Strider knives coatings???

R

RobertHankins

Joined
Jun 10, 2001
Messages
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Any one out there know what they are using on there blades for coatings?
I remember hearing it was Boron but that only comes in Black and charcoal.
 
Strider does two things I am aware of.
First... when ATS-34 or similar stainless it heat-treated, the surface of the steel is left black, and this is very hard to remove (lots of sanding with sand-paper, harder to take off than Black-T or similar), the blades come back from Paul Bos like that, and then they are bead blasted. For tiger striped knives, the blasting is just done in random free-hand patterns (no resist or stencils). I've questioned Mick on this, in the old Strider forum I believe, and thats what he told me.
Turns out real nice, and I'll be doing it on some of my knives as soon as I get a blasting cabinet.

On S30V, the colour it is when it comes back is yellowish pinkish I've been told, so Mick said they are now using Black Oxide to make it black.

Hope that helps.
 
thats odd. i seem to remember Paul telling me that a blade would come back with a straw color. more like golden. (since his ovens are atmosphercally controlled and all)

maybe strider asks for them not to be so that some oxidation occurs?
 
Yea I think your right, I found where Mick said this.

After.
The only reason I can see for doing it before would be if you were trying to blend some complex lines or something.
It doesn’t help with stress relief if that is the thought.

Im not sure what media you gonna use. We use 60grit aluminum oxide.
Click to expand...

He is talking about when he beadblasts knives.
 
Green?
Bead Blast *can* look green in the right light. Other than that, the only greens I could think of would be something like Green-T or GunKote, and since Mick has repeatedly stated he hates/dispises/dislikes/ and wont use coatings, I dunno.
 
guess i still dont understand what they are blasting off. is it oxidation that they purposely form on the blades?
 
Green did I say green...well Duh
Looks Green in the pic on the website. It is just the tint of the pics. The AO they refer to is Aluminum Oxide which is a basic sandblast media (Same used on AO sandpaper) used for blasting off rust/Heat treat Carbon Etc.
If you look at the light stripes they are consistant with a closeup beadblast pattern.
 
Originally posted by SkaerE
guess i still dont understand what they are blasting off. is it oxidation that they purposely form on the blades?
Click to expand...

They arent blasting anything "off". Striders are combat/tactical knives, and need to be non-reflective.
Mick believes (and I tend to agree) that Bead Blast is the most effective way to render a blade non-reflective.
Even the black and O.D. green coatings we all see, are not really non-reflective... especially once they get worn some, there get to be polished spots on the coating, that reflect like a mirror.
Bead blast wears off, but it takes awhile, a long while, with a lot of use, and it is not reflective at all.

The random striping pattern, done freehand over the heat treat black, is done to make a diffusing pattern, (it looks bad ass, and) it is hard to see, its hard to focus on the knife, and light doesnt reflect off it, the bead blast and heat blacking are about as non-reflective as can be.
And, if it wears off in the field, matte finish Krylon will make due... it just doesnt look as nice on the new blade ;)

At least thats my understanding from what has been said by Strider crew, and from me experiance.
It is always possible that YMMV.
 
They arent blasting anything "off". ...striping pattern, done freehand over the heat treat black,

so they are bead blasting the blackened oxidation of the steel off.

(thats what blasting does, it removes material)

they just happen to do it in a certain pattern.

what i was asking was whether they specifically allow oxidation to form on the ATS34 in order to blacken it.

aparantly the answer is yes.
 
Robert, Nope. I meant other knives, that use coatings, such as baked on epoxy, Black-T, Green-T, Blak-Ti, etc. etc. ad infinitum. I was saying that those coatings, on other knives, get wear spots, where wear polishes the coating itself, to a mirror like surface, making it darn shiny, comparing it to bead blast which doesnt get shiny like that till you wear it down to the steel.


Sorry I didnt reply sooner.
 
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