Ergo Series coating super tough.

[Infi-del]

So I have had the privilege of being able to own several and strip 3 different Ergo Models in my day. I tend to remove the coating from all my blades as I feel I can care better for steel than a coating... and I actually had a SHMS that rusted underneath the coating once and that was enough to turn me.

I've taken the coating off just about every vintage of Busse except the super early ones. SHMS was the earliest knife I've ever owned in fact and Knife Hunter got it a while back. The Ergo series has the hardest to strip coating I've ever encountered. Any idea why? It always takes TONS of elbow grease to get them off... and they never truly come 100% off. There are always little stains or discolorations on the steel. Any tips or tricks to removing it more effectively? This is what I've been using and it works great on the more recent Busse coatings...

 

[David Brown]

That is what I use.

The moss green coating, (the stuff with the little pits in it) I have found is one of the harder to remove

 

[Infi-del]

The Ergo black is no joke either... almost like it's fused to the steel somehow. I hand rubbed the blade with 320, 400, 600, and then 800. Still has stains and blems. This is of course after 3 applications of stripper and a lot of scrubbing with a brass wire brush. Tough little bastard.

 

[u812]

I have a can of spray stripper that comes out almost like a gel.I have not tried it on a E series but it worked great on a HD I had.Just bought a new can of another brand to use on a BK9 and the stuff just wouldn't cut the coating at all.I found the old can and it peeled the finish off in about 5 min.
The old stuff was Bix the new was Crown tuf strip.