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Blade Coatings

I don't know if this has been a topic of discussion before or not, but it was brought up in Stanley's "Titanium can be Beautiful" Blogs. I figured maybe it should be discussion instead of a blog.

The aim of this discussion is to gather knowledge from research and experiences. I don't think this needs to be a group or a blog, just a place to dump your experiences and research of blade and handle coatings.

The most commercially available and successful Titanium coating is TiN(Titanium Nitride). A well-known use for TiN coating is for edge retention and corrosion resistance on machine tooling, such as drill bits and milling cutters, often improving their lifetime by a factor of three or more.

There are several commercially-used variants of TiN that have been developed in the past decade, such as titanium carbon nitride (TiCN), titanium aluminum nitride (TiAlN or AlTiN), and titanium aluminum carbon nitride, which may be used individually or in alternating layers with TiN. These coatings offer similar or superior enhancements in corrosion resistance and hardness, and additional colors ranging from light gray to nearly black, to a dark iridescent bluish-purple depending on the exact process of application. These coatings are becoming common on sporting goods, particularly knives and handguns, where they are used for both cosmetic and functional reasons.

My research is telling me that the best of these coatings are applied via a process call PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition). During PVD, metals are instantly evaporated and ionized via a high-current, low-voltage arc. The metal ions are then accelerated into a vacuum chamber. A negative voltage is introduced, which permanently deposits a thin metal coating on the blades.

I am not sure all manufacturers use this process, as there are other economical ways of applying a coating on a blade. You will definitely be able to tell which ones are, as I have explained in my experiences above with the DLC and Cerakote finishes. So, if you can scratch through a coating to the blade material with little effort, chances are they have been applied using other "proprietary processes".

I for one am not fond of coated blades. Especially on the new super stainless materials, however I am not opposed to the use of coatings on Tactical Carbon steel blades. I have 3 such knives, Benchmade's 760BK LFTi, 810 Contego and 940-121 Osborne Gold Class. I also have a ZT 0350 with Kershaw's DLC coating on a CPM S30V blade, so this is strictly for Military visual purposes.

Of the Benchmades the 760BK LFTi has there BK1 coating and the other 2 have their newer Cerakote coating.

BK1 ® COATING: BK1 coating is a matte black coating that provides excellent corrosion protection, which exceeds the ASTM-117 spec for saltwater while possessing higher scratch resistance.
CERAKOTE™: Designed and manufactured by NIC Industries, Cerakote™ has a unique ceramic structure that out-performs competitive coatings and improves performance in both laboratory and real world settings.
Tungsten DLC: Tungsten "Diamond Like Carbide" uses Tungsten as the ionized metal for this application. Tungsten having the highest tensile strength of any element, is an ideal metal for a hard use knife coating. This is Kershaw's top-tier blade coating offering.

As I have had the the 760BK the longest, I will speak of this one first. Yes I have used this beautiful knife for chores that others would say was unthinkable for such a pricey knife. The CPM M4 blade of the "Lum Folder Titanium" came with the BK1 coating. It held up well, until I used the knife to remove the silcone caulking from between a Granite countertop and crushed granite sink. Although the blade edge remained sharp, the coating did not survive where it came in contact with the granite. But I believe BK1 is mostly to be a rust prohibitive coating, therefore I believe it is doing just that.

The Contego and Osborne GC came with the newer Cerakote offering. I will say this is a great improvement over the BK1 coating. I have used the Contego to trench small troughs in my garden through rocky soil and though it scratches, they are only surface scratches, nothing penetrating the coating.

The Tungsten DLC on the ZT 0350 I have to say performs as well as the Cerakote. Before I got the Contego I used the 0350 for all the same purposes, with the same results, surface marring but nothing penetrating the coating.

Well those are my Experiences with 3 blade coatings. I put in a little research for the Technical specs and my personal experience with them. Please feel free to add your research and experiences on any coatings.

My hope is this discussion will help someone in their research for buying/trading knives.

