"Bronze" finish

[Rupestris]

A friend of mine recently bought a full flat grind Ranger RD-9. After some abuse the blade lost a chip of the black coating/finish about the size of a dime. Beneath it was a bronze-ish color steel that had a rather unique look to it.

I like the look and was wondering if any one knew how to duplicate it.

Just curious if any one knew.

cs

 

[howiesatwork]

The blade is made of 5160, and after putting it through the tempering cycles, the blade oxidation is the color you see under the coating.
You may not get an absolutely even coloration in the process, though.
The oxidation layer is usually removed on most knives, but in this case, it was covered by the black coating.