Curry Patina

[Galeocerdoshark]

Hi everyone,

While doing some foodprep with the BK14 I stripped somewhere last week, I noticed that it had developed a small spot of a slight patina while working with curry sauce. I was hesitant in applying a patina, since I had tried this in the past on some Opinels with some mustard (and other, chemical approaches). Back then, I somewhat had to stand guard and watch the process, because the mustard for example, really ate its way in the carbon blade of the opinel and even after sanding it down and polishing it, you can still see and feel the pits. Like there's a little streak of Rocky Mountains on the blade or something. I didn't want that to happen to my BK14.

Anyway, while doing the foodprep with the curry, the knife had been lying in the sink for half an hour or so, while I was doing something else and stupidly forgot about it. When I came back, I noticed -as stated above- that there was some slight discoloration, a slight patina in some spots and... no rust.

BAZINGA

So, since I did want some protection of the carbon blade (but not a heavy forced patina), I tried the curry method out today. After about an hour, the nice yellow curry looked brownish and not really all that tasty anymore:








Rinsed the curry off, resharpened it to get the edge shiny again et voilà:







Where the arrow is pointing, you can see a small spot of the original color of the blade. The curry didn't touch it there.





I'm very happy with the result. I like the faint contours of the shapes that were formed by the curry. Nothing too dramatical, not a heavy grey patina, no pits, no rust... Pretty much just the way I hoped it would turn out. Now I'll let additional patina form naturally by using the knife.

I hope this might be useful for others, if not, I still hope you guys enjoyed it

[bullet08]

love curry.. love curry and beer. didn't know becker blades love them too. will have to try using my 16 next time i have vindaloo.

[Galeocerdoshark]

Who doesn't like beer...

[Eero]

Great pictures :thumb up: thanks for sharing your experiment with us. I really like how it turned out. I've pretty much have worn off my apple cider vinegar patina with heavy use so maybe I'll crack open that tube of curry paste I've had for like a year and give this a shot.....


Oh man!!!! Don't tease with that beer. I was in Belgium a few years ago and you guys have the best beer in the world by far!!! I must have tried 50 plus kinds and I didn't even scratch the surface....

[Galeocerdoshark]

Great pictures :thumb up: thanks for sharing your experiment with us. I really like how it turned out. I've pretty much have worn off my apple cider vinegar patina with heavy use so maybe I'll crack open that tube of curry paste I've had for like a year and give this a shot.....

Good luck! If you go through with it, be sure to post pics!

Oh man!!!! Don't tease with that beer. I was in Belgium a few years ago and you guys have the best beer in the world by far!!! I must have tried 50 plus kinds and I didn't even scratch the surface....

From where I'm at right now, I can't even see the surface anymore

[DxAxN]

the curry patina came out looking pretty good

[Galeocerdoshark]

Thanks DxAxN

[Jack Black]

That looks really good! Curry is close to my heart so I might give that a try sometime How was your curry?

[Galeocerdoshark]

That looks really good! Curry is close to my heart so I might give that a try sometime How was your curry?

I'm pretty fond of curry myself. When we use it in hot meals, we usually tend to make it ourselves. For cold dishes and snacks, we tend to use laWilliam curry (this is the one I've used in this experiment as well). Not thé best I've eaten, but it is quite OK for a mass produced curry paste. Rather mild, too.

[MAD777]

Thanks for posting this Galeo. I just bought a new 1095 steel knife and will do the curry paste treatment!

I'll post my before & after pictures here in your thread.

[Jonny1280]

Looks good!
Nice and different.
Thanks for sharing.

[bullet08]

hmm.. after two pints of rum and coke.. i'm thinking if i'll get kicked out of curry house if i pull out my 16 while eating my vindaloo and biryani. good thing friend of mine owns one of the best curry house in town..

[Galeocerdoshark]

Thanks for posting this Galeo. I just bought a new 1095 steel knife and will do the curry paste treatment!

I'll post my before & after pictures here in your thread.

I'd be glad yo see your results!

Looks good!
Nice and different.
Thanks for sharing.

Thank you

hmm.. after two pints of rum and coke.. i'm thinking if i'll get kicked out of curry house if i pull out my 16 while eating my vindaloo and biryani. good thing friend of mine owns one of the best curry house in town..

Take your shot




More pics, by daylight:







Bro's:

[Galeocerdoshark]

Final threadbump for those who are interested.

While switching scales, I noticed the handle developped some rust underneath the scales. Indeed, I did not force a patina on the handle before so I decided to reapply curry paste, on the whole knife this time.

The blade itself came out a bit darker, which I really like. I'm gonna see how the handle holds up underneath the scales. If it keeps on rusting, I'm going to have to apply some paint on the inner sides of the handle to protect it from rusting. I'm not going to take the handle scales off every week, the screws would strip out really fast that way...

So, here's the blade how it looks at the moment:


Enjoy people.

[knifehunt]

That looks really good! What curry sauce did you use, and how long was it left on each time?

[Ethan Becker]

Purtiness.....

Ethan

[Galeocerdoshark]

That looks really good! What curry sauce did you use, and how long was it left on each time?

It was laWilliam cold curry paste, don't know if they sell it in the USA. The sauce rested on the blade for about an hour, usualy just a tad less.
I've got this fealing the blade has gotten even darker by regular use. In contrast to stuff I've read on the forums, the patina did not wear off (yet).
Although I have only used it the last couple of weeks for foodprep, didn't go outside cutting up wood with it.

Purtiness.....

Ethan

Thanks Ethan.