Surface finishing advice needed

Joined
Apr 3, 2002
Messages
253
I would like to put a dark finish to the blade of a Gerber Applegate folder, but admit to being a complete novice with metal finishing.
Can anyone point me towards a good site or advice?
Cheers,
Dave.
 
Dave, since it's probably stainless about all you could do is have a coating applied or heat color it.
 
Yes - it is stainless, described as "425 Modified Stainless Steel". I bought mine before the black bladed model came out, that model is described as having a "Black Titanium Nitride" coating.
I guess that applying this sort of coating, or similar, is outside the realms of an average user? I've seen cold gun blue kits, I guess they wouldn't work on stainless? Sorry to seem so dumb.
Cheers,
Dave
 
In the past I've recommended a product by Brownell's, a spray teflon/moly epoxy coating, for similar uses.
Spray it on, bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or so and the coating is cured.
Fairly durable (it's made as pistol finish, and I've used it as such with success), but I'm not sure how well it would hold up to use on a blade. One can is <$20, though, and would do at least 30-40 blades, so you might want to look into it.
Larry
 
You can try the Teflon or the Moly coat from Brownells but I don't expect it will work well. I've used a ton of it on AR15's and it works pretty well for that. I don't think it will hold up to the scuffing that a knife blade takes though.

Find someone local who does powder coating. That should hold up better.
 
I have used Brownells 'OXPHO-BLUE' with good results on some stainless; screws and other odds and ends . It does not work at all for me on 416 stainless (416 is used for rifle barrels) Oxpho-Blue is not a kit but rather just a bottle of Phosphoric acid and other chemicals with Brownells as the name brand. Reasonable in price and as simple to use as baking biscuits - no heating required for the cold blueing though-.

I only use cold blue on relatively small areas of a firearm because it does not wear well compared to hot blueing and requires great attention in matching it to the original vendor's blueing color tone. You might try it on a very small, least likely to be seen, spot to test it. I rather doubt it will blue your stainless though, but it may. The cold blue may require re-application after enough wear on the blade has occured.
 
Back
Top