Hi Justin.
I have just finished a knife using Brownells Teflon/Moly which is an aerosol gun finish...spray it on and bake it in the oven (between 300 and 350 F so below temper temperature).There are several colors to choose from...I use Dark Parkerising Gray (product # 083-048-808)...Brownells tel number is 641-623-5401.
This stuff is quite hard wearing but probably not so hard wearing as some of the more commercial finishes that TOPS use. Teflon Moly will scratch and will rub off with heavy use, and it will also show signs of wear pulling it in and out of a kydex sheath....but to me that adds a bit of petina which I like anyway.
By coincidence, I chopped some wood with my coated knife today to see what it was like. The coating did show signs of slight marks (but didnt actual scratch)......Afterwards I rubbed the blade with some fine steel wool and it polished the marks out and blended them in.
Your tempering temperatures seem just a bit high to me but I could be wrong... I usualy temper 1095 at about 400F...2 hrs in then out to cool, then repeat two more times (6 hrs tempering all together)....but the really important thing is to go by the color changes...I look for a medium to dark straw color at the edge.I think the hottest I have taken it is to 420F.
You could always consider doing some edge tests on your knife if you are unsure about your temper.
Hope this helps a bit.....
Kevin.
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