Aus 8 Forced Patina?

[DJN]

I have seen people force patina carbon blades and from what I read aus 8 is a stainless so with that said I don't think an hour in mustard would do it. Isn't patina just corrosion? If not are there benefits? If there are I would do it to my rajah 2...

 

[Freman Bloodglaive]

I think the reason people do it on carbon knives is to reduce reactivity with food acids, preventing a metallic taste with cut food.

AUS8 is stainless enough that it isn't necessary, and probably isn't possible anyway.

 

[Smokinape]

You can do a acid wash using ferric acid...

 

[DJN]

Would Muriatic acid work the same to acid wash? I heard it works similarly to Ferric Chloride

 

[G. Scott H.]

I've never used muriatic acid, but ferric chloride works great on CS's AUS-8. You can get anything from a light gray to jet black finish, depending upon how long you soak it. The time required to reach certain colors depends upon the strength of the solution. Ready made stuff (like Radio Shack) works, but I buy my ferric chlo. in powder form from ebay and mix my own solution to suit my needs. Once you reach the color you want, scrub it well with a stiff brush with paste made of baking soda and water, then rinse and scrub again with hot tap water and dish soap. After that, make sure it's thoroughly dry and give it a thin film of oil (I like mineral).