Do you prefer black coated blades?

I always say I'll never buy another coated blade, and then I turn around and end up buying one anyway :confused: The most durable coating I've found thus far are the black chrome coat on the Al Mar blades and the Crinkle coat on Swamp Rats. The black chrome actually wears fairly attractively...but either way the blades made to use not look pretty.
 
Coating or parkerizing a blade is less expensive than putting a satin finish or mirror polish on one. Unlike bead blasting which makes the blade rust easily, parkerizing and coating also help prevent rust. I prefer a satin finish or mirror polish on knives I buy to look at but if I buy a knife to use the looks don't matter much. Actually if I could choose between a satin and black blade on the same knife at the same price I'd choose the satin, but that would still be based on looks and I wouldn't mind getting the black one. I don't see the point in spending extra money on cosmetic variations on a knife I buy to use.

If you look at the Busse site, for example, you'll see that you can choose the finish on the knives you want and a satin finish costs more. If the idea behind coatings were to make knives look "tactical" and sell more, wouldn't they charge more for the black coated ones?
 
I ilke coated blades. My job involves a lot of camping and living outside, and the coating helps minimize rust on knives that aren't stainless steel. Also, my job frequently requires me to approach wild animals as closely as possible, and coated blades minimize the chance of issues due to reflections.

(For example, many shorebirds, such as brown pelicans, have a natural instinct to strike at anything that they see brightly reflect.)

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--Mike
 
For combat blades, dark, non-reflective coatings are important in the situations they are designed for. For everyday carry knives, I prefer no coating as long as it's stainless steel.
 
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