Who does the best stonewashed finish?

Moxy · Mar 16, 2013

I'm a sucker for stonewashed. Today I got my first Strider. It's an SJ75. Grail perfection!
Anyway, it takes the top spot for best stonewashed finish among my collection now. My Bradly Alias comes in second, and the sebenza comes in third. Unfortunately I don't really like the stonewashing ZT and Kershaw do. Doesn't seem as agressive. Doesn't "pop" as much. The SJ75 almost looks like glitter.
This is the kind nit-picking that runs through my obsessed mind day to day...

SJ75

Alias

CRK Sebenza

S30v Skyline

ZT0560

S30v Leek

atony · Mar 16, 2013

I like the look of CRK's blades.

bigconig · Mar 16, 2013

Love the stone wash on Hinderers

atony · Mar 16, 2013

Hinderer does a nice job as well!

BladeScout · Mar 16, 2013

The knives in the OP should have pics taken of them in natural light instead.
Kind of difficult to tell how the finish looks on any of them for real with that light.
Anyway, my Spyderco was Zircon Sand washed and I far prefer that finish over over washed knife blades, that Ive seen.

mayhemflipper · Mar 16, 2013

The stonewashing on my spyderco techno's scales is absolutely the best I've seen. I'm not a huge fan of zt stonewashing either.

Mayhemflipper

Moxy · Mar 16, 2013

I'm using the camera on my phone and it's not very good. The variances in the finishes were difficult to capture without a fill light.
Trust me thats how they look in any light.

mayhemflipper said:
The stonewashing on my spyderco techno's scales is absolutely the best I've seen. I'm not a huge fan of zt stonewashing either.

Mayhemflipper

Yeah it always comes out great on titanium. I stonewashed my Sage II and it came out great.

flarp · Mar 16, 2013

I like the one on my Ritter Mini-Grip.

NeverMore1701 · Mar 16, 2013

Something like this:

mayhemflipper · Mar 16, 2013

The middle one was acid washed then stone washed.

chambelona59 · Mar 16, 2013

flarp said:
I like the one on my Ritter Mini-Grip.

Oh yes 'flarp'... you got my vote :thumbup:

Thrill · Mar 16, 2013

The stonewash on the Hogue EX-01 folders is really nice too.

Insipid Moniker · Mar 16, 2013

Hogue and Emerson both do a very good job with their stonewash.

archieblue · Mar 16, 2013

I really like the "nuked" (pimping) stonewash that SoLo is doing. Otherwise my fav "looking" stonewashed blade is my Shirogorov. CRK and Strider's are really good too though.

isaacsawesome · Mar 16, 2013

NeverMore1701 said:
Something like this:

Yes! +1 for me!

La_Maleta_Azul · Mar 16, 2013

Definitely Hinderer's... that finish will not show scratches whatsoever. And it looks great too.

TTTis · Mar 17, 2013

The real question is, who out there can match Hinderer's finish? I'd love to get a few blades washed to match the finish of a Hinderer.

chambelona59 · Mar 17, 2013

Difference between a 'Tumbled' finish' blade opposed to a 'Stone Wash' finish blade?
'Bead-Blasted' titanium handle as opposed to 'Stone' Wash':

TTTis · Mar 17, 2013

Gorgeous! We must find out his secrets.

GTP2K1 · Mar 25, 2013

Well my favorite has been the Ti lock side of my Spyderco Southard (blades nice too just not as dark). But those Hinderer pics are great, done just right. Not so lite that it looks polished or blasted, not so rough that it looks like crinkle paint. Just a nice even layer with big random scratches and tiny sparkly ones that make it look almost 3D when the light hits it.