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Duracoat firearm finish on Knife scales and clip | February 16, 2007 | ||||||||||||
Duracoat on Knife scales 1 year, 3 months ago I decide to change the color of my EDC knife (every day carry). For this project I used Duracoat Firearms paint. It is designed to hold up on different surfaces like metal and plastic, and take a beating. DuraCoat is a two part chemical coating. In my mind, its kind of like an epoxy. Before use, you mix up the two parts, and then use an airbrush to apply the paint. This knife was completly disassembled, and painted with 4 coats, then let dry for 2 weeks before re-assembling and then brought back into every day use. According to Duracoat: DuraCoat is dry to the touch in 20 minutes, can be handled in 1 hour and is ready for use overnight. Although DuraCoat will gain most of its final hardness, elasticity and chemical resistance over a 2-3 week period, time will continue to enhance DuraCoat's characteristics over a lifetime. DuraCoat, like fine wine, gets better with age. As we say, "DuraCoat wears in, not out."
In the case of firearm finishes, a common misconception is "harder is better". This is faulty "old school thinking". Hardness means brittle and brittle means chipping. DuraCoat, being elastic, will not chip. If your DuraCoat chips, it means you have a preparation problem. Most likely, the surface was not clean. Elasticity provides protection by "giving" when confronted with impact. Elasticity also helps prevent scratches and mars.
Keep in mind this is an EDC knife, and it is clipped into the top of my pants, under the belt at a diagonal towards my gun (not my weapon - "this is my weapon, this is my gun, this is for fighting and this is for fun" - Full Metal Jacket). The wear on this is totally within the acceptable range for myself, infact the coating Over all, I give it a 2 thumbs up review. | |||||||||||||
| tags • duracoat • knife • scales • paint | |||||||||||||
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That being said, a year later there is some wear in the finish. Overall, it has held up much better than I had expected, and I'm sure that I would do it again. It has stuck perfectly to the scales (grips on the knife). The only place that it hasn't adhered to perfectly is on the clip. I've included a detailed picture of the clip so you can see where it is wearing. 
that benchmade put on the clip was wearing in the same exact place, so what can you expect from the duracoat?