Solstice
Gold Member
- Joined
- May 27, 2005
- Messages
- 4,616
Well shes seen everything else why not go back full circle and put a coating back on it! Black this time
.ya know just to be different.
Some of you might remember this one; its been a project knife of mine for quite some time now. Its had the handle slabs thickened up, the coating removed, satin finish, double cut finish, edge re-ground, teeth re-done, and now a re-coat. DuraCoat to be exact. Someone brought this coating up awhile back in a thread here on the Busse forum and I thought that maybe it was time for me to try something new and the way this Rat kept getting rust spots, I figured what the hell .Coat It! DuraCoat has about a hundred different colors and that doesnt include the camo stuff, but I went with a matte black. The kit I bought comes with everything you need and ran about $60.00 to my door. They say that theres enough coating to do 3 to 4 rifles. I think a more accurate estimate would be about 2 rifles. But, I wasnt doing a rifle so I figure after what I know now I could do around 5 or 6 mid size knives. Of course that would be after the learning experience of the one knife Ive done ..2 times! Yeah, it didnt quite turn out the way I wanted it to the first time. I ended up having to remove the first attempt and do it over again. Even the second attempt didnt come out anywhere near factory in appearance, but its going to be a user so it suits my needs just fine.
The trick is to be patient. Do a good job on taping. Spray a thin coat, let dry and then spray another coat. This has to be done several times; otherwise the coat wont be thick enough. If you try to go too fast the DuraCoat will run and youre pretty much screwed if that happens. You then have to let the stuff dry and remove it so you can start over. This is what happened to me. Drying can be done overnight or in your kitchen oven (your wife will love you for it, it smells great!). The longer you let it cure the tougher it gets, they recommend 5 to 7 days. And let me tell you .this stuff is tough! I sanded the first attempt off just to see how difficult it would be and it required 80 grit sandpaper and some real effort. Of course one of the reasons for this was my first attempt was way too thick; I wasted a lot of product.
Cons:
Well if youve ever air brushed or done any kind of similar painting (cars, models, graffiti etc) then youll do fine. I havent so it took me awhile to get the adjustment of the air brush and the technique right. The airbrush propellant was completely worthless. The fittings leaked and it kept freezing up on me. Getting the right mixture (not too thick or too thin) was a little tricky. Clean up and handling the stuff the first time around was a freaking mess. Still need to figure a better way to keep the DuraCoat off the edge! Determining how many coats to apply was difficult; cause if you go too thick with this stuff it feels like your knife has a rubber coating on it.
Pros:
Well the biggest Pro is I like the ability to recoat my knives when the factory one has worn off, and on high carbon knives its freaking important to have a coating. For some Im sure the color selection and camo ability is a good thing. Once youve done one, the next one is very quick and painless. That includes all the prep and clean up. I wrote the mixture down for my weather and airbrush, so I wont have to figure that out again. I now know how many thin coats to apply to get the coating thickness right. I have an air compressor with an adjustable regulator, and they include fittings for hookup. The coating is just as tough and maybe (testing/time will tell) tougher. If you do it right the feel of this stuff is very similar to the old smooth coated Busses, and it looks every bit as good.
Will I use it again? You bet. Would I recommend it? Well, if you enjoy this kind of do it yourself thing and you have some reasonable amount of patience, then yeah I would suggest giving it a try. Heck its $60.00, some of us spill more than that in a week.
Too long of a post again oh well. Here are the pictures.
Some of you might remember this one; its been a project knife of mine for quite some time now. Its had the handle slabs thickened up, the coating removed, satin finish, double cut finish, edge re-ground, teeth re-done, and now a re-coat. DuraCoat to be exact. Someone brought this coating up awhile back in a thread here on the Busse forum and I thought that maybe it was time for me to try something new and the way this Rat kept getting rust spots, I figured what the hell .Coat It! DuraCoat has about a hundred different colors and that doesnt include the camo stuff, but I went with a matte black. The kit I bought comes with everything you need and ran about $60.00 to my door. They say that theres enough coating to do 3 to 4 rifles. I think a more accurate estimate would be about 2 rifles. But, I wasnt doing a rifle so I figure after what I know now I could do around 5 or 6 mid size knives. Of course that would be after the learning experience of the one knife Ive done ..2 times! Yeah, it didnt quite turn out the way I wanted it to the first time. I ended up having to remove the first attempt and do it over again. Even the second attempt didnt come out anywhere near factory in appearance, but its going to be a user so it suits my needs just fine.
The trick is to be patient. Do a good job on taping. Spray a thin coat, let dry and then spray another coat. This has to be done several times; otherwise the coat wont be thick enough. If you try to go too fast the DuraCoat will run and youre pretty much screwed if that happens. You then have to let the stuff dry and remove it so you can start over. This is what happened to me. Drying can be done overnight or in your kitchen oven (your wife will love you for it, it smells great!). The longer you let it cure the tougher it gets, they recommend 5 to 7 days. And let me tell you .this stuff is tough! I sanded the first attempt off just to see how difficult it would be and it required 80 grit sandpaper and some real effort. Of course one of the reasons for this was my first attempt was way too thick; I wasted a lot of product.
Cons:
Well if youve ever air brushed or done any kind of similar painting (cars, models, graffiti etc) then youll do fine. I havent so it took me awhile to get the adjustment of the air brush and the technique right. The airbrush propellant was completely worthless. The fittings leaked and it kept freezing up on me. Getting the right mixture (not too thick or too thin) was a little tricky. Clean up and handling the stuff the first time around was a freaking mess. Still need to figure a better way to keep the DuraCoat off the edge! Determining how many coats to apply was difficult; cause if you go too thick with this stuff it feels like your knife has a rubber coating on it.
Pros:
Well the biggest Pro is I like the ability to recoat my knives when the factory one has worn off, and on high carbon knives its freaking important to have a coating. For some Im sure the color selection and camo ability is a good thing. Once youve done one, the next one is very quick and painless. That includes all the prep and clean up. I wrote the mixture down for my weather and airbrush, so I wont have to figure that out again. I now know how many thin coats to apply to get the coating thickness right. I have an air compressor with an adjustable regulator, and they include fittings for hookup. The coating is just as tough and maybe (testing/time will tell) tougher. If you do it right the feel of this stuff is very similar to the old smooth coated Busses, and it looks every bit as good.
Will I use it again? You bet. Would I recommend it? Well, if you enjoy this kind of do it yourself thing and you have some reasonable amount of patience, then yeah I would suggest giving it a try. Heck its $60.00, some of us spill more than that in a week.
Too long of a post again oh well. Here are the pictures.
