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- Apr 12, 2012
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Just kind of wondered why it's shiny, Kershaw and Spyderco's DLC coating is matte and nonreflective. Does anyone know why that is? Not really a big deal or anything I was mostly just curious.
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Why is the DLC coating shiny?
- Thread starter BenLong1018
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DLC is extremely thin and the luster of the metal shows through. If the metal is polished, it will be shiny after DLC coating. If it's bead blasted, it will be matte after DLC coating.
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That makes sense.
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- Apr 12, 2012
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love the new DLC coating. the coating is only a few microns thick(as opposed to the teflon) so it takes on the surface finish of the blade. CS's is shiny because the blade is polished or satin grind, while spydercos or kershaws are bead blasted hence matte finished.
Now i really really wished that CS would do that for their lockbar, not because of aesthetic, but for tolerance. The teflon coating is much thicker and can mess with the tolerance of the parts. If you build the blade and the lockbar with the same tolerance, the lockbar will become slightly thicker due to the Teflon coating being much thicker than the DLC.
This is speaking from my experience, as i own all CS folders 4 inches and below, including the ones with carpenter steel. I found that all of the new 2015 DLC coated models have lockbar stick issue if you tighten the pivot screw down. By stick i meant the lockbar was not able to recess completely when the knife is closed. You would have to press the lockbar further down to hit the stop pin or the blade tang, and you can see that it's rubbing against the G-10 hard. This does not happen to the uncoated models. Granted, this might just be an edge case since not everyone tighten the pivot all the way down like me, but it shows how a slight difference in coating thickness can affect the tolerance.
@jbmonkey, you should reconsider, the coating looks very good, it's more like a film than a coating. It looks very classy. Check out my pic below, look at how the coating shines. Also, it's very satisfying to stab the blade into a can and come out without a scratch
Now i really really wished that CS would do that for their lockbar, not because of aesthetic, but for tolerance. The teflon coating is much thicker and can mess with the tolerance of the parts. If you build the blade and the lockbar with the same tolerance, the lockbar will become slightly thicker due to the Teflon coating being much thicker than the DLC.
This is speaking from my experience, as i own all CS folders 4 inches and below, including the ones with carpenter steel. I found that all of the new 2015 DLC coated models have lockbar stick issue if you tighten the pivot screw down. By stick i meant the lockbar was not able to recess completely when the knife is closed. You would have to press the lockbar further down to hit the stop pin or the blade tang, and you can see that it's rubbing against the G-10 hard. This does not happen to the uncoated models. Granted, this might just be an edge case since not everyone tighten the pivot all the way down like me, but it shows how a slight difference in coating thickness can affect the tolerance.
@jbmonkey, you should reconsider, the coating looks very good, it's more like a film than a coating. It looks very classy. Check out my pic below, look at how the coating shines. Also, it's very satisfying to stab the blade into a can and come out without a scratch
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- Apr 12, 2012
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- 1,668
I completely agree with you on that I really like a nice stonewashed blade myself.