Why coat an already stainless steel blade?

monster

monster

Joined
Jun 13, 2001
Messages
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I know there are specific reasons but for many of us there just isn’t the worry of sun or moonlight glinting off the blade and giving away a position or extreme corrosion environments. There are sooooo many fixed blades out there I would like to own in stonewashed or satin finish but are not available like many of the Spartan blades. What do you all think?
 
As you said, mostly aesthetic. If you have a black and tan G10 handle, a tan or black blade looks cooler. Adding a skull looks coolerer. And if you put Special Forces, Recon, SEAL, etc on the blade, well, I can't talk about it due to security issues.

The only time I want a coating is on a carbon fixed blade to help with corrosion resistance. I'm not to picky on that either. I know how to maintain a blade.
 
Most of my knives are satin or stonewash but I don't mind some coated blades for a few reasons. I think some color combos of green or tan handles look cool with black blades. While it's strictly personal preference, I think heavy users look better or "cooler" with a coated blade all scratched up and kind of battle worn. I personally think heavily scratched up satin blades look like trash but hey each to their own.
And it definitely helps with corrosion resistance, not a regular concern of mine but last year I took a standard bugout to Mexico for a week and definitely got some surface rust being in that environment. Just got back from another trip there and took the coated version of the bugout and had zero rust issues.
 
Stripping ceramic coating is dam near impossible but doing your own stone wash is not. I’ve even flat out emailed makers and asked to have a blade made without the DLC or ceramic coating with no success, and while I understand why would it kill them to make a batch without the coating? Oh well I’m off to coat half my sack in black ceramic that way at least my tactical testicle has a chance of survival in an emergency.
 
I think coatings can look good on certain knives. The Orange G10/DLC CTS-XHP PM2 exclusive looks amazing, same with the Jade/DLC Manix 2. It’s not my first choice, though. Even on carbon steel I’d prefer a heavy stonewash to anything else. It’s all about personal preference, and possibly looking rad to the masses.
 
Aesthetics only.

I'm against coated blades but I must admit to recently ordering a two-tone midtech. It just looked sweet in the videos I saw and couldn't resist.
 
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monster said:
I know there are specific reasons but for many of us there just isn’t the worry of sun or moonlight glinting off the blade and giving away a position or extreme corrosion environments. There are sooooo many fixed blades out there I would like to own in stonewashed or satin finish but are not available like many of the Spartan blades. What do you all think?
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Most likely cost is the biggest factor.

Stonewash costs more than a coating, and a coating hides enough finish issues that it’s sure to be cheaper than finishing a bare blade to a high standard of F&F.
 
KingMC said:
Most likely cost is the biggest factor.

Stonewash costs more than a coating, and a coating hides enough finish issues that it’s sure to be cheaper than finishing a bare blade to a high standard of F&F.
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It's kind of a proxy, too. I am not saying it's a perfect one, but I'll say... I have never seen a knife that had a good mirror stonewash blade finish that wasn't also well done in every other respect.
 
"Stainless" is a term that gets thrown around arbitrarily. There is a huge difference in corrosion resistance between Aus8 and Sandvick but both are often labeled 'stainless'. Theres an even bigger difference between that same 14c28n and something like m390 or even Lc200n (truly stainless).
Adding a DLC or some other coating increases the corrosion resistance of the blade and ultimately the longevity of the tool on the whole. Especially when you live in salty or humid conditions, it certainly comes in handy.
 
KingMC said:
Most likely cost is the biggest factor.

Stonewash costs more than a coating, and a coating hides enough finish issues that it’s sure to be cheaper than finishing a bare blade to a high standard of F&F.
Click to expand...





That’s exactly why Busse does it.
 
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