FINALLY EXPLAINED! Knife Coatings & Finishes | Knife Banter S2 (Ep 33)

[@josephdecker0]

I have always wondered, looking at blade hq’s “finish” category what I was gonna get... The knife maker says: black. Is it paint, powder, Ceracote? That would be useful to know.

[@morayjames92]

mirror polish on a blade can damage the hardness of the edge of the knife due to the high heat generated when the blade is polished, you may have to sharpen a good number of times to work your way back to the hard steel farther back up the blade, the soft steel will feel gummy and will not take an edge. Once hard steel has been reached at your new edge you are fine and a polished blade is resistant to moisture and rust (the prime reason for the polish in the first place). A polished blade also looks very good.

[@hartzogLovesScience]

Metallic bonds are described as the nuclei of the metal being surrounded in a sea of electrons, which is why metals are good conductors and are malleable. So you are essentially taking advantage of the electrons’ charge in powder coating method.

[@SmilingGator96]

I prefer coated blades due to the added corrosion resistance. I live in a very wet, humid area that causes a lot of sweat. So, coatings are appreciated. Also, I love the way they wear. It adds more soul to the knife imo.

[@koldurthemage7199]

i just got the ranger green bugout and I'm really loving it. it's my first benchmade. i finally understand why you guys love them so much

[@cameronbottoms1118]

Was my daily for i think 8 months! Hope it treats you well!! I moved to the Benchmade Anthem!

[@chadcrimm8248]

Satin is a favorite of mine but I do like a dlc as well. Holds up better than I expected. Have a dlc coating on my Benchmade contego but I managed to find something that scratched it to the point of removing the finish. Fiber glass ceiling tiles are really hard on a knife. Doesn't matter what its made of

[@cwalker228]

Great video and I learned a lot. I no longer buy blacked out blades that just say PVD coating because they, for me at least, show scratches very easily. DLC is a good coating that doesn’t scratch to easily.

[@ferrumiumcanis5211]

Here's another thing of bead blasted surface: it will largely reduce the corrosion resistance (unless it's H1 or titanium). It has more surface area (in micro scale) and liquid tend to stick more than on other finishes. I have AUS-8 steel and liners and clips (supposably 420) that rusted within a few days. Vice versa mirror polish will slightly increase the corrosion resistance. I live on a subtropical island so always humid and hot.

[@I..cast..fireball]

yup. I don't like bead blast at all. Stonewash is best finish for any knife you are going to actually use (assuming its stainless).

[@Mo.89.]

Funny this video came up a few hours after I was convinced I’d scratched my Cold Steel American Lawman blade with DLC coating to bits... yep those “scratches” rubbed right off with a bit of elbow grease haha.

[@casey197930]

Same story on my large recon. I actually tried stripping it to polish the blade. Aircraft paint stripper doesn't work lol even used a putty knife. Blade looks brand new.

[@jeffflick2573]

Diamond Like Carbide is the best. So what if your knife gets a scratch?

[@JohnC29]

I've been schooled. I thought ceracoat was tougher than PVD but I didn't realize DLC is a PVD. I'm used to cheap pvd coatings on watches.

[@griffen898]

PVD is an abbreviation for "physical vapor deposition" which actually describes application method by which the coating is applied, but does not specify the material that the coating is made of. There are many materials of varying physical properties that can be used to achieve a PVD coating. Edit: I didn't realize this was covered in the video. I wrote this comment before I got to the PVD section of the video.

[@Naptosis]

@@griffen898 Your comment was still incredibly useful, I must have not been paying attention to the video. Thank you!

[@kcrad1521]

The bead blast insert... I am dead OMG🤣🤣🤣

[@BladeHQ]

Bead blast barbie! 🎵

[@shaggy_e210]

I used to work a warehouse job a couple years ago, I was one of the guys who lifted the heavy steel racks for shopping isles to get powder coated. Most labor intensive job I've had, it was pretty enjoyable until second shift burned the damn place down...

