Competition Finish and Decarb...

[Marvin8]

Ok, so I'm a little late to the game, but what is all this I'm hearing about "decarb" on the competition finish? We be talkin' 'bout de carburator? Ok, seriously, is it some kind of oxidative finish that promotes rust? Everybody seems to be wanting to "sand off the decarb". I tried to find a link to read about it, but the info I've seen thus far is all over the place. Can somebody provide a good link or summarize for me? Just to let y'all know, I prefer satin finish/no coatings. Is the competition finish close to a satin finish?

 

[banana-clip]

Here's an explanation from Horn Dog from another post:

Let me try and help. The Double cut finish is a smooth matte bead blast finish. A satin finish is done with a grinder or belt sander. It will have fine lines going across the blade that catch the light nicely. The new CF finish has been bead blasted to remove some surface impurities that tend to cause rust, but not bead blasted to the level of a smooth double-cut finish. The dimples are still there. These dimples are not a big problem with INFI and do not cause rust with a little care. There was a previous competition finish introduced at Blade 2008 in some models. That we call the CE finish. That finish was really rough, and had the decarb layer still on the surface. These knives tended to rust a lot on the surface because of this decarb layer. The decarb layer was a result of the final heat treat. The new CF or competition finish corrects that problem by bead blasting the decarb layer off before final edge grinding. It is still less expensive than a double-cut or satin finish. It's for those of us who don't care for coated blades but are too cheap to buy satin LEs or Double-Cut SEs.

I hope that helps.

Never mind. Rezinguy said better and more accurately. I tried.

 

[Bigfattyt]

Nothing too much to worry about. The decarb layer is only really an issue on a few of the knives released a bit ago. The comp finish knives. Easily removed.

The new comp finish BushWacker Mistress should not have any issues with this, as the quick bead blast they give it before sharpening will remove that layer.

 

[Marvin8]

Mucho appreciado!!!

 

[Adrenaline]

I have I comp finish Jackhammer, I just hit it lightly with a wire wheel, then some oil.
she is good to go now + I live in CO, so humidity rust is no problem for me.
just wipe them down with some oil, or food grade oil, when you are done useing them.