Utility value of stripping a BK9?

T

ToadWhisperer

Joined
Jan 22, 2008
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3
I’m leaning towards stripping and doing a forced patina on my BK9 and was wondering, of you guys that have used them heavily before and after, how much improvement was there for field work?
It seems as though the factory finish was chosen for marketing (the ninja factor) and to keep production costs down, but it obviously creates at least some resistance. I’ll eventually get to it once the current finish starts looking like crap, so I’m just trying to decide if not waiting makes enough of a difference.

Joe
 
Either way. Use it then strip it, or strip it out of the box. You r not going to hurt my feelings. I just strip them out of the box.
 
Probably not a noticeable performance difference. This question has been asked dozens of times so you could do a search and find more posts than you'd care to read on the subject.
 
bigghoss said:
This question has been asked dozens of times so you could do a search and find more posts than you'd care to read on the subject.
Click to expand...

Did that first (as always), the vast majority of what popped wasn't really relevant to performance and what was left was mostly based assumptions rather than experience. Maybe I didn't search the right keywords, I'm sure it's here somewhere mixed in with that other stuff, I was just trying to ask those with hands on knowledge directly.
 
I never tried it, but I imagine you could light a match from the stock coating! :thumbup:
 
I haven't seen that much noticeable difference. I don't have a 9 that is stripped but I have stripped and not stripped 14s. The 14 that IS stripped was just cause I wanted to see. I also have old coating vs new coating and the new coating IS rougher but after use a couple of times there isn't any substantial difference there either since it wears smooth fairly quickly.
 
I have stripped and unstripped BK9's and I don't think I can see any performance difference. I don't use my 9's as slicers nearly as much as for chopping and batoning.
In my opinion, the best way to improve a 9 is to convex the edge and put a set of micarta handles on it.
 
If we're talking about the new coating, there will be a huge gain in performance once it's stripped. I use my blades (my 9 included) not only for chopping and battoning, but slicing and cutting as well.

Food and fire prep are always the most common for me, so I prefer a stripped blade. My BK9 has the best natural patina I've seen on a "new" knife (it's 5 years old).






 
Thanks all! I guess I'll go ahead and do it. I do like the looks of it as is, but it's a tool first so performance wins out.
 
rkmoore said:
I have stripped and unstripped BK9's and I don't think I can see any performance difference. I don't use my 9's as slicers nearly as much as for chopping and batoning.
In my opinion, the best way to improve a 9 is to convex the edge and put a set of micarta handles on it.
Click to expand...

I concur.
No real performance difference(that I can discern).
I like my Beckers stripped for food prep though.
 
rust prevention only. but if you start grinding heavily on the main bevels of the knife. that is more a question of proformance & durability. love my kabar & bkt kabars. but they tend to have heavy grind spots that make reprofiling unavoidable unless you a willing to ignore some of the worse bits. which is what I have opted to do on mine for lack of proper power tools . for now just just strip and sand down to a nice 500 to 1200 grit and patina that pretty little lady. do a nice cold blue (its cheap enough) and post pics. good luck and enjoy
 
Rust prevention and the High traction coating that comes with the BK9 can slow down battoning and such.
 
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