[@loganweber7488]

I'm a fan of either a high quality stonewash like on the Slysz Spyderco collaborations, or CRK blades, or a good matte DLC like what Spyderco uses. Chris Reeve mentioned in the BHQ shop tour that the stonewash leaves a much smoother and almost sealed surface when compared to a satin or beadblast surface which leaves open pores in the metal and can lead to corrosion quicker.

[@jameshewettjr.3147]

I really enjoyed the video. I've thought about various coatings, and their respective durability, and/or abrasion resistance for a while. I actually wanted to know more about them, and how they compared with each other. This kind of answered some of the basic questions for me. Thanks for the information

[@henrydewet5072]

The Kershaws are acid washed and tumbled thus they take one hell of beating before scratching. (I have scrathched off polyurethane based silicone from tiles and not a single mark left on my Shuffle 2)

[@ninkendo7714]

I ran a Gerber Evo ,that uses nitride finish, and I wore out the bushings before the finish. About 3 years of everyday hard work.

[@whitefaze13]

Fun fact: Cerakote paint is used for space shuttles, as it’s extremely heat resistant allowing for the shuttles to re-enter earths atmosphere safely

[@ivogriffu6803]

Hey guys, have u ever thinked about selling knives worldwide? Because here in argentina there isnt any store with a large catalog and awesome prices as yours, I love your videos, regards

[@elwinjude77]

Same here in India! We understand that there are local and legal procedures to get it done but would definitely love it.

[@AbdulRahmanMunauwar]

Same goes to Malaysia

[@LordAlced]

Philippines too. We need more dependable Benchmade distributors.

[@meanwhilekai]

I need a knife banter equivalent for every one of my interests

[@ilovemusicsg]

Great video guys! We missed Jamies video Edits!!!! Good to see you guys are back

[@anteck7goat]

Bead blast, for those who don’t want to spend time in finishing, and don’t mind a little loss of rust resistance

[@MrMikeyj2004]

Awesome vid! Just the information and knowledge I was looking for! Thanks brothers

[@mikeoreilly4020]

Thanks. This was something every knife nut should know, and I was very vague on coatings.

[@siegfriedhorner4436]

A few of the fixed-blade Cold Steel, drop-forged knives ("Survivalist", etc.) have a silver colored coating which wears or scratches off EASILY. But under THAT coating is a black coating. Do you know what the outer coating is, and if the inner, black coating is DLC ?

[@kyleduddleston4123]

The cool thing about nitriding is that the treatment actually penetrates the surface, so that when it does wear, you don't actually lose the "coating". But, I'm not sure how far it actually penetrates.

[@nahumdeleon8453]

This is like a talk show intervention for knives jaja lol

[@DanielTorie]

Nahum De Leon Hello. My name is Dan and I have a knife addiction. They say admitting is the first step right?

[@nahumdeleon8453]

@@DanielTorie yes sir i have an addiction with Benchmade knives i want to buy a pocket knive every week

[@BladeHQ]

First!

[@WooSungShim]

Hi

[@ChristianCilliers]

I'm the first real one!

[@crudmuffins2828]

Pshhhh, rookie. I’ve been here for 3 days in anticipation

[@BladeHQ]

@@crudmuffins2828 Impressive.

[@calebangell77]

Damn it BHQ. You can't hype up the Jade M4 Manix 2 release and then restock the Elementum with no warning on the same day! Guess who's out $210 today....

[@jeffflick2573]

DLC imo is the best coating to put on a blade. Protechs are my favorite.

[@brianwhitelaw7483]

I really appreciated the information conveyed in this video. I don’t always learn a lot, but I did today

[@albertptran]

Love the black coating on my Benchmade Pardue and the gray stonewash on my Kershaw Barge

[@lonewanderer3603]

You can powder coat at home with a plastic tub and a toaster oven. It's pretty easy. Might be a good "How to Knife" episode. They sell pc at Harbor Freight, but companies like Eastwood are higher quality. Now that I think about it, I wonder if you could Hi-Tek a knife....

