Satin verses coated blade on the Spyderco Military

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Nikkogi

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I just wanted to know which people prefered, the black or satin blade on the Military. Thanks

I'd also like to know how tough the coating is on the Military. Thanks
 
i like the satin. the black is too "mall ninja" for me.i usually only like blade coatings on carbon steels. it seems to be pretty tough from what i hear. tho it does leave nice wear marks after awhile.
i believe it was made to stop the glare from the sun. so if you're not a super 1337 agent its basically for looks.
 
I also hear that the coated blades are of lower hardness. Thus leading to lower edge holding capabilities. I believe I heard that from Ankerson.
 
I have a satin LH millie and my brother has a DLC coated millie, when sharpening I can feel a slight difference in the two but I don't see it as something to be concerned with. To even things out we have found the coated blade seems to perform better with a coarser edge but that could be a influence of cutting style. I've never ran a side by side test so I can't say for sure.

The DLC coating is IMO one of the very best coating if you like a coated blade. Its hard to wear off, does not glare, and protects the steel in harsh environments. If you need the qualities of a coated blade then the DLC coating will deliver.

My personal preference is to satin blades because I don't really see the point of coating a stainless blade, I don't like coatings, it seems to affect the HT, and they make the blade stick and bind in some cutting. YMMV
 
knifenut1013 said:
My personal preference is to satin blades because I don't really see the point of coating a stainless blade, I don't like coatings, it seems to affect the HT, and they make the blade stick and bind in some cutting. YMMV
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I completely agree. Coated folders always just scream, "tacticool" to me, also.
 
For edc, I don't really like black bladed knives but I do like to carry them sometimes when not going to public outings.
 
I have a black millie, a satin, an orange, and a Ti millie. From my limited experience the uncoated blades do seem to be bit harder on the stones. I'm also not a big fan of coated blades. My black millie has been used a lot and the coating has held up pretty well.


Frozy said:
Eh, is this true?
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Here's a link to Ankerson's tests. His tests show that S30V at 58 rc has edge holding and wear resistance similar to AUS-8A while the uncoated S30V blades tested at 60 rc scored in a category two levels higher.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=793481
 
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I really dislike blade coatings on any knife. I never carried my Millies much untill I put a satin clip on a CF Millie. I now carry it everyday, as it just looks like a much better knife now.

Just me though, we all like differant stuff. Never had a coated Millie, but hear the coating is very tough.
 
I just really wanna know if the coating messes with the temper. I never thought about it but now that I read it i do feel like blades with black coatings dull quicker in the same steel same mfg. Though it's probably just in my head.

If thats the case then I wouldn't get the black blade. If its not, black blades on spyderco's are nice. The coating is slick and doesnt add much if any resistance to cutting. BM's is rough and makes it harder to cut and ZT is between them IMO.
 
xmtgx said:
I just really wanna know if the coating messes with the temper. I never thought about it but now that I read it i do feel like blades with black coatings dull quicker in the same steel same mfg. Though it's probably just in my head.

If thats the case then I wouldn't get the black blade. If its not, black blades on spyderco's are nice. The coating is slick and doesnt add much if any resistance to cutting. BM's is rough and makes it harder to cut and ZT is between them IMO.
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I have not tested this directly, but through general use and observations, I do not feel that there is a significant (if any) difference.

I have several examples of Spyderco Military knives one DLC and the rest are satin. I also have a DLC Paramilitary. I have carried and used them extensively. I feel that the DLC is extremely tough and would suggest that if you are not deeply scratching up your satin finishes or otherwise destroying the satin finish of the blade, you will also not wear the DLC coating off (at least not in a similar time frame).

I have well over a year of use on both the DLC PM and Military...Black is intact! The fairly sharp edges of the spine appear to have lightened ever so slightly, but when I spay them down with WD-40 (or similar) they seem to return to black...I interpret this as OTHER stuff (like silver coins in that pocket) got scratched and left residue on the blade where they contacted. A pencil eraser also removes these marks.
 
I prefer the black dlc coated para2 to the satin finished one. But if it does cause the blade to be softer, i would probably not get dlc coated knife anymore...
 
Well Ive got both and I use both and its all the same. Yes there are minor differences but thei are so small it doesnt even count. The coating is top notch and holds up beautifully. Whatever floats your boat man. Get the one you dig. Were all mall ninjas at home when we play with our toys! and if you carry consealed who the heck will knoe if its coated or not.

Peace!
 
My experience with coated and uncoated para 1 blades also gives me the impression of harder steel on the satin while sharpening on the sharpmaker. The coated blade just seems to be gummier on the stones.
 
Just throwing a WAG here, but perhaps the feeling you get on the stones that leads you to this conclusion could have something to do with the coating being harder than the steel? Perhaps you start out grinding a new bevel and address the coating as well as the steel and this feels hard, then as you polish the bevel you are no longer removing stock and grinding a new bevel...so in essence you are just honing steel (which feels softer than when you grind the coating and steel)...so the steel feels soft?

I could be out of my mind?

It just seems beyond plausible that the DLC would lower the hardness of the steel. There certainly could be a coincidental explanation though...some blades are going to test slightly harder than others due to variance in the production...perhaps you have a DLC blade that by sheer chance was hardened to a point lower than your satin blade? Again, I am grasping and guessing here...

The only way to settle this conclusively is to test a couple blades...I forget which member does this sort of testing, but I am fairly confident that Sal would know if there is any merit to the concept that DLC has an affect on hardness of the underlying steel.
 
I prefer DLC on blades because i do not have to wipe the blade when my finger touches it. Looks nice too =)
But there shoudn't be any difference in hardness since it's just an additional coating. The heat treatment should have been done before the coating process
 
unit said:
Just throwing a WAG here, but perhaps the feeling you get on the stones that leads you to this conclusion could have something to do with the coating being harder than the steel? Perhaps you start out grinding a new bevel and address the coating as well as the steel and this feels hard, then as you polish the bevel you are no longer removing stock and grinding a new bevel...so in essence you are just honing steel (which feels softer than when you grind the coating and steel)...so the steel feels soft?

I could be out of my mind?

It just seems beyond plausible that the DLC would lower the hardness of the steel. There certainly could be a coincidental explanation though...some blades are going to test slightly harder than others due to variance in the production...perhaps you have a DLC blade that by sheer chance was hardened to a point lower than your satin blade? Again, I am grasping and guessing here...

The only way to settle this conclusively is to test a couple blades...I forget which member does this sort of testing, but I am fairly confident that Sal would know if there is any merit to the concept that DLC has an affect on hardness of the underlying steel.
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Great point there Ken, but isn't heat used in the application of DLC? Maybe enough heat to lower the Rc? I would love to be wrong about this though.
 
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