Another vinegar soak

M

Maximumbob54

Gold Member
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Jun 10, 2024
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Saw where someone here had soaked a blade in vinegar to achieve something that looked a bit like black oxide coating. Decided to give it a try. Maybe don't do what I did and forget about it until the next day...

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Rough Ryder large stockman in T10. Black stuff had to be oiled and wiped the excess off for a bit before it would stop leaving black marks on everything. Once it stopped rubbing off I wiped it clean with a cloth and proceeded to carry it for a couple of months now. Didn't use it much since this was more of a corrosion test for carrying a carbon steel blade in a pocket and ignoring it to see if it would rust. You can see a hint of brown from the glaring LED in the light box but it's hard to make out looking at it in normal lighting. To be clear, this knife hasn't been wiped with oil in months while riding around buried in a pocket in South Georgia humidity. I think this is close enough to call it a success. I may go ahead and try this on a CS sodbuster next.
 
Looks good, thanks for posting. What kind of vinegar? Clear? Cider? Regular strength?

Also curious about how you prepped the metal first. If I were to try it, I think I would probably wash it in hot water with Dawn detergent, then spray with brake cleaner, then blow it off with compressed air and repeat the brake cleaner / blow off routine a few times to completely degrease it...
 
Cementite said:
Looks good, thanks for posting. What kind of vinegar? Clear? Cider? Regular strength?

Also curious about how you prepped the metal first. If I were to try it, I think I would probably wash it in hot water with Dawn detergent, then spray with brake cleaner, then blow it off with compressed air and repeat the brake cleaner / blow off routine a few times to completely degrease it...
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Great Value white distilled vinegar. I used some Dawn on a tooth brush and rinsed in hot water from a kettle. Then I dunked it in a Gladware full of the vinegar and covered it to stop the stink. Then I forgot I was doing all that until the next day.

I forgot to add it ate the edges up pretty bad I assume since I left it so long. I may buy a few more cheap RR's to try and see what various timed attempts achieve.
 
Mustard is fun to play with if you want to give it a pattern. The patina will form mostly on the edges of where you put the mustard. This lets you do some pretty creative stuff with it.

You can use other condiments too. I think I read once about how someone got good results with that brand of sriracha sauce with a rooster on the bottle. But mustard is cheap and effective and it works fast. Depending on where you shop, you can get a bottle of it for less than 2 bucks.

Then of course there are people who like to just stick the blade in a piece of fruit or something and leave it there for a more natural look.
 
This is now my longest running bro science test. I would post another pic but there is zero change. I'm more than a little amazed. I've carried this knife in a very sweaty pocket many times over summer, I work over salt water, I live in the South with all this swim through the air level humidity, and I've kept it in a leather pocket slip. I've had S45VN spot up in a leather pocket slip. This knife looks virtually the same as above still. I'm baffled.
 
I don't understand the popularity of vinegar with knife guys.
While it might be OK for "patinating" it also rusts, etches and discolors steel. I see people using it for rust removal-that sort of like using a torch to put out a fire.
I do use vinegar in my shop- but for very limited purposes.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I don't understand the popularity of vinegar with knife guys.
While it might be OK for "patinating" it also rusts, etches and discolors steel. I see people using it for rust removal-that sort of like using a torch to put out a fire.
I do use vinegar in my shop- but for very limited purposes.
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I was looking for something like a low tech sort of similar to a black oxide finish. Of coarse it's not. It's probably more like rust bluing. My only purpose was to see if I could make a regular old carbon steel that where I live will have a nice haze of rust over it by the end of the day if it isn't wiped with oil each day. And I want to be able to cut food with my knife and wipe it dry. I could use mineral oil but I'd rather see if I can get this whatever it is forced patina to cause an induced rust that will limit regular rust and so far it had done the job. The worst was it had black crud wiping off the blade on everything. But that has mostly gone away now while still leaving the blade with whatever is still protecting the raw steel.

