Accelerate Patina

B

BladesB4Firearms

Joined
Oct 13, 2013
Messages
182
I'm soon to have my first Mora. It will have a 4" blade in carbon steel. I want to accelerate a patina on it, but not "force" one. I've heard sticking it in a potato for a while will do it. Any opinions or advice on this?
 
Anything with acid in it will force a patina. The things I've seen being grapefruit/onion/mustard/lemons/limes.
 
Won't be that bad if you don't leave it for an extended period of time. Use it for kitchen prep items for awhile and one will be coaxed out.
 
BladesB4Firearms said:
I don't want to use too harsh of an acid to force it too hard. More like coax a patina instead of force it.
Click to expand...

Any fruit, like apples, grapes, citrus will be the perfect ticket for that. Apples seem to go about it more gently, sometimes almost having no effect at all (based on some I've tried, anyway). Otherwise, it's easy just to slice a piece of fruit, rub the juices over the blade and let it sit for maybe 15 minutes. Then wipe it down, and rinse/wash the blade as you'd normally do with any kitchen knife. And do this several times, over a few meals/days, and the patina will be off to a good start. Done this way, there's no need to worry about being too aggressive in 'coaxing' the patina. So long as the blade is cleaned & maintained in decent fashion, it's not going to hurt it at all. :)


David
 
Yah just simply use it... for everything! Use it in kitchen prep and all your cutting tasks for a while and the patina will be there in no time at all. Seriously just cut all sorts of food with it, most food have some level of acidity so everything is going to patina just a little different. Cut some food, let it sit till dry, wash off with soap and water and viola you will have a natural patina in no time. Chop your fruits, veggies, sandwiches, and heck even your spaghetti ;) and it will show up. Even green wood and outdoor plant material will cause carbon steel to patina. I love patinas that came from just simply using the blade, and if you make this mora your primary blade for all cutting tasks it will have a patina before you can blink your eyes.
 
"Forcing" a patina by sticking the blade in an apple and leaving there for an hour is really no different than cutting an apple on 4 consecutive days and not wiping off the blade for 15 minutes each time. Its just a matter of semantics. An apple will work on carbon steel, and not being as acidic as mustard or an onion, for example, its a little easier to control because its a slower process. Its my preferred method, though I have only done it about 3 times.

Best bet may be just to use the dang thing in the kitchen (or where ever), and eventually it will get a natural patina. I think the knife gods are most pleased by this approach, as you are paying them homage by leaving the patina birthing process in their hands.
 
Indeed. I planned on using it as a kitchen/hunting knife anyways. Also seems like I'd be more proud of a natural patina than a forced one :D I've noticed what you mentioned about the green plants causing it too. I cut quite a few with my machete and it has a very nice patina on it from that.
 
In my experience, the reaction with oxygen speeds it up.

if you stick inside apple, takes much longer than cutting apples and letting juice dry on steel.
 
My favorite patinas have been coming from cutting up meats lately. I had no idea that beef and pork would develop such a complex patina.

Probably the biggest reason for me forcing a patina is impatience. What I didn't realize is that you can have a nice light patina that gets more complex as time goes by on the first day of using the knife. The kitchen really is the best place to start it.
 
Im sure some of you guys are sick of seeing this, but heres my forced patinas.

This one is natural. Fish meat and veggies.
IMG_0414_zps4d6737a6.jpg

Forced
IMG_1521_zps0fa54631.jpg

This one is a spicy mayo/ponzu mix.
20130701_174957_zps5e22f385.jpg
 
It really doesn't matter if you force the patina, itll change on its own anyways.

my 'snakeskin' pattern changed in about 2-3 weeks and looks rainbow/grey.

Every once a while I scrub off and change it up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top