Adding a patina to my BK2

flphotog · Dec 28, 2015

I stripped my BK2 and added a patina today. At the moment there are a couple of light spots. Could this be where there was a little bit of the original coating still on it?

kenash · Dec 28, 2015

Different areas of a blade can take on different shades, but that does look as if some foreign substance was present. Just curious - what did you use to force the patina?

flphotog · Dec 28, 2015

I used white vinegar (2 hours), it was all I had and didn't feel like going out. I like the gray. I'll use some steel wool on those spots and try it again tomorrow.

kenash · Dec 28, 2015

flphotog said:
I used white vinegar (2 hours), it was all I had and didn't feel like going out. I like the gray. I'll use some steel wool on those spots and try it again tomorrow.

After the steel wool, try cleaning it in hot soapy (dawn dish washing type soap) water to remove all oils from your fingers and such prior to the acidic stuff.

Jbergun · Dec 28, 2015

That really looks like you had some oil or finger grease in those spots. The same thing happened to me the first time. Clean it really good and wipe it with some rubbing alcohol to be certain its clean. I sanded and patina'd like 3 times before i got it right.

flphotog · Dec 28, 2015

Jbergun said:
That really looks like you had some oil or finger grease in those spots. The same thing happened to me the first time. Clean it really good and wipe it with some rubbing alcohol to be certain its clean. I sanded and patina'd like 3 times before i got it right.

Thanks, that's what I did and it came out a lot better. Still need to do some work on it but I'm getting there.

flphotog · Dec 30, 2015

Was going to redo it with Apple Cider Vinegar but I liked the gray I got with the white vinegar so going to leave it as is.

kenash · Dec 30, 2015

It looks good. It's kinda cool to see a relatively even patina. Undefined splotches are easy to do.

flphotog · Dec 30, 2015

kenash said:
It looks good. It's kinda cool to see a relatively even patina. Undefined splotches are easy to do.

Thanks, I like it. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for when I started but I'm happy with the result.