[@UncleIsaac2012]

I have an all black DLC Spyderco Paramilitary 2. Unfortunately within the first couple months of owning it I let someone else use it to cut something and they recklessly drug it across concrete several times and scratched the tip Beyond repair. In the 4 years since then I have used it every day and never added a scratch to it.

[@Naptosis]

What an absolute knobgobbling cóckjóckey! 🤦

[@grogdocr]

You forgot Boker's excellent rainbow mermaid finish. It's made by using the pressures at the bottom of the ocean to fuse vibranium carbonite to the steel. It is immune to all physical damage and can only be scratched by emotional trauma.

[@Elmax17.5dps]

😂😂 thanks I needed a laugh

[@Obliticus]

I've had to deal with cheap coatings in the past, but I'm really impressed with the DLC coating on the black CF-Elite bugouts.

[@ricardojustiniano4942]

I can't feel bad for Benchmade for not taking advantage of the SpaceX launch, cuz the mini bugout in white would be like the ultimate knife that one would take to space (even though they won't allow it) for its lightweight and smaller design

[@D1ppys]

Truuueeee

[@matthewshannon6946]

Interesting! In my current SMKW catalog they offer a commemorative edition of a machete- esque knife that they say was issued to and taken to space by the Apollo astronauts!!

[@metaller_alex]

Basic stonewash is the best. DLC is cool, but I think it's more appropriate for heavy use items like bolt carrier group in AR-15 rifle then the knife.

[@flooid5506]

Def scratched tf out of multiple high end DLC knife blades, grips, BCGs even handgun magazines

[@robertsimon276]

Great video explaining coatings!

[@fernandoruiz7713]

I had a nice Bronze finish on my Microtech that I messed up sharpening, so now I have to make a decision to either keep it like that, or blow like $100 to get it re anodized

[@BladeHQ]

That's a bummer. Microtech has a distressed finish so maybe you could just call it that? 😂

[@fernandoruiz7713]

Blade HQ Or, hear me out, I just beat the hell out of the knife so I can have the perfect distress Finish

[@napsterninja]

Cool. Now I know about more about coatings. Can there be a episode around the pocket clips types? Some of my knives tend to scratch or rub things when I walk by.

[@macmccartney5760]

Cold Steel DLC must be newer , because they're older Recons the black would wear off the blade pretty easy. I had a crkt m21 with grey titanium nitride finish and it was hands down far better than cold steels coating on the recon, and the m21 was only 30 bucks at Lowe's

[@ryanbong9984]

Anyone know what the coating on older recons would be? I bought a recon 1 probably 5 years ago and about 40%-50% of the coating is gone. It’s still a tank, but I was having the same thought as Mac.

[@macmccartney5760]

@@ryanbong9984 it must have been different, because the way they just described it sounds bullet proof, and the old ones certainly weren't, unless they have just improved the process of how they do it over the years

[@ryanbong9984]

@Mac Mccartney, agreed. Cheers buddy!

[@johnqgeezer1857]

For DLC to look polished the blade or subject has to be polished before the coating is applied. Super fan of DLC, high end one off vape gear from around the globe and of course my new collecting of knives. How I got turned on to DLC blades was a video of a bucket of sand, ground glass and rocks. The blade was repeatedly jabbed in to this mixture and when wiped off the edge was toast but the finish looked clean. BTW great informative video.

[@busaj383]

Dang I didn't realize there were that many finishes because I never thought about it 🤔 Every knife I ever bought was because I think it looks cool and do I have that $$ on me right now to buy it 😁✌ I will carry a knife every day until I find that new cooler one to to buy 🤗 ...and that is also why I never sharpen a knife, i learn to work thru the dullness process 😎

[@Naptosis]

'the dullness process' lol _"Next... "_

[@massimobargagna5641]

All new info brothers keep illuminating thanks for the knowledge ! love that gold amigo !

