Anyone tried blueing an Opinel?

BJE

BJE

Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
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I was wanting to try to cold blue my No.8 Carbon Opinel. I planned on using the Birchwood Casey Gun Blue from Wal-Mart for $3. Itried it one with an old carbon bayonet, and it worked well. If it works well on the Opinel, I will get a Mora and try it. Any suggestions?
 
Bluing is like soldering and using adhesives. CLEANLINESS IS ESSENTIAL. Use some solvent that leaves no residue, maybe acetone or lacquer thinner, to clean your Opinel blade before applying cold bluing. Hot water and dish detergent helps a lot, too. Also, wash you hands before and after bluing anything. You don't want even a fingerprint on what you plan to blue.

Something else that helps is to apply the bluing solution using a very small pad of 0000 (four ought) steel wool to work it into the surface you want to blue. Replace your pad of steel wool often and use only a small piece each time.

You might want to blue one side, get a fresh pad of steel wool, blue the other side, rinse it off under hot running water, very LIGHTLY go over it with a fresh pad of steel wool, and then repeat the process a time or two. Dry it and oil it when you are through.

Opinels are neat knives! You won't find very many folding knives with a handle that comfortable, either. And speaking of comfortable, be sure to check out what seems to be a new model, the Garden Knife, which is only six or seven bucks from eknifeworks.com (SMKW). You can't blue it because it seems to only come in stainless, but it has a spear point blade and a "slimmed down" handle. It REALLY feels good in your hand!
 
Dr. Mudd said:
Bluing is like soldering and using adhesives. CLEANLINESS IS ESSENTIAL. Use some solvent that leaves no residue, maybe acetone or lacquer thinner, to clean your Opinel blade before applying cold bluing. Hot water and dish detergent helps a lot, too. Also, wash you hands before and after bluing anything. You don't want even a fingerprint on what you plan to blue.

Something else that helps is to apply the bluing solution using a very small pad of 0000 (four ought) steel wool to work it into the surface you want to blue. Replace your pad of steel wool often and use only a small piece each time.

You might want to blue one side, get a fresh pad of steel wool, blue the other side, rinse it off under hot running water, very LIGHTLY go over it with a fresh pad of steel wool, and then repeat the process a time or two. Dry it and oil it when you are through.

Opinels are neat knives! You won't find very many folding knives with a handle that comfortable, either. And speaking of comfortable, be sure to check out what seems to be a new model, the Garden Knife, which is only six or seven bucks from eknifeworks.com (SMKW). You can't blue it because it seems to only come in stainless, but it has a spear point blade and a "slimmed down" handle. It REALLY feels good in your hand!
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Thanks for the info:thumbup: .
 
Blued mine a while back , Dr. mudd is right , clean the blade good first , or any part you wish to blue.
Use caution since your Opinel is very sharp. :eek:

Blue it , dry it , polish with fine steel wool and repeat to desired depth. I also blued the lockring.
 
I used Birchwood Casey cold blue on my Opinel no 8 and it turned out fine, a little too dark for my taste, but to each his own. At nearly the same time I purchased a Frosts clipper. I just put it in the kitchen and started using it. It didn't take long for a much more subtle patina to form. I like the grey tone one gets from general kitchen use. Cutting any citrus will do this very well, and it looks much more natural for a carbon steel blade. Having satisfied my curiosity I doubt that I would ever go the cold blue route again. Just my 02.
 
Not an Opinel, but I used the Birchwood Casey stuff on a couple of Old Timers / Schrades a few years back and it worked fast and easy. They were a little too blue at first, but have held up well and aged beautifully.
 
Bear in mind one of the main points of bluing or a patina is to help prevent rust.

IMO my Opinel looks very nice and classy with a blued blade , I think some folks have the idea it will make thier blade look wannbe 'tactical' , gun bluing was around long before tactical black blades , there is no similarity.

I have an old Dunlap slipjoint that was bought from ebay , it was in rough shape , a few hours of work not only made it quite usable again but classy looking with blued carbon blades and bolsters , it contrasts nicely with the brass and faux stag. :)
 
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