Poised to buy but......

[NGK-Webmaster]

I'm ready to splurge and buy my Strider I ave been lusting for months, I have "THE" one picked out, just have one question. I like the tiger stripe finishes but I am wondering about the durability of it, how will it wear? what is it comparable to in wear? and I assume it is a dull finish no shine, is it rough finished as in the texture? and does the tiger stripe pattern vary much from knife to knife? thanks guys..

 

[Dark Nemesis]

From what I've seen and experienced it wears well for duration. It's smooth just like the bead blasted parts of the blade. If you ran your finger over the blade, you would not be able to tell the tiger striping from the blasted sections. After all the pics people have posted I don't think I've ever seen two tiger striped patterns that were the same.

 

[Ad]

If it wears out on you, just send in the blade to have it bead blasted and then have the tiger stripes reapplied ala the S30V blades.

From what I've heard (and read), the ATS-34 and BG-42 blades have the dark color baked in after the heat treat; then the blades are bead blasted in a selective way so the tiger stripes show through. For whatever reason, this process is not done on the S30V blades. On the S30V blades, the whole blade is bead blasted, and then the blades are oxide blasted to apply the tiger striping. However, this process could be done on all the various steels used.

Get the tiger stripe. It's bitchin lookin.