Competition Finish SR-101 ... Force a patina?

[Turbomammoth]

I received on Wednesday two awesome blades from the Custom Shop.

A blue/black G10 RMD in Competition Finish with his twin smaller brother Rodent 3. Both knives are pieces of Art. The CF on both screams "USE ME" and that's their intended purpose. The R3 hasn't left me since I got it, and the quite impressively sized chunk of SR-101 that is the RMD will have to wait for some outdoor fun before it gets some real use... however, in the mean time, some kitchen duty may help scratching the itch.

These knives are purdy.

However, when I ordered, I was fully aware that the SR-101 is rather oxidation prone. And already they begins to show some stains. Just to clear things up, this is absolutely not a complaint, I was well aware it would and love them even more for it. And that's when I began to think about my numerous hours passed on the Traditional sub-forum and their appreciation for a well developed patina, either from use or forced.

So, here's the question; anybody tried forcing a patina on their naked SR-101? How did it end?

And yeah, pictures will follow. Photobucket's being particularly lazy today.

 

[leatherman]

Oh yes, it takes a nice patina, but I went with Flitz as a treatment and it holds up very well. It leaves the steel with the nice satin look and protects it very well. I hear Renaissance Wax does good as well, but I have Flitz on hand so.....

Also pure and simply, oil the blade before and after use. It will take on a life of its own and make you a nice unforced patina. I have this on my non bussekin blades, one butcher knife in particular is very old and looks awesome! Its older than I am.

 

[Turbomammoth]

And there you go:

and family shot:

 

[Turbomammoth]

Oh yes, it takes a nice patina, but I went with Flitz as a treatment and it holds up very well. It leaves the steel with the nice satin look and protects it very well. I hear Renaissance Wax does good as well, but I have Flitz on hand so.....

Also pure and simply, oil the blade before and after use. It will take on a life of its own and make you a nice unforced patina. I have this on my non bussekin blades, one butcher knife in particular is very old and looks awesome! Its older than I am.

Got FrogLube on hand, that will certainly be used on the RMD. Was wondering about using it on the R3 tho, as it will be carried and used daily in a leather sheath. I think you might be the best man around to answer this Mr Puckett; would Froglube and leather cause any problem?

But I think you might be right, natural patina from use has a certain sex-appeal. As long as I tend for it with care and the respect that those knives deserves.

Josh and Crew definitely made some awesome work with these.

 

[Hindsight]

Glad you like them. Can't wait to see what they look like after some good hard use. :thumbup:

 

[leatherman]

Let me look up FrogLube and see what it has in it, but in the meantime I'd not worry much about it. The lube, form what I hear, is applied thinly and wont migrate into the leather very much. Leather is a pretty resilient stuff, it can take a beating and keep on going, probably not looking as good as when it was new. But like a good patina it looks better with use and staining.

 

[TheSnakeman]

ugh those CF blades make me want to get one... but i guess the swamp does not make them in that finish anymore

 

[leatherman]

I looked up that Froglube stuff and its nice! All natural and food grade to boot! I would not worry about using it on that blade in contact with leather at all. I might just try a bit myself

Snakeman, I do see satin blades show up from the Swamp pretty often, especially at show time, either Blade or Knob Creek. As far as I can remember there's only a handfull of the actual "CF" Rats out there, the Chopwieler was one of them. I have quite a few satin finished Rats and they honestly cost less than the comparable CF or Satin Busse. Bang for you buck here.

 

[rpn]

That blue rmd looks awesome! :thumbup:

 

[Thrill]

Both look awesome.

 

[Hard Knocks]

Nice looking group shot there Turbo. :thumbup:

 

[Turbomammoth]

Seriously, I never realized before I opened the package, how decently sized is the RMD.

Dwayne, thanks for your time investigating the lube. And I must agree with everything you said. The Swamp has some really awesome products, at a (more) reasonable price point. "The bang for the buck."

Had finally some times off to play with those... 5 minutes each with the strop and I had a practically mirrored edge cutting like a shark tooth with laser mounted scalpels... Dunno what it looks like, but it definitely sounds sharp.

And last, about the satin versus CF. While satin is certainly beautiful, the CF has something raw and wild of it's own which makes it, to my eyes, even more appealing. On second thought, Jerry stopped Competition Finish for Busse Combat, but he didn't specify that it meant the end for SRKW too, huh?

Right?