Tags: BK1, Benchmade, Cerakote, Coatings, DLC, Tungsten, ZT

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Replies to This Discussion

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on June 25, 2013 at 16:37

Good discussion Brad! Very interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Parham on June 26, 2013 at 5:47

Brad, thanks for this information. I am ignorant to this technical stuff so my questions are simple. Are these similar in idea to titanium coating or different. If different, how? How much do coatings affect the true cost of their application to knives or are they fluff for marketing? Thanks for your kind indulgence.

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Permalink Reply by Brad T. on June 26, 2013 at 10:02

My thoughts are if the blade material is a "Stainless" steel, then the coating on the blade is decorative. Premium knives with a coated blade average $15-25 more than the non-coated variants. That extra money is something I would rather apply to the cost of another knife.

(Note: most of the technical descriptions listed above were found on Wikipedia)

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Permalink Reply by Brad T. on September 26, 2013 at 9:29

I have a Benchmade Nimravus but I didn't like the BK1 coating, so I media blasted the the coating off sometime ago.

The blade is a full tang 154CM with serrations. I had it razor sharp at the time, it is as sharp as a spoon now. The handle scales are machined billet aluminum.

I have a friend close to work who can do the Cerakote finish process. He offered me the selection of colors he has and I decided on these two: Black & Tan(my favorite prepared beer drink). I couldn't decide, so he did both sides with one color on each and contrasted the scale colors for impact.

Upon seeing the contrast of the colors together, I am in a pickle to decide the final colors scheme. So it will come down to which color performs the best for each part of the knife.

Below is pictured each side of the knife with a 6" shoulder bolt. I used the bolt to scratch up the blade, scratching up the scales was unneeded as the aluminum will fall away before the coating will.

Aesthetically, either color scheme look nice together. Practicality dictates to me that the darker blade and brighter handle will make it easier for cleaning and finding if dropped in the dark.

I am leaning either way for different reasons. Who of you can push me off the fence?

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Permalink Reply by Brad T. on September 26, 2013 at 15:57

I forgot to add, that if you click on the pictures they will enlarge enough to see the damage if any the bolt did to the coatings. You can see the tan coating is faring batter than the black, this is because the Tan was applied and baked first and baked again when the black coating was applied and baked.

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on September 26, 2013 at 16:22

I like both. I hope that helped.

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Permalink Reply by Brad T. on September 26, 2013 at 17:00

Craig,

You're a knife fanatic and one of my biggest fans. You don't have to be helpful, just supportive. Keep up the good work.

Craig Henry said:

I like both. I hope that helped.

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on September 27, 2013 at 2:17

LOL! I'll do my best!

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Permalink Reply by Alexander Noot on September 27, 2013 at 4:45

Only coating on a blade I liked that I've seen so far is the DLC coating Rockstead puts on their blades. But that just looks like a mirror polished darker blades.

I understand that some people feel that a coating is needed in case of Army operations or so. But in virtually every other scenario I just don't see the sense in them.

If a person takes good care of their blades, no coating is needed.

Besides, a lot of coatings are fairly rough or become fairly rough after a while. And that hampers cutting performance.

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Permalink Reply by Brad T. on September 27, 2013 at 8:31

I agree with you Alexander. But, since I started the discussion, I thought I would try to keep it alive. I wasn't aware my friend had this capability at his shop until I stopped by one Saturday and he had 15 AR lowers machined out of billet aluminum. I had asked where he was going to get the coating applied at and he pointed at the corner of his shop.

I had another thought while cruising the ZT website, they are now doing a "Blackwashed" DLC finish on their blades that looks really cool.

I thought I would throw the Nimravus into his Vibratory bowl afterwards and see what happens.

Alexander Noot said:

Only coating on a blade I liked that I've seen so far is the DLC coating Rockstead puts on their blades. But that just looks like a mirror polished darker blades.

I understand that some people feel that a coating is needed in case of Army operations or so. But in virtually every other scenario I just don't see the sense in them.

If a person takes good care of their blades, no coating is needed.

Besides, a lot of coatings are fairly rough or become fairly rough after a while. And that hampers cutting performance.