Worst part of the deal is I have to admit it's pretty butt ugly. It works though.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I don't understand the popularity of vinegar with knife guys.
While it might be OK for "patinating" it also rusts, etches and discolors steel. I see people using it for rust removal-that sort of like using a torch to put out a fire.
I do use vinegar in my shop- but for very limited purposes.
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Haha.....Well, there are controlled burns. So yeah, fire can prevent bigger fires.
:0
Maybe rust blueing is a similar thing too
 
If it looks stupid but it works? What is the line from the Red Green Show? That's mostly what I'm going for.
 
One thing that helps to minimize corrosion is to polish the steel. A more polished finish makes it more challenging for any rust-causing elements like moisture, dirt, etc. to take hold on the surface. After I first bought this 'carbone' Opinel, I spent some time thinning the blade and then polishing using progressively finer grits of wet / dry sandpaper, then doing some more polishing with Simichrome paste after that. Sometime after doing all that, I decided to force a patina using a mix of hot water and vinegar. I dipped the blade into a pot of the water / vinegar mix at somewhere around 160°F - 180°F and held it there for a few minutes until the blade turned nearly black. I then rinsed it in clean water and also scrubbed the blade with baking soda to neutralize any remaining acidity. That scrubbing removed a good bit of loosely attached black oxide and left the finish looking pretty much as seen below.

Since doing all of that, I've yet to see any red / brown rust on this blade. It does show some additional black spotting, which doesn't appear to be damaging the steel. It's been years since forcing the patina, and I'm frankly amazed at how steadily it has resisted rusting over that time.
r1GCNEN.jpg
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
One thing that helps to minimize corrosion is to polish the steel. A more polished finish makes it more challenging for any rust-causing elements like moisture, dirt, etc. to take hold on the surface. After I first bought this 'carbone' Opinel, I spent some time thinning the blade and then polishing using progressively finer grits of wet / dry sandpaper, then doing some more polishing with Simichrome paste after that. Sometime after doing all that, I decided to force a patina using a mix of hot water and vinegar. I dipped the blade into a pot of the water / vinegar mix at somewhere around 160°F - 180°F and held it there for a few minutes until the blade turned nearly black. I then rinsed it in clean water and also scrubbed the blade with baking soda to neutralize any remaining acidity. That scrubbing removed a good bit of loosely attached black oxide and left the finish looking pretty much as seen below.

Since doing all of that, I've yet to see any red / brown rust on this blade. It does show some additional black spotting, which doesn't appear to be damaging the steel. It's been years since forcing the patina, and I'm frankly amazed at how steadily it has resisted rusting over that time.
r1GCNEN.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice...👍👍👍....Love it when a plan.comes together.....😉. Looks great too...👌👌👌
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
One thing that helps to minimize corrosion is to polish the steel. A more polished finish makes it more challenging for any rust-causing elements like moisture, dirt, etc. to take hold on the surface. After I first bought this 'carbone' Opinel, I spent some time thinning the blade and then polishing using progressively finer grits of wet / dry sandpaper, then doing some more polishing with Simichrome paste after that. Sometime after doing all that, I decided to force a patina using a mix of hot water and vinegar. I dipped the blade into a pot of the water / vinegar mix at somewhere around 160°F - 180°F and held it there for a few minutes until the blade turned nearly black. I then rinsed it in clean water and also scrubbed the blade with baking soda to neutralize any remaining acidity. That scrubbing removed a good bit of loosely attached black oxide and left the finish looking pretty much as seen below.

Since doing all of that, I've yet to see any red / brown rust on this blade. It does show some additional black spotting, which doesn't appear to be damaging the steel. It's been years since forcing the patina, and I'm frankly amazed at how steadily it has resisted rusting over that time.
r1GCNEN.jpg
Click to expand...
Yeah that seriously looks great! I love the Carbone Opinels, and yours just really takes it to a new level.
 
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