attract less attention at work from people who are terrified of knives (they are afraid of even 1.9 inches if it is shiny). Bits of paint are already peeling off the edges of the butt, even though it's just sitting in my pocket with Buck 425 and Ladybug

 

[Railsplitter]

Well, I feel a little bit silly now. I broke down a small box just now and when I did, I got some of the sticky tape residue on the blade this time.

I wiped off the residue with some adhesive remover and now the blade is almost spotless. The marks that are in my pictures above which I thought were scratches, came off with the adhesive remover.

There is one tiny mark that won’t rub off in the last picture about a half inch back from the tip near the spine. That’s all I can see in the picture and with my naked eye in several types of different lighting.

So after cutting approximately 6 feet of cardboard, some packing tape, and some thin plastic from the Sta-Bil package above, all I can see is that tiny mark.

Sorry for the false alarm and sorry that this is such slow process for me. I don’t use my pocketknives very often. I could probably escalate this by purposely cutting things but I want this to happen naturally.

Thanks for your patience.