Various machine-tool coatings

[e_utopia]

Has anyone used the various machine-tool coatings (TiAlN, AlTiN, TiCN, etc.) for coating blades? It seems to me that a blade could be made of something like beta-titanium for extreme toughness and weight savings, then coated with something like ALTiN (>100 Rc) for great edge holding. Obviously, a coating that hard will ship if abused, but in a pocket knife (used for opening letters, peeling fruit, etc.), it should yield a knife that pretty much never needs to be sharpened, right? Or am I totally out-there with this one?

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com

 

[Jerry Hossom]

If you assume the coating will not affect a previously honed fine edge on the Titanium, then your premise works for a time. Those coatings though are only a few microns thick, so they will wear off and then yourknife is dead.

In practice with knives, the steel is still the edge with the TiN serving as a protectant for everything but the edge. I have some blades on the way back from TiGold as we speak. They do make pretty colors though.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com

 

[e_utopia]

Ok, I want to clarify this. I left out TiN because it is significantly softer than the other coatings mentioned. TiCN is around 95 Rc and AlTiN is somewhere around 110-120 (estimated from Vickers microhardness). By the time anything that hard wears off during normal use, I think I'll be willing to have it re-coated.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com

 

[george tichbourne]

These tough coatings are great as wear resistance but will fail if an impact distorts the substrate. TiN and TiCN are used on aluminum blow molds for wear resistance and greatly increase mold life so a coating on a light use Ti blade will help it hold an edge.

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george
www.tichbourneknives.com
sales@tichbourneknives.com

 

[clausDenmark]

I have a BM stryker wich has been TiAlN coated it had been sharpened prior to coating and it came back with a rather dull edge, but it was estored with use, prob. due to the rounding of the edge caused by the coating wearing off.

I couldnt detect any increse in edge holding but the rest af the blade still looks good after half a year, and i have not been able to scratch the blade.

So purely cosmetic, its a good idea if you want to "darken" the blade, and have it look good for a loong time.

Keep sharp.



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Claus Christensen

When you have playboy channel, why get married