Hard use coatings?

[D-R]

I am sure this has come up before, but I am revisiting the question. As far as corrosion resistant/lubricity coatings on blades, which ones stand out? Have used nickel boron, and it seems to be a decent coating (tough and very slick). Have looked at boron carbide, hard chrome, and parkerizing. PVD also looks interesting, but requires either stainless or extant chrome plating. Steels being coated would be CPM3V and 52100.

I know that there are a lot of folks that will say coatings are either not needed (just oil or wax) or will allow rust formation under the coating (due to removal at the edge from sharpening). Setting those arguments, and any aesthetic reasons aside, what do you guys use? And who does the best coatings?

Thanks!

 

[A.McPherson]

Cerakote makes a fantastic coating for hard use applications. I get all my duty firearms coated in it. They've got a coating called "micro slick" that is a self lubricating coating that works really well on moving parts.
anyway, that's just my 2 cents...