The More Durable Blade Coating???

Black-T is not durable. It's often used on pistols, and is easily scratched by a kydex holster.
 
I love Benchmade's BT2 coating. After 3 years of almost every day use, it has held up extremely well. The coating has gotten a little worn in certain spots, but the lightness hasn't effected the corrosion protection.

I don't like TiNi coating. I've had too many knives, where rust got between the coating and the blade.

I've just started using DLC from Spyderco. Odd stuff. Under certain conditions, it seems as though the coating will cause the blade to get stuck in the material being cut.
 
Josh K said:
DLC is Diamond Like Coating, TiN is just a bonded to the metal. It doesn't "scratch" it just wears. I have had a lot of trouble scratching my Millies DLC coating.
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DLC is pretty good, i have it on a couple of MOD's i have but it will scuff/scratch, just not as easy as some coatings will.

but then of course any and all coatings will scuff/scratch with use.
 
With DLC/Boron Carbide/TiN there is definately a difference, I know boron carbide is harder and tougher than TiN. I can't remember what DLC was exactly, for some reason I want to say it's just a trademark for Boron Carbide. They're all way harder than most anything that could scratch them in consumer knife applications, for drill bits and industrial cutting tools there would likely be a noticable advantage to BC. With knife coatings there will be a much bigger difference due to substrate finish and the expertise used to apply the coatings.
 
It's one of the most durable conventional "paint" like coatings. None of which can begin to approach the wear resistance of a PVD coating. Because BlackT bonds so well, even if it seems to be worn to bare metal there's still a thin film of protection still adhereing.
 
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SIFU1A said:
DLC is pretty good, i have it on a couple of MOD's i have but it will scuff/scratch, just not as easy as some coatings will.

but then of course any and all coatings will scuff/scratch with use.
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Anything will scratch. Coatings are all different. In Al applications, you can find that Type II anodizing will produce a wonderful array of colors, but it will scratch and wear off. Type III hard anodizing will maybe chip off of areas of high wear or use, but those chips don't spread like a coating. The coating isn't weaker because of the chips. I think DLC compares to Type III because it maybe be removed, but it doesn't really wear and fade like TiN.
 
While it is possible to scratch DLC, many times what appears to be a scratch in DLC is actually material that transferred to the blade while cutting. Often a quick wipe with CLP will make these "scratches" disappear. :thumbup:
 
Josh K said:
Anything will scratch. Coatings are all different. In Al applications, you can find that Type II anodizing will produce a wonderful array of colors, but it will scratch and wear off. Type III hard anodizing will maybe chip off of areas of high wear or use, but those chips don't spread like a coating. The coating isn't weaker because of the chips. I think DLC compares to Type III because it maybe be removed, but it doesn't really wear and fade like TiN.
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FWIW a few yrs ago the guys at DLC would coat knives and stuff for ya if ya sent it in to them and it didnt cost much, like maybe $20 or so with shipping, they did several for me, they dont do that any more though, too big and busy i suppose,

and as far as coatings go they are imho the best, i just dont care for coatings anymore myself,
 
yoda4561 said:
With DLC/Boron Carbide/TiN there is definately a difference, I know boron carbide is harder and tougher than TiN. I can't remember what DLC was exactly, for some reason I want to say it's just a trademark for Boron Carbide. They're all way harder than most anything that could scratch them in consumer knife applications, for drill bits and industrial cutting tools there would likely be a noticable advantage to BC. With knife coatings there will be a much bigger difference due to substrate finish and the expertise used to apply the coatings.
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DLC ~ Diamond-like carbon
 
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Ahh how on earth did I miss the wiki page :o I knew it stood for diamond like carbon, but figured it was just some fancy pants trade name for a really hard boron carbide coating. Seems that with steel and titanium you need a pre-coat to prevent the DLC from forming surface carbides, maybe that's where the tungsten part comes in? Looking at bodycote's pdfs their DLC coatings are usually only as hard as the boron carbide stuff, but have much lower friction coefficients. A few of their DLC coatings are twice as hard as Boron Carbide, but I doubt that's what we're getting on pocketknives.
 
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