when did kabar stop the smooth coating? parkerized?

knifejunkie1928

knifejunkie1928

Joined
Feb 15, 2015
Messages
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I've accumulated a becker bk9 and bk7 with the old smooth black coating. When did they stop doing the knives like this and go with the awful black sandpaper crap? I really love the feel and the look of these blades.I almost don't even want to use them so I can keep the coating nice and even. I suppose they are collectables now… they have the old coating with the old sheaths and come with the Chinese bk13. If it was a matter of price I would have paid slightly more to keep the good coating.

Is this a parkerized coating? I'm not sure what the differences are but I thought that a parkerized blade was a smooth finish. Or maybe its just a paint-on of some sort?

Also anyone know why the bk-9 stamp is so close to the handle? Rumor has it means its one of the original bk9s from kabar.



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a real parkerized coating is a wondrous thing :D

good luck trying to take one off too ;)
 
I have a Kabar marine style 1213 knife. The coating is nice and smooth. All my Beckers are no more than 2 hears old and they have the rough coating. The stage between new and completely wearing off seems to be rather smooth. Once I used my Beckers, the coating seemed to smooth out.

EDIT: I meant to say the 1213 is about 10 years old. I'm not sure if Kabar still uses smooth coating for some knives and used the rough stuff only for Beckers or not.
 
Last edited:
Bladite said:
that's kinda scary ;)

the one i have as EDC is over 25 years old now? still looks like new...
Click to expand...

I was trying to get some rust off of a set of impact sockets I found. I put them in a bucket of CLR. Next thing I know they were bare steel. It ate the park away in no time. I was quite vexed.
 
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