Spyderco Forums

I remember bead blasted and sand blasted blades from years ago...but Cold Steel and others have started doing this "Stone Wash Finish". Can someone here please explain to me what this is? And honestly, with all due respect, it looks ugly to me. That is just my opinion of it.

I also remember parkerizing and phosphate coatings.

In theory, it hides scratches, which is why some folks like it. I imagine others just think it looks "rugged". Downside is, anything that increases surface area increases the chance of corrosion. I don't care for it either, it always looks like the galvanized steel garbage pails of my youth. However, knife companies have to cater to a wide variety of tastes, some of which are bound to differ from yours, or mine.

I actually really like the stonewash finish..It does hide minor scratches quite well..
A "well done" stone wash looks pretty sexy in my opinion..like the one on southard or techno

I love stonewashed blades and Ti handles. They hide scratches, but also add an interesting pattern to the materials. Look at the Southard for example.

Different strokes for sure...

A well-executed stonewash adds visual interest, IMHO...

It yields highlights which are subtle in the right lighting and adds a little bit of depth effect to the steel...

The Southard & Techno are good at hiding fingerprints, if you're that prissy about your blades...

It really is a form of engineered surface damage to a certain extent, without a lot of benefit functionally...

Still, I like it on some models...

I lol'd when I read Paul's "garbage can" comparison...I can see where you'd get that :p ...

I like the new "blackwash" kershaw and zt knives, which have a dlc coating that's stonewashed a little. I think Direware did it first though.

Jeremy_A_Neel wrote:I like the new "blackwash" kershaw and zt knives, which have a dlc coating that's stonewashed a little. I think Direware did it first though.

Im with ya on that. Saw a knife this weekend that had that blade finish and a battleship gray g10 scale, talk about pretty and would be camouflage against jeans well.

That blackwash finish is sexy. I especially like the scalloped Ti side.

Here is my Endura after acid stonewash made by friend. Blade is modified into shape of Endura 3. Pocket clip, screws and backlock is washed in olive oil after heating by me.

ourgon wrote:Here is my Endura after acid stonewash made by friend. Blade is modified into shape of Endura 3. Pocket clip, screws and backlock is washed in olive oil after heating by me.

Man, I love the blade shape of the older Enduras! Great looking stonewash.

A bit of history... Bob Taylor and REKAT were the first (to my knowledge) to use the stonewash finish on production knives. Bob did a lot of very cool stuff back in the day. For a small company, REKAT was a very forward-thinking and trend-setting influence on the industry.

Stay safe,

Mike

That Endura has one of the best DIY stonewash finishes I've seen. Every Maybe I need to use a different medium when I tumble mine, I get a much larger scratch pattern than that.

Here is another knife with acid stonewash I have, but not Spyderco.

This was my DIY from over a year ago. This was a second hand purchase that was already a Franken-Spydie so I stripped it and went to work.
Blade, lockbar, clip and even fastener (heads only) were ferric treated and stonewashed.

That's a great job on the Delica, were the frn scales dyed before you got it?

Johnnie1801 wrote:That's a great job on the Delica, were the frn scales dyed before you got it?

Thank, those were from the original white run of Delicas.

Stonewashed blades are unfinished blades, IMHO.

I don't mind the stone-washed finish.

It is better than the bead-blasted finish in my experience.

I am glad to see that most knife making companies have phased the bead-blasted finish out.

GCG199 wrote:I don't mind the stone-washed finish.

It is better than the bead-blasted finish in my experience.

I am glad to see that most knife making companies have phased the bead-blasted finish out.

Amen to this. I would prefer a mirror polish that would show every finger print / scratch to a flat bead-blast.

Landon.. That is SOOO KOOL!! Nice job!! John