Antique Finish on Trade Knife Blades

D

DaleNAbq

Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
8
I've read several ideas and am looking for your suggestions for a reproduction high carbon steel (1095) trade knife. One place said they did some kind of acid etch that looked something like damascus. Another said that they browned the blade. That seems to make sense, since gun barrels and other steel things were browned. One said that they just left on the forging scale. Not an option since this one is via stock removal. Someone else suggested boiling for a while in 25% clorox solution. Also seen using circuit board etchant (Ferric Chloride).

What are your thoughts?

Thanks,

Dale
 
Dale,
I wiped blueing on this knife. Left it on thick, soeaked in bleech for about 5 to 10 min, rubbed with 0000 steel whool, cleaned and then soaked in ferric for 5 min.
Then rubbed with 0000 steel whool again.
Looks pretty good I think.
aged.jpg

coil.jpg

balance.jpg
 
I've been experimenting with FC a lot lately. In most of my tries the cool looking etch easily scrapes off , not quite a finish.... One method I have tried is several short soaks in FC , each followed with a washing , nuetralizing (windex) , and a steel wool buff , then a final long soak followed by wash , nuet and fine steel wool polish , this 'finish' seemed more durable although it will still scrape off , then I tried this , although the final color is quite dark.
Same method as above except after long soak wipe down with gun barrel bluing and fine steel wool polish , this seemed to be more durable.
Hope this helps.

Looks pretty good I think.
Click to expand...

Yes it does !! :cool:
 
try letting the ferric soak for 10 min. for 2 times. The finnish will scrape off but I have also been surprised at how, using the knife in the woods, the finish still looks good when the sap is cleaned off using say, orange juice to cut the stickyness.
The ferric is a surface patina, so it isnt really expected to hold up like say a gun kote. I wish though!!

Let us know how it goes :D
 
Question, why would you want a reproduction "trade knife" to look like a 200 year old relic. are you looking to get into the forgery game? research might help you a little,18th century gun stocks and knives came looking new from the factory , most gun barrels were kept in the "white" and were polished with brick dust. knives aged naturally with use. someone portraying an 18th century settler would not have a knife that looked to be 200 years old.
 
Greetings
I make a lot of reproduction stuff. I also portray a 1700's woodsman at historical events. To make the knives I use look like they have spent some time in the woods, I will dab on a little yellow mustard. Don't wipe it on, you want to dab it with your finger tip. Let it sit an hour, rinse and repeat. You can get a nice patina quick this way.
Good Luck
YMHS--------------Bob
 
Blgoode,

Is the "roughness" of the finish from the bleach or was it not polished to begin with?

Looks very nice!

Shakudo,

Certainly don't want it to look 200 years old, just authenic--maybe 50 years old:) Generally, buckskinners don't want something that looks new/modern.


Dale
 
authentic most likely wouldn't be a 50 year old knife. as to buckskinners,are you referring to post 1840 western trappers? timeline is very important to re-enactors as well as location. you may wish to try historicaltrekking.com or any of several other historical related message boards .you may be surprised to what exactly your customers really want.
 
It was taken to a 400 grit finish. The roughness is from the bleach eating through the thin areas of the cold bluing paste. Then I re etched to even out the tones.
Man is it scarry when its happening though
:D
 
Well, I found an old confederate anvil(the ones with the horn broken off). It has a surface of about 6 x 8 to beat on. Going to look at NC-Cooters forge Sat.
Soon I hope I'll be hitting out a few ;)
It may take a while to get cought up and get a forge made. Always too much to do but thats a good thing :)
 
I use a real similar antique etch to Brian's except I leave it in the vinegar until it gets a complete coating of rust (often 20-30 minutes, depending on the steel) and the steel wool and sand that off and then stop the oxidation with baking soda and apply a light coat of oil. I believe that the Blueing + Bleach is already a FeCl etch.

The result is very much like what Brian has shown above.
 
Ok, I realize that this is not PC but it was quick, easy and cheap for trying the etching. I followed Brian's method. His is more uniformly grainy. I just globbed on the bluing and it was kind'a streaky. Probably not enough surface prep. That shows up in the finished piece. However, does look used :) I'm not sure what the Ferric Chloride added. It turned out some what darker than I expected. I hit it with the bleach a couple more times just dabbing it on. Brian, how did you get the highlights bright? Steel wool didn't lighten the blade much.


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dalenabq/detail?.dir=/d619&.dnm=b416.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dalenabq/detail?.dir=/d619&.dnm=5088.jpg&.src=ph
 
from what I remember I used wd 40 and 0000 steel whool. I might have taken a little 1500 grit paper to brighten the steel up a little BEFORE the second ferric etch. Then hit it again with the steel whool to brighten it again.

Can you post a link to the image above?
 
Ok, I thought that's what I did. Couldn't seem to get the image into the post like you did. How did you do that?
 
try typing this around your link


I couldnt get your link to post like mine above....someone else may know ;) :o
 
If you want to brighten the whole thing up a little after steel wooling off the rust, hit it with a scotch brite wheel or belt.
 
Yahoo photo album storage doesn't show up here as an image, no matter what you do. All you can do is post the link.
 
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