Is There a Market for Colored Knives?

C

Confederate

Joined
Sep 5, 2005
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It's nice to have a choice between steel knives and teflon coated knives, but would there be a market for various color knives and blades. I'm thinking red blades and frames for emergency work, yellow for nautical, green and brown for outdoors, or even white knives for uses in medical or research facilities.

Or just buying a color because someone likes it? I'm surprised no one has come out with a decent glow-in-the-dark lockback folder.

In an era where one can buy designer phones and such, I just wonder if there's a market. Opinions?
 
busse combat offers several coating colors: od, tan, brown, blk, sage.

never seen a red or yellow blade.
 
Interesting idea, Confederate. What about applying the trend from say, motocross, where everything is anodized these days. I know it works with aluminum, but can steel be anodized in the same way? I think the idea of a brightly anodized blade in say purple, blue, or red sounds pretty cool. :D
 
I think glow-in-the-dark would be very interesting. If I could, I'd want a line of glow-in-the-dark paint or something near the edge of the blade, so I could see what I'm cutting in the dark. A year ago, we had a power outage and I needed to cut various things in the dark, so glow-in-the-dark may prove useful, rather than gimmicky.
 
Confederate said:
It's nice to have a choice between steel knives and teflon coated knives, but would there be a market for various color knives and blades. I'm thinking red blades and frames for emergency work, yellow for nautical, green and brown for outdoors, or even white knives for uses in medical or research facilities.

Or just buying a color because someone likes it? I'm surprised no one has come out with a decent glow-in-the-dark lockback folder.

In an era where one can buy designer phones and such, I just wonder if there's a market. Opinions?
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You'd have to paint them to get most of those colors on steel blades and paint doesn't last all that well on a cutting blade when doing hard work. It gets scratched.

You cannot anodize steel. Kershaw has a Ti Oxide coating that is applied by vapor deposition. It produces colors via difraction of light waves, but controlling the color I do not think you could do (they market the "Rainbow Chive" with no two alike).

If you deposited a thick enough Ti Oxide coating I think you might end up with white. And you can use a black oxide treatment to get black. But I think your're SOL on the other colors on the blades unless you use paint of some type.

I carry a maglite solitaire in my pocket that, in a pinch, can be held in my mouth for emergency cutting. Flurorescent coatings are even less robust than typical epoxies.

All that being said, I like brite colored handles on knives that are designed to be used outdoors. It makes them easier to find when dropped. The old Case Yellow Handled line is great for that.
 
knarfeng said:
You'd have to paint them to get most of those colors on steel blades and paint doesn't last all that well on a cutting blade when doing hard work. It gets scratched.

You cannot anodize steel. Kershaw has a Ti Oxide coating that is applied by vapor deposition. It produces colors via difraction of light waves, but controlling the color I do not think you could do (they market the "Rainbow Chive" with no two alike).

If you deposited a thick enough Ti Oxide coating I think you might end up with white. And you can use a black oxide treatment to get black. But I think your're SOL on the other colors on the blades unless you use paint of some type.

I carry a maglite solitaire in my pocket that, in a pinch, can be held in my mouth for emergency cutting. Flurorescent coatings are even less robust than typical epoxies.

All that being said, I like brite colored handles on knives that are designed to be used outdoors. It makes them easier to find when dropped. The old Case Yellow Handled line is great for that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for answering about anodizing steel, Knarfeng. I have the kershaw rainbow leek, and the coating is cool, but that will also wear off with continued daily use and from rubbing against the fabric of your pocket over time.
 
Seems like you could get a lot of different colors out of something like Duracoat, not sure how it would hold up under use though. But it is used pretty extensively as an exterior finish on firearms and seems to hold up well in that role.

I, for one, would love to see some more color on handles and blades. Much of the knives I buy I do so because they are colored and present a different aesthetic than the typical black/steel.
 
The difference between firearms and knive blades as far as coatings for them is that the use of the blade requires it to scrape through whatever is being cut. Firearms don't have that constant abrasion. So fireams coatings last longer.

Duracoat is a two-component coating, i.e. paint. Can't find an MSDS so I can't tell what polymer they are using.
 
Personally I prefer either bead blasted or polished with no color added. I don't even like the black coatings because they will wear over time. ahgar
 
I've often wondered why we don't see more 'coloured' blades out there, especially with all the new high tech coatings and processes. Busse does it and the Kershaw Rainbow Leek is another way to approach it.
It really wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the near future it becomes a new craze with the big manufacturers.
After all, in business anything that drives the market is good news, not that it actually has to be a good idea mind.;)
 
There are some colored knives out there, some folks find them appealing. CRKT side-hawgs come in bronze and white...I have both of those models and they are interesting looking if nothing else. The KAI Pure Komachi kitchen knives come in all kinds of crazy colors, pink, purple, yellow, red...I have a few of these, and while they look a bit funky, so far, for the money (around 20 bucks a piece or less) they have been really an outstanding purchase.
 
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