seeking comments on blade coatings

[Dand]

I have begun thinking I need a different fixed blade knife. I found that I have chipped the edge of my Morseth knife without realizing it - must have been on my moose last fall.


I'm looking at all sorts of knives but the Ontario RAT series has caught my eye .


I'm playing with 3 machetes cleaning brush in the yard, a Cold Steel cheapy kukri, Ontario kukri and a Kershaw Outcast - all are coated but the coating wears off.



My dad had an old Western knife that was carbon steel and with just a little care it gets a gray natural coat that doesn't rust very easily. I've seen other knives with good steel and they don't rust much given a little attention.




Any way, I see a lot of the carbon steel blades are now coated with something and I wonder what the advantages are, if any? Is it really worth the extra cost?

[Victor3]

I'm looking at all sorts of knives but the Ontario RAT series has caught my eye .

Any way, I see a lot of the carbon steel blades are now coated with something and I wonder what the advantages are, if any? Is it really worth the extra cost?

 A while back a friend at work brought in one of the large (like ~10" blade) RAT knives to show me. The textured coating on the blade turned me off. I could see how it would be hard to get clean. I'd rather just have the blade uncoated and let the carbon steel 'patina.'
 
 I made the mistake of buying a Cold Steel SRK (an impractical knife for me) a couple of years ago. 1st thing I did was sandblast the paint off of the blade.
 
 I have a couple of WWII era Parkerized knives that still look good after a lot of use and minimal care, but any paint (or powdercoat, polymer finish, etc.) on a tool that sees use like a knife blade isn't all that helpful IMO.

[Bugflipper]

 I don't care very much for painted blades. The epoxy paint, or whatever they use tends to come off with rough use with the ones I have. I just force a patina. I put white vinegar in a container and stick several knives, axes or whatever in there. Pull out when they reach the desired gray color. After soaking I wash them with soap, then coat the blade with oil. When I get around to using the knife I wipe off the excess oil and usually never oil it again unless It is used for food and needs to be washed after use. I just use cooking oil on those so it won't give off a nasty taste.

[Dand]

Ok guys thanks for the replies - you both make sense to me.


Maybe the coatings got popular for the REAL swat and Seal type folks who need a non-reflective blade.  For most of us a little care and the eventual patina will be sufficient.


I worry a little about the coating gunking up a good sharpening stone too. Not a biggy on the machetes as I'm using a diamond chainsaw file but a finer knife blade I'd be putting on a stone.

[corbanzo]

I have a few coated blades, and they aren't coated for protection with paint or the such, but have a think teflon-type coating for smoother cuts, and less meat sticking.  They really don't make a huge improvement...  really the height of the blade has much more to do with how it glides through meat than any coating, and honestly when talking about skinners, you aren't going to be doing a whole lot of slicing meat in the first place so it wouldn't make a difference.  - Those type of coatings you don't have to worry about them gunking up anything, since they are very thin. 


In reality any stainless steel knife works good and is durable without worrying about rust as long as you look out for it.  I have tackle box knives for the salt in seward that I just make sure are thoroughly cleaned and dried after every trip and they are fine, without any type of coating.  My gerber tool is the worst I've seen as far as "stainless" and salt water, but my fillet knives haven't seen much rust at all after years and years.


Even if you have a coated blade, when you sharpen it, the coating comes off the edge, and rust on the edge of the knife is what you really want to be worried about, so the coating doesn't help a whole lot in the first place.