Coffee can fix a lot of things, but not everything.... v. New Peanut Content!!!

Woodrow F Call

Woodrow F Call

Joined
Jan 3, 2013
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I only started drinking Coffee a few years ago. I absolutely love the stuff now. I drink it black and I've found it needs to be good well made coffee to really enjoy it that way. Coffee wakes me up and perks me up. I'll drink it near any time of the day, but refrain in evening so I can sleep well. It's also great for darkening bone.

I got two knives in the mail today. Both were Case knives. In general, I really like Case, but I can't figure out why they have such problems dying bone and companies like Queen, GEC, Boker, Rough Rider..... whoever else seems to get much more consistent dye in their bone. Some of Case's stuff is down right pitiful.

Enter the first of two knives, a new Peanut in Corn Cob Jigged Red Bone. I looked at the pics before buying and they looked alright in the pictures, but upon receiving the knife, there were some a little light colored areas. It wasn't terrible, but I was a little disappointed. I even got Stainless Steel over CV for the sake of good looking bone and didn't get it. :(

Enter a cup of coffee. I forgot my second cup this morning on the counter when I went out to work in the shop. It was cold, by the time I remembered. That cup sat there all day and when I got the knife in the mail and saw that the bone was not exactly what I wanted, I dropped the knife in (after cleaning vigorously with alcohol) . I left it there for a few hours. It did a nice job with the bone. I should have taken before and after, but I didn't.





Much better.

I didn't bother with the other knife. The pile side looks like someone wiped peanut butter on it. I'm trying to decide what to do with it. I really like the pattern. I could send it back to Case, wait, and maybe still not end up with a great knife..... plus the CV steel is only available in Amberbone and short of Arizonaranchman's 6375 (which is outstanding), I'm not big on Case's Amberbone. Maybe I can get it rehandled in something I'll really dig..... maybe some red corn cob? Maybe some ebony? Maybe some peachseed? Dunno yet. I will let Case know either way.

Mark side looks alright:


Flip it over and:


Oh, well. Anyone got some ideas?
 
Geez how did QC let that out the door? If it was me I'd exchange but only if you can have someone on the other end hand pick one for you. If not, it's up to you whether or not you want to take another chance.
 
That peanut turned out beautiful. The canoe is a downright shame. The mark side scale looks like it would age really nicely. The pile side is nasty. All of the new Case knives that I'm interested come in that Amberbone in CV, and the inconsistencies are what's holding me back from ordering a couple of their knives. The problem is usually that the jigging only covers 1/4 to 1/3 of the scale. This is the first time I've seen it with that weird coloring. If it weren't for that it would probably be a pretty sweet knife on both sides. The jigging actually extends pretty far on both scales.

I don't have any advice, but good luck in whatever you decide to do.
 
Fiebings leather dye. One coat,before and after.

Regards

Robin



 
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Woodrow F Call said:
I didn't bother with the other knife. The pile side looks like someone wiped peanut butter on it. I'm trying to decide what to do with it. I really like the pattern. I could send it back to Case, wait, and maybe still not end up with a great knife..... plus the CV steel is only available in Amberbone and short of Arizonaranchman's 6375 (which is outstanding), I'm not big on Case's Amberbone. Maybe I can get it rehandled in something I'll really dig..... maybe some red corn cob? Maybe some ebony? Maybe some peachseed?
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I have heard that leather dye works well on light colored bone. Maybe ask Robin, Redbeardo(Rob) or Evan?? ;)

Case would, most probably, call that dye job the work of an artisan - I would call that B.S. :eek:;)

The peanut looks really nicely done.

and before I could finish my reply - bingo - Robin chimes in!!
 
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My Case Canoe looked like that and I tried to dye it and now I have a Canary Canoe ~~ real ""Yellow"" ~~ going to shoot it at sun-up.!** lol
Good luck with whatever you do.
 
I remember I bought an amber bone peanut ss and it was inconsistent with the dye also along with very little jigging. I must have tried 3 different shades of Rit dye before finally giving it away.
 
Just a word of warning, coffee has an acidity level high enough to etch steel, in fact I've used it to turn some of my own hand made knives jet black over night. So if doing this with CV knives be prepared for an overall patina!
 
RaptureRaptor said:
Just a word of warning, coffee has an acidity level high enough to etch steel, in fact I've used it to turn some of my own hand made knives jet black over night. So if doing this with CV knives be prepared for an overall patina!
Click to expand...

I thought that it would, but good to know. I might try it with another knife for fun.
 
Your new peanut looks nice, coffee really does make everything better! Good luck with the canoe.
 
Woodrow F Call said:
I thought that it would, but good to know. I might try it with another knife for fun.
Click to expand...

For the best results use extra strong (four to six spoons) instant coffee for around an hour and you'll get a nice even grey.

Or leave it over night and it'll go black as night!
 
Woodrow I used tea bags and coffee grinds to dye a cheap peanut and it turned out great. When doing research it seemed like heating the mixture was the way to go. I lightly simmered mine and let it sit and cool in the pot. I think darker tea helps too. I'll try get a pic in the daylight tomorrow.

I did a rough rider with RIT dye and it also worked well. I used the same method of heating the mixture with the knife in the pot. I do recommend wearing gloves when messing with the RIT.

Yours looks really nice and was probably a lot less work!:thumbup::thumbup:
 
I would not use water on bone. I've seen some very good results with Rit but I realy think that water is not great for bone.
Fiebings leather dye is either spirit based or oil based.I find it best to use some 400 grit black sand paper to break the surface of new knives.
Tandys carries fiebings and applicators, or a watercolour art brush works too. Spirit based dye sinks in pretty well and dries quickly
and oil dye will lay down in top if you want to mess around. It a great dye for white bone.
The handle in the pics was pretty close to pure white after I ground it smooth, this is a few coats. The stag was sanded to 1500 grit befor dying.

Best regards

Robin

 
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