Cold Steel SRK owners might consider...

C

Costas

Joined
Feb 22, 1999
Messages
485
... taking off the black coating, which for me at least looks plain ugly.

This is one of the best hard-working knives that I have, but I don't like at all the all-black look.

I have taken the coating off, and have used it extensively in different conditions, to see what happens.
So:
a) around saltwater, it just needs wiping down with an oily rag, just as you would do with a firearm, but if you don't neglect it, there is no real problem

b) away from the sea, my reccomendation is to cut up some fruits and vegetables, and leave it intentionally for fifteen minutes, so that the juices give the blade an initial "black" (actually a shade like a very light gun blueing). After that, the blade becomes "stable" and it just needs some light care (wiping down after use, occasional wiping down with an oily rag-use vegetable oil if you use the knife to prepare food)
 
Lemme get this straight. You ground(?) off the epoxy powder coat in favor of the fruit juice acid etch? Costas, I'm getting a headache trying to figure this one out. WHY??!! I mean, I understand about not liking the all black look, But to remove a virtually moisture and corrosion proof coating in favor of a "maintenance required" coating boggles my simple mind. (Does... NOT... com...pute! Must...find...logic!!)
Well, after all, it is your knife and you are perfectly entitled to do with it as you wish... I need an aspirin...
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Lemme know how this works out.
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Looks be d***ed. The SRK is a rugged, totally utilitarian tool. Art it ain't. I'll save the fancy etches for my hand-forged out of meteorite iron by swordmaster Fujikosan-Moran art masterpiece tanto... when I can afford one (current estimates indicate this may possibly occur around 2040).
 
Ah, no, I'll have to pass on that idea. I rather like the black, but hey, whatever works for you I guess.
 
Well, nothing fancy about this blade.

If you have a 100-year old wooden table, do you coat it with black paint to make it look new?
I like the natural look, I like to to see the wood grains, the same way that I want a knife to look "real" i.e. steel.
You may like it this way or the other, I'm not saying that I'm right and someone else is wrong.


Costas
 
There is no right or wrong on this issue, it's all a matter of personal preference. It really just threw me for a loop when I first read it. Seems like a lot of trouble to take an epoxy coating off a blade, epoxy is damned tough stuff! How did you get the epoxy powder coat off?

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The choices we make dictates the life we lead.

 
Well, actually a friend of mine offered to do it for me, so I'm not sure how he did it, I'll have to ask him and come back.
I know he finished with sandpaper, but I'm not sure if he used some power sander or wirebrush to do the heavy part of the work.
I'll ask him, just for the record.

Costas
 
Theres one real easy quick and painless way to do it. Get some kleenstrip paint/epoxy stripping stuff at the local wal mart. Mask off anything you dont want to melt(kraton) and spray, less than 5 minutes and the coating is gone. I think it may attack micarta to some extent but for the amount of time its on there it shouldnt matter.
 
I buzzed the epoxy off of my SRK with the Little Black Sanding Disks From Hell that are made for my Dremel. I haven't stained it with anything, however- I'm kinda partial to the naked steel look.
BTW, it took about 20 of those little suckers to do the job.

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"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
-Derek Bok
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Yes, that's the way my friend did it for my knife, he used a power drill with sanding disks and then finished off with hand-held sandpaper.

By the way, the staining I have described is only slight, the blade has only lost its gleam but it is still "looking like steel".

Costas
 
That could be a contender for the coveted "Most Ridiculously Time-Consuming Use Of A Dremel For A Purpose That Could Have Been Accomplished With One-Tenth Of The Time And Effort With Hand Tools" award....
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-Cougar Allen :{)
 
Didn't Cold Steel offer the SRK with a bright finished blade when it first came out?
I seem to remember they had one add with a bright steel SRK and rock climbing/camping gear in the background and another add with the black finished SRK and military/law enforcement gear in the background.
 
Right on!
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My spousal unit would agree...

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"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
-Derek Bok
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It must be coveted -- there's so much competition for it!
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-Cougar Allen :{)


[This message has been edited by Cougar Allen (edited 13 August 1999).]
 
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