Quality of the Black Oxide finish on LM

E

Eamon

Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
4
Hi all, I want to get a leatherman Charge Ti and have basically found that i can get the normal veersion about $10 cheaper than the black Oxide finish. But I like the look of the black oxide version better sooooooo, I was wondering how durable the black oxide finish is? Is it just going to wear off easily and I end up with a tool that looks worse after a little use.

Eamon
 
It is just great, it will last a lot and it will add personality to your tool specially after some use, go an get it!
 
I am not even sure about the Oxide. My box says Black Ti. I have a old Supertool with the black oxide finish. It is a dull, dull finish. The Charge TI looks nothing like that. It looks like Black Ti as applied on Benchmade knives. A really black black. I have had mine a month and it is still good. My black Supertool is 10 years old and still intact, except for some minor scrapes here and there.

CBXer55
Oklahoma City
 
A little unclear here, so scratches/wear on the blades\tools\handles show through as the normal metal colour? Basically is the black finish just a very thin surface coating that can be removed by abrasion/scratches?

Can anyone take any pics of a "used" black charge?

Eamon
 
The black finish is indeed just a "coating" or plating, and will get scratches in it eventually. The older PST's and Super Tools with black oxide finish would soon start to have rub marks just from being slid in and out of their sheaths. I do not have a black Charge, but as cbxer55 points out, the black plating on it appears to be a much better process. I guess only time will tell how long it holds up.

BTW, another option instead of black would be the camo Charge from Cabela's. They have both the Ti and XTi in Seclusion 3D colors.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...rman&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp
 
Check out the MOONTRAILSwebsite...pricer are great, and there is no diff in price of stainlee vs black oxide....
 
I have a wave with the black finish and if the charge has the same finish on it, it's very durable. I was kinda surprised after a few months the finish was really not scratched up much at all.

As someone mentioned, its a very flat finish and when scratched, the finish turns shiney, but the metal doesn't show through.

The only spots on mine are where I dropped it onto a concrete floor ( a few small spots), and the pivot of the pliers shows some wear.
 
JGarth said:
Check out the MOONTRAILSwebsite...pricer are great, and there is no diff in price of stainlee vs black oxide....
Click to expand...

Moontrails....? more info please. "moontrails" plus "leatherman" in google = no results.

Eamon
 
It could be under backcountry equipment which was the companys old name, if not try just typing in moontrail.com in your address bar.
 
Eamon said:
Moontrails....? more info please. "moontrails" plus "leatherman" in google = no results.

Eamon
Click to expand...

I just typed black Leatherman Charge TI
into the search machine. The first site that came up was Moontrails.

CBXer55
Oklahoma City
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top