★ M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened (Well-Worn)

The ★ M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened (Well-Worn) is a Covert-rarity knife finish carrying its blue, gold, and steel case-hardened patina at a visibly used grade. It's a lower-priced way into the finish's full range without losing the pattern that makes it valuable.

Design

Color case-hardening with wood charcoal at high heat is what produces this blade's patchwork of blue, gold, and steel, rather than any printed graphic. It carries the line "A little color never hurt anyone." The seed on each copy sets the blue-to-gold-to-steel balance, and seeds heavy on blue sell for a serious premium over the rest regardless of condition.

★ M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened (Well-Worn) Float and Wear

Case Hardened's float spans the full 0.00–1.00 range, so all five grades exist, with Well-Worn sitting second from the bottom. Expect noticeable scuffing and surface wear across the blade here, though the case-hardened patina itself stays just as visible, since it isn't a paint layer that thins out with use. On the float scale, Well-Worn spans 0.38–0.45.

M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened Rarity

Covert ★ is the rarity here — the gold-tier rare special classification given to knives, distinct from the usual weapon rarity scale. A worn copy carries that same rare-drop status as any other grade.

M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened Case and Collection

As one of the original knife finishes, this one has come from a broad range of cases rather than a single release, including the CS:GO Weapon Case and the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case among others. The rare-special pull rate for any knife sits at roughly 0.26 percent across that whole range.

M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened Blue Gem Patterns

Case Hardened owns the "blue gem" reputation, and it's the paint seed — not the wear grade — that decides how blue a given copy looks against its gold and steel. Copies are tiered strictly by that coverage, with pattern #601 sitting at the top as a roughly 92 percent blue benchmark, a group of other high-tier seeds like #417 close behind it, and then a long tail of lesser blue patterns. Because the seed is locked in for life and doesn't shift as the knife wears, a heavily blue seed on a Well-Worn copy is still a genuine blue gem worth chasing.

StatTrak & Souvenir

This knife is also available as a StatTrak version, tracking kills with a counter that's permanent once active. There's no Souvenir version, as knives simply don't appear in Major-tournament souvenir packages.

M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened Price

Well-Worn is the second-cheapest grade on this finish's ladder, ahead of only Battle-Scarred, giving buyers a lower entry point into the pattern. That said, Case Hardened's grail-tier standing among this knife's finishes means it's still a serious purchase, especially if the seed leans blue. It's available to buy on Skin.Land with instant delivery and no hidden fees.

FAQ

Does Well-Worn hide the case-hardened pattern?

No — the blue, gold, and steel coloring comes from the case-hardening process itself, not a paint layer, so it stays fully visible even with more scuffing at this grade. What changes is surface texture, not the underlying pattern or its rarity.

What is the best M9 Bayonet Case Hardened blue gem seed?

Pattern #601 is the finish's legendary top seed, a roughly 92 percent blue blade treated as the market benchmark. A group of other high-tier seeds, such as #417, sits close behind, ahead of a long tail of lesser blue patterns. That seed stays fixed for life, so it carries the same status on a Well-Worn copy as on a Factory New one.

What's the most accessible Case Hardened grade?

Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred sit at the bottom of this finish's own price ladder, making them the most accessible route into Case Hardened specifically — though the finish as a whole remains grail-tier among this knife's finishes, so "accessible" here is relative, not cheap.