Anyboby ever use bases to produce a cheater patina?

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danboy357

Joined
Jul 1, 2012
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I know acids like lemon juice, horse radish, ketchup and other vinegar containing products are used but what of basic corrosive substances like bleach for example? Thanks for reading, Dan.
 
Having seen the kinds of rust that bleach can cause, there is no way I'd get it anywhere near my knives.
 
I know of people using potatoes but wasn't sure if bleach would be getting too high in pH for such uses.
 
I've used bleach and hydrogen peroxide together diluted somewhat with water to darken and pit a blade. It's scary how fast it works. I just make my mix in a baggie then put the blade in for maybe 15min. It'll also make it look like it's rusting before your eyes but when you rinse it in water it turns black. Some steel wooling and it turns out kinda nice.

H0J4X.jpg
 
OMG!

I just tried the yellow mustard method on my KLVUK. and WOW it looks great!
Blueing looks pretty dark. I used a plastic comb to rake the mustard, to make a pattern.
Blues where it is THIN only. Be prepared for a couple of tries.

On my second pass now. standby for photos...

Only takes 30-1hr cure time too. so easy!
 
Here's a creative thought for making making artistic, forced patination on knives... Get some clear vinyl, paper, some kind of substitute for masque that will withstand your concoctions, and cut with a craft knife into patterns, shapes, or even full fledged artworks, if you are so inclined, paste it on with a light glue, tape, whatnot, remove the agents, take off the adhesive, and holy patina, you got yourself a knife so pretty, you won't trust it's safety to anything less than a legion of jet powered turbo charged mechanized honey badgers with pyrotechnical kinesics, and a load of gun toting mechs, too.

Also, you can alternate different chemicals to achieve different effects on differing parts of the blade in question, and use that technique to achieve even more artistic effects. The possibilities are endless. I hope I inspired, or at least did not bore, the original poster. Like shinook said, bases are outstandingly dangerous chemicals to many things including good steel. Be careful. Hope I helped, like I said. Peace.
 








I masked off the edge. This is after about 3-4 passes of mustard 1-2 hours each set. One side came out better than the other. Getting the mustard thin is the key.
 






The top is a mustard, vinagar mix. Made it kinda brown patina.
the bottom grind line is mustard only. one pass, 30-45 min tops. i used, plastic easter grass to apply the mustard.
Looks even better in person.
 
Things i learned.

Sand it.
Wash it with soap. Prefer steel wool pad too.
Wipe with alcohol.
Apply mustard with a blotter. Something with texture works best.
Just cover the metal as thin as possible. Wet, and hazy film is enough. Where you * don't* see yellow mustard blobs is where the metal will darken the most. Like a photo negative.
If the reaction is working you will see blackening start at about 20 min or when it starts to dry.
You will also smell the reaction taking place...and it stinks.
if you don't see significant patterning developing, you didn't clean or sand the steel enough.
If you hurry the reaction with the heat from a hairdryer, you can even see the black pattern walk across the blade.

All in all i was very impressed with how well this worked, and how little mustard you need, a restaurant size to-go package should be enough for one kuk.
Vinegar didn't work as well as mustard only for me.

good luck




And having sanded my mistakes away on this, i can say the patina is pretty tough also.
 
I've read all the home brews for producing a patina on carbon steel and I don't want to downplay the recipes but does anyone know of specific chemicals to do the job like you want the best patina on the planet. There all kinds of chemicals for various patinas on copper, etc. There have to be specific chemicals that a professional finisher would use. I can't find anything on the internet. Thanks.
 
TraderJohn said:
I've read all the home brews for producing a patina on carbon steel and I don't want to downplay the recipes but does anyone know of specific chemicals to do the job like you want the best patina on the planet. There all kinds of chemicals for various patinas on copper, etc. There have to be specific chemicals that a professional finisher would use. I can't find anything on the internet. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Google worked for me....Here is a list.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=11043/guntechdetail/Cold-Bluing-Touch-Ups
 
danboy357 said:
I know acids like lemon juice, horse radish, ketchup and other vinegar containing products are used but what of basic corrosive substances like bleach for example? Thanks for reading, Dan.
Click to expand...

Gun blue and bleach has been talked about several times on this and other knife fourms, its a common way to etch/patina metal. it will eat into the metal a bit depending how long you allow it to set. I gave it a shot on a cold steel bushman, turned out alright, but a normal forced patina with less toxic methods would have been just as good. The up side of the bleach and blue is it really gives metal an aged look, and not so much a faked age look, as some forced patinas seem to have.

I have never tried just plain bleach, but I'm not into forcing a patina that much anymore, they come with use fast enough for me.
 
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