[@verveblack]

appreciate the subtitles lots. very useful

[@Tom-uj4uf]

Satin is probably my favorite

[@PoetFisherman]

Hahaha that intro was awesome! Need to begin and end every blade banter like that

[@justincarter4596]

Recently purchased a 2 Becker BK2's for my son and I and I want to mod my knife wit the G10 scales that are available and I also would like to coat the blade to a more green color to help make the knife and scales "pop". You guys didn't seem to fond of the paint coatings but you did the powder coating. My question is can you powder coat yourself or do you leave it to the pro's ( I'm assuming it comes in any color) ? Also if I decide to paint the blade is their a specific type of paint that's better to use and where do you get it at?

[@grantwitt4962]

I like how all the spyderco manix 2 xl m4s sold out in like a hour or 2

[@suzgabverdugo933]

Grant Witt I hit the website right at 10am satin was sold out, went with the coated

[@grantwitt4962]

Nice my first probably would be the coated

[@just-inedc2381]

I tend to go for tumbled or stonewash but I do like some of the two tone. Like stonewashed grind with satin flats or something. For some reason I don’t really like the color coatings but I don’t mind DLC or PVD bc I really dig Hinderer’s stonewashed DLC!

[@jesf570]

Sad we lost Ben, but so thankful we still have zach, he's the man, and looking sharp AF these days.

[@MrWhatsHappenin]

Zach left and so did Jamie I'm pretty sure.

[@I..cast..fireball]

The only coating I like is black oxide. That is what develops naturally as a "patina" anyways on carbon steel knives. So using it as a factory coating gives you a finish that is effectively self healing.

[@danduran536]

Kershaw’s black wash is by far one of my favorites. In my experience it holds up aesthetically the best. DLC coat and then heavy stonewash, at least when the Leek and the Blur came out. My oldest work knives and the blades still look awesome.

[@Sweetknives]

Nice job guys!

[@Kilt_Camera_and_Carry]

While I love my coated M4 Super Freek, my CRK Umnumzaan has to be my favorite ... the finish on the tanto blade and texture on the Ti scales are epic.

[@tristandauod]

Umnumzaan is king! (Or boss, I guess🤷‍♂️) CRK's stonewash is gorgeous🔥 the slabs were a bit too gritty brand new with the sandblast IMO, but it softened out over time, so now I like it a lot more👌🏼

[@tristandauod]

You go with the harpoon dp or tanto?

[@mmorgado1]

Awesome! Thanks. 😀

[@ryanbarkhurst3043]

DLC coatings are used on pistons camshafts and ducati motorcycles

[@joshs2138]

Awesome video. I knew I liked my tanto recon for some unexplainable reason!

[@Viking445]

That Gold Tron Calmigo makes me tingle. Please get more in stock so I can has the precioussss!!!

[@thirtyfiveframes5815]

PVD stonewash is the best!

[@chrislock1950]

Satin finish is the best it is also classic, tried and true. For stainless anyway

[@casey197930]

The coating on some of my cold steels has been ridiculously durable. Particularly the Large Recon.

[@jydymyyyr9630]

Very informative video... thanks! I recently bought a Bugout 535BK-4 with what is listed as a Cerakote blade coating; is this a brand name for a PVD or DLC coating?

[@zdp-189]

Rockstead! They use me for steel!

[@kevinrickett]

Great content! I really enjoyed it. Learned many new things I didn’t know. Thanks much.

[@JohnLee-xe6qm]

Wish you would have mentioned more about the cold steel recon1 other paint coating everyone strips and scrapes off to show the stone wash finish oh also on voyager

[@RaptorPilot700]

Great / informative video! Thanks!

[@voglino3]

Awesome video!

[@brianleabo6295]

So how do you take care of him painted finish? To keep it like new and is there a way to touch it up after it's been Warren off?

[@spenser9096]

Had a Smith & Wesson black coated knife when I was younger in scouts. Coating bubbled and peeled off within a week of buying it. Never bought another S&W knife again.

