Why stonewash?

[Corwyn]

I see that more and more custom saks are made with stonewashed tools.

Why is that? I love the shiny polished look of a sak.. it's part of the charm, together with the shiny red plastic and the silver cross.

I would imagine stonewash is more stealthy (no light shining) and probably scratches are less visible...

But people do actually like the look or is there another reason for going from shiny/BO to stonewashed?

[RimfireNZ]

Even if it's just for looks... that's a good enough reason. Some of these customs some of the guys have been coming up with are just amazing 

[Raukodur]

Does it affect the corrosion resistance of the stainless tools?

[Freaver]

I'm following in on this one. I've seen very few knives/MT's where I thought the stonewash actually looked good. As well as Corwyn, I prefer the shiny, mirror-like finish on a knife-blade - be it on a SAK, LM, or and old fashioned slipjoint knife.

[powernoodle]

I think it is done just to make your SAK look different from most others.  There are a limited number of ways that you can customize a SAK (tools, scales and stonewashing) so you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Syph007]

Its not something I would offer for sure.  I prefer the shiny tools, or BO/DLC.  To get that stonewash look you have to force corrosion with acid and that just feels wrong to me. It would roughen the surface and the tool operation would no longer be smooth as butter.  I suppose one could protect the parts of the pivoting area so they didnt get damaged in the process, but that still seems more trouble than its worth.

Keep in mind that tumbling new Vic parts in stones would ruin the perfect factory edges on knives and scissors as well.  Putting an edge back on a blade isnt too tough, but on scissors, precision grinding is needed.

[sawman]

To me it looks terribly ugly and just ruins the tool and makes it look dirty.

I prefer shiney or black coated.

[jerseydevil]

Not a fan here.  It's not that I mind a patina on a blade at times though.  I think it looks great on a CV Case, for example, but that's an earned patina.  On a SAK or multi, I'll pass.

[daverobson]

I'm not a fan of stonewash.
One of the best things about SAK's is the mirror finish on stainless blades & tools.

[sawman]

I'm not a fan of stonewash.
One of the best things about SAK's is the mirror finish on stainless blades & tools.

+1 I love how Vic finishes their blades and tools

[Syph007]

I did tumble some Ti parts in stones to get a stonewashed speckled finish on the gray matte Ti, but even that I wasn't too excited about and don't think I'll bother again.

For laughs have a look at my DIY rotary tumbler.  Ver 1 and 2.  Ver 2 actually worked decent, ver 1 wobbled off and fell. 

[detron]

I did tumble some Ti parts in stones to get a stonewashed speckled finish on the gray matte Ti, but even that I wasn't too excited about and don't think I'll bother again.

For laughs have a look at my DIY rotary tumbler.  Ver 1 and 2.  Ver 2 actually worked decent, ver 1 wobbled off and fell. 

       wait      that is actually really cool

[MadPlumbarian]

That's pretty slick Syph! How many times do you have to change out the battery? JR

[lowtech]

I do like the stonewashed finishes sometimes - for exmple on a fixed blade with a wooden handle witrh vivid grain, it can look great.
And I do like some of the shown Alox examples, for example the bright green scaled one. On Red cellidor I cannot imagine it - Maybe We are too used to see SAKs in a polished finish.

Anyhow, look wise I thin k to each his own.

When modding, I can imagine that used blades can get a nice even finish when stonewashed. and afaik you can, depending on the used media, get a very slick and even hardened surface (tumbling in bb)

I am planning on testing stonewashing on a cheap Schrade folder with cheesy Ti look finish.

[ironraven]

I don't like it on most blades, and would never do it on a SAK, multi or any knife I planned on carrying a lot. It increases the surface area available to oxidation while also creating a microtexture that just wants to grab and hold every thing it can- rust central.

That being said, THIS is cool! A little rough on the drill, but if you only need a little, it's fine redneck engineering.

[Cupboard]

Love the concept of using grass as a bearing