Start of the line
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
— Arthur Ashe
Hello and welcome to this collection of ideas, insights, and shenanigans, the goal here is that this space doesn't just offer food for thought, but acts as a catalyst—inspiring you to learn not just by reading or viewing, but by making and doing.
With that out of the way, I’d like to introduce my Spyderco Dragonfly 2 Salt:
It’s a very nice, compact, well-built little knife that hasn’t let me down. While there are many things to be said, the focus here is: the H2 Stainless Steel Blade, this makes it corrosion resistant but also a great candidate for a PVD (physical Vapor Deposition) process, as it does NOT need a layer of chrome to be coated.
Below is some brief documentation of my process/journey.
The blade was removed from the rest of the body with two 2 intentions in mind:
1) Give the blade a cool "matte" texture via sandblast
2) Avoid cooking and contaminating the FRN scales (The scales/handle will be modified sometime in the future).
Some tape was used to protect areas that are to remain unaffected by the mentioned sandblasting process.
Left: Pre-Texture, Right: Post-Texture
The blade then underwent the PVD process:
In a nutshell, during PVD, process gases like oxygen or acetylene are introduced (in a controlled manner) into a vacuum chamber where they react with a high-energy plasma from a zirconium target. The zirconium atoms get ionized and are drawn toward the blade, where they react with the gases to form a super "film" (extremely thin layer of material). This film gives the blade its black finish and the unique surface characteristics of ZrOC.
Once done, the following look was achieved:
Sometime after re-assembly a paracord bead was coated in black and attached for aesthetic purposes.
After about nine months of use, some wear is visible — and combined with the black PVD, it adds a nice touch to the blade. While not everyone has access to all the processes mentioned, the message here is as follows: don’t be afraid to explore new techniques (or old for that matter) or customize your gear.