[@Gabor.Bujdoso]

My first locking knife was a S&W too! 20 years ago I thought that this is the best quality knife, until it bacame dull after a few cuts. Never bought another from this brand again. But nice memories... :)

[@mikeaze423]

What about titanium coatings like kershaw Cryo’s or camillus titanium coated knives are the good or they chip and scratch up ?

[@bobcrump9775]

Well damn! Now I wish i ordered the coated M4 Manix XL yesterday!

[@Captaraknospider]

Can you ferric cloride etch then use blueing?

[@ReeferNoob23]

I think one of the more common ones is the standard grinders satin even more than the stonewash finish u think this grinder satin version common like spyderco and ZT uses it a lot

[@thick9996]

What is an Ionbond Finish/Coating (White River Knives M1 Backpacker Pro)

[@xylliiiking]

Exxon video I didn't really know very much about finishes on blade Steel

[@patrickplymanii9679]

My daily super freek has definitely got some DLC scratches, but a over a year of edc and hard use will do that to anything

[@ethanjeong2040]

Did NOT expect to see red on Kurt's Buck.

[@323makethunder]

Hey blade hq team!, I'm looking for wood handle scales for the schrade uncle Henry ph1n, I keep looking but I can't find any, do you guys know where I can find some? Thank you

[@1964krazyeric]

I love using my knives in the kitchen here and there, but worry about cleaning the inside ie. bearings and things. If I rinse a D2 blade off, will it dry enough inside and rust? Is there a finish that works best for this with D2?

[@andybones00]

Thank you for the edumacation 🙏🏻

[@D1ppys]

This is perfect great time I was about to go on a 4 hour trip

[@mbhaus6349]

They changed the ranger green bugout from pvp to ceracotey still wonder if this is kind of a downgrade. I like the look of the old coat a little more I think. Just bought one 😅 than realised it.

[@bronsondille254]

Hey when will you guys have the ultratech dagger in a sw finish back in stock?

[@ridetheapex]

I hope you bring up Rockstead at some point. They have the best looking blades imo

[@Zeratsu]

i always love the bronze color's on steels. So to me the titanium nitride coating is the best. But the Pro-Tech is very pricy though.

[@suzgabverdugo933]

Just ordered the manix 2 xl with dlc coating in m4 very exited 👏

[@cameronbottoms1118]

How’s the XL life? I’m looking into a manix

[@jimporfit]

boker gust is an acid wash production knife

[@tobyhall1167]

Awesome video, I like this style of video. Maybe a topic for future video is blade shapes and what types of tasks are better for different shapes. Also what is the use of the Tanto, in one of your videos with Lynn you mention the usefulness of the two edges but don't explain it.

[@CagedSUPERMAN]

I do a lot of mirror finish

[@shaneintegra]

What's a Benchmade Super Freek use?

[@ryangardner8873]

i always thought a deep blued finish was super sharp on a knife, or a nice high carbon blade allowed to develop a careful patina.

[@anthonybattle3423]

I have a MTech 423 pocket knife how do I remove scratches from the blade without all the tools 😂😂😂😂. Thanks

[@stephenmartin7907]

Hey Guys, will the Vox "Dapper" be back in stock anytime soon? 😊😊😊

[@norven6252]

People are sleeping on the Baby Core! If you like the Lil Native you'll definitely like the Baby Core! Nice action too!

[@Lonewolfmike]

Rockstead knives have full mirror finishes on their blades.

[@calebmills7161]

Does anybody else feel like there should be a video on Zac's life story?

[@jeffhollar1830]

Case gets there polish from tumbling the blades

[@BladeHQ]

Good to know. Do you know what type of medium they use?

[@jeffhollar1830]

They use some kinda smooth rocks but not sure what it’s been a while since I watched video on it

[@bakkencutter189]

I would like to see that mediator side by side with the 940

[@DW94576]

Please do a best of flippers episode when the new Malibu launches, also I think the kizer sheepdog and boker kwaiken would be great contenders!