Carbon blade patina

TAH

TAH

Joined
Jul 3, 2001
Messages
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Question: When cutting meats and fruits with a carbon blade, the blade gets that blueish stain. If you just let it go, does the blade eventually turn gray? If so, how long? How do you achieve that wonderful gray patina that you see on older carbon blades? How do you get rid of the blue?

Thanks,
Tom
 
Some lay raw meat on the blade and then leave it for a while. Then do the other side.

Others use a vinegar bath, warmed on the stove top and when it starts to bubble up you place the blade in it. Let it sit for about a minute and then flip it over. Then repeat. Take it out and wash with soap and water and a course sponge. Then use fine steel wool to rub it down. This will uniformly cover the whole blade in a oxidized layer in just a few minutes as opposed to waiting for it to happen over time.

Getting rid of it requires going over it with an abrasive and then polishing it back out.

You can also coat the blade with a gun blue solution following the directions on the container. I've used Perma Blue by Birchwood Casey with good success on my high carbon blades. The one below in my signiture line was blued this way. It makes for a good looking blade and since I like subdued and black blades over shiny it works well for me.
 
Thanks STR.

So if I use vinegar and get the even gray patina, will the blade still get a blue stain when I cut meat or will it stay gray?
 
I would say if you want that blue color to not do the vinegar thing. It is more on the brownish side to me but each steel is different. Some do in fact turn a blue color or shade from it. Some of the Onatario blades we have done turned a blue gray color but the Russell Green river blades got brownish almost rustic colored.

If you like the blue patina meat seems to work as well as anything. The Gun blue solution at Wal-Mart works well too and it is cheap. Like $4 for a small bottle which is enough to do about a hundred blades or more. It is best to clean up the blade good before bluing though.
 
Actually, I am trying to achieve the even gray patina, not blue. Once gray, will I still get blue staining or will it stay gray?
 
There is no way to know. One thing for sure it will turn over time and take on a character you cannot find in stainless. I have always preferred the old high carbon blades just for this 'character' they get in the patina. It is nice to have a life partner that ages with you as you carry it. Probably some of the reasons I have always been drawn to the nostalgia of 1095 and 01 along with several other old steels.
 
Sounds good, STR. I think I'll just use it and see what happens.

Best,
Tom
 
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