opinons on BM DLC coating?

One other thing. You can get rust off every nook and cranny of a knife very easily by doing what machine and tool restorers do - using a reverse electrical current in a cation bath. Yeah, sounds complicated but it's not. I restore hand planes usingg the method. And recently did a WWII Ka-bar USN knife my great uncle gave me that was badly rusted.

You'll need an auto battery charger, a scrap piece of steel to act as the cathode?, and a bucket of water and some washing soda. Look up the recepie on the web. It works fantastic and does not disturb the paint on my hand planes and machine surfaces in the slightest way. Unfortunately, it will not fix pitted metal.
 
You guys are right, I got confused and thought benchmade had DLC.

I have the 1660BLK kershaw leek, and man oh man the coating is amazing on it. I see it's called "boron carbide coating": BCC.

The handle has the same coating and I did manage to scrape some of it off when using the handle end to write my name in some sand stone :rolleyes: But the blade looks basically mint and i have not been all that gentle with it.

Anyways, thanks for the info and the pics, I'll definitely be going with the non-coated blade for the 943.
 
cotdt said:
...

Anyway, it's well known that Militec-1 lubricant (to prevent rust) takes the BK1 coating clean off:

dscf0369v.jpg


Not supposed to happen. This means that Benchmade does not know how to properly apply the BK1 coating. However, I do agree that it doesn't scratch as easily as their previous black coatings.
Click to expand...


Militec removes BK1? I'll have to tell my knives that, since the coatings on my Benchmades hasn't come off yet due to the application of Militec.

That 806M4 knife was scrubbed with an abrasive, as the poster who did it stated. Look at the coloration - the coating is still there, only thinner.

Note that patina doesn't protect the edge of a knife blade.
 
According to BM they have 2 types of coatings; the BK1, and BP1 (Black Pearl). This is from the 2009 catalog, so I guess they have dropped the BT2 coating they have used. The BT2 is teflon based and it was noteworthy for scratching very easily.



BK1® COATING
A matte black coating that provides excellent corrosion protection
exceeds the ASTM-117 spec for saltwater, and possesses higher
scratch resistance.
BP1 COATING
Black Pearl (BP) is a PVD (physical vapor deposition) coating made
up of Titanium Carbo-Nitride (TiCN). It is a darker, near black,
scratch-resistant coating with nice decorative qualities


The Boron Carbide coating is also very hard and is only a few steps below the DLC offerings.
 
That explains everthing. I haven't found any "paint" to wear well. "Plating" is a different matter.

Those who remember German blades in the '60's-'70's had a chromed finish. While not exceptionally scratch resistant, corrosion was kept down, especially that the blades were all carbon steel.

Many knife owners back then thought it a good compromise - good carbon steel, no rust. Not everyone wanted patina because it was practically impossible to prevent. Hence, chrome blades, and the introduction of stainless.

"Stain - less" was a marketing and selling point. It still is, because many users don't want the appearance of an antique garden trowel when they use their blade.

Another aspect of TiN and DLC is that it is a low friction surface. Deep cuts take less effort. Abraded Teflon and "gunkote," not so much. And if the stuff comes off, are you eating it - we see those results in the stove top skillet almost daily.

I wonder who will be the first bright marketer to offer DLC skillets?
 
orthogonal1 said:
Militec removes BK1? I'll have to tell my knives that, since the coatings on my Benchmades hasn't come off yet due to the application of Militec.

That 806M4 knife was scrubbed with an abrasive, as the poster who did it stated. Look at the coloration - the coating is still there, only thinner.

Note that patina doesn't protect the edge of a knife blade.
Click to expand...

We must be talking about different posters and knives here. There was no mention of any abrasives. Your experience is yours and other people have different knives.

In any case, I never stated patina protected the edge. I just said that I didn't mind it as much as scratched/worn coatings on my Benchmades and having to pay a $10 premium for the coating. There does exist coatings that do protect the edge, w/o actually coating the edge, by acting as a sacrificial anode. I don't know why those are not used except by custom makers.
 
THe Boron coating on my BM941 special edition is definitely tougher and slicker than the DLC on my Ti/ZDP-189 Mini-Cyclone.
 
cotdt said:
We must be talking about different posters and knives here. There was no mention of any abrasives. Your experience is yours and other people have different knives.

In any case, I never stated patina protected the edge. I just said that I didn't mind it as much as scratched/worn coatings on my Benchmades and having to pay a $10 premium for the coating. There does exist coatings that do protect the edge, w/o actually coating the edge, by acting as a sacrificial anode. I don't know why those are not used except by custom makers.
Click to expand...


A worn abrasive pad was used - he didn't just dab on some oil.
http://benchmadeforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/638106573/m/259103683/p/2

BTW - I don't like the BK1 coating much. Boron and Ti coatings, though apparently not as protective, look better and appear more robust to wear.

EDIT - Missed Stevens Andrews post - sorry.
 
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