CRKT 16-14LE Question

[Confederate]

I just bought a 16-14LE and I'm very impressed with the looks and operation of the knife. And I like the fact that it's black. The only question I had has to do with the blade's black finish. It's not a cooked on teflon like that used by Cold Steel and Gerber. Rather, it seems to be a TiNi coating, which is very nice and looks like a polished bluing on a gun.

How durable is this finish? Is it more likely to wear off rather than pick up dozens of scratches? Cold Steel's black teflon blades are fairly durable; the blade's luster fades quickly, but the knife remains black indefinately, except for the thumb studs, which eventually show the white steel beneath.

The only TiNi coated blade I ever had wore very well, though it got quite blotchy. A soft multi-fiber cloth easily had it looking good again.

Finally, has anyone ever tested CRKT's blade hardness? Does it tend towards 56 or 57?

Thanks!

 

[KLJTech]

I think that I read that the blade is rated at 56-58 HRC and I have carried the largest version, the M16-14LE off and on as an EDC for a couple years and the black finish is still extremely nice. The black finish seems very similar to a SOG Tech Bowie that I have and the SOG’s finish has held up just as well and both knives have seen a lot of use. My M16 hasn’t had any of the black scratch off and I do things with it that I wouldn’t do with more expensive knives that I own. I guess the knife community would consider the knife a beater but if it works well and you aren’t worried about breaking it like you would with a nicer (more expensive) knife doesn’t that make it that much more valuable/useful to you or me?

Take care.

 

[Confederate]

Thanks. I had heard this finish could be pretty durable. Have you found that the steel is a little soft on these compared to other AUS 8 knives? An AUS 4 knife is rated 55-57, while an AUS 8 is rated 56-58. I reckon that this means that an AUS 4 blade could be harder than an AUS 8 in some cases with everything in tolerance.

Regardless of what some folks think of Cold Steel, all of my CS knives came way sharp out of the box and were easy to resharpen back to way sharp, even with those little plastic sharpeners with the tiny ceramic rods criss-crossed vertically. I've had some real problems sharpening some of my CRKTs, but I don't know whether it's the steel or the way I'm sharpening them. The blades are chisel ground and the edges are polished to mirror brightness, and I suspect my larger ceramic rods just aren't biting into that polished surface.

BTW, I've found these knives to be very nice for the money. I always carry two knives, one a tiny one for the benefit of the "sheeple" in my midst and my...umm...other one, whatever I feel like carrying that day.