TiCN Blade Coating

[freebird610]

Hey guys. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Pacific Salt. I can't decide whether to get the coated or uncoated blade. I have no experience with TiCN coating. How well does it hold up over time? Does is rub off like some other coatings. I am fine with a plain blade but the coating looks good if it will actually stay on. Thanks for any help guys.

[Knivesinedc]

The ticn coating wears faster than the DLC coating, but it holds up very well under even some fairly rough use. I had an Endura black blade and it held up very well over the years.

[demoncase]

All coatings will wear over use and time- and that timescale varies dependant upon the usage profile and materials encountered.

However not all coatings are created equal and the coatings Spyderco use are not to be confused with that nasty stove enameling we find on many other knives on the market

TiCN is an extremely hard ceramic material- It's 87 HRC.
DLC is essentially an amorphous diamond coating- the hardness is in excess of 90 HRC usually.
These are vacuum furnace applied coatings

But- and this is a key point- despite this hardness, they aren't a force-field and will scratch and wear when encountering sharper materials over time- But only in small places, not big ugly scabs like the cheap enamel coatings that we often encounter.

I've the a Pacific Salt with the black coating I've used for various donkey work and EDC'd on holiday for a 2 months on and off. There are no noticible scratches or wear to the DLC coating.....If anything, I find the coating helpful, as I find that H1 tends to pick up scratches on the blade faces much more easily than harder steels (unsurprising really) and the DLC keeps the sides of the blade looking 'new' longer.....But start going to town on rope filled with sand for a week and I bet you'll see some scratches

[freebird610]

Thanks guys. Does the coating cause any drag when slicing? I was actually thinking that it would scratch less easy than the bare steel of H1 as well.

[Bodog]

Thanks guys. Does the coating cause any drag when slicing? I was actually thinking that it would scratch less easy than the bare steel of H1 as well.

There's a knifemaker who did a well documented test of satin finish blades vs cerakote vs DLC and found that blades coated with DLC performed better in all categories than the non coated blades made of the same steel.

[freebird610]

Will the TiCN coating perform as well as the DLC used for the test though?

[demoncase]

Will the TiCN coating perform as well as the DLC used for the test though?

In the application we are talking about, you'll never detect a difference.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

All the others gave you the best answers, on this one. Myself, personally, I would go with the uncoated Pacific Salt because of the satin-blade finish and my own personal issues with blade coatings that are probably not rooted in any reality beyond my own preference issues.