CPM-M4 and vinegar....

ssgwhite

ssgwhite

Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Messages
389
I got bored the other night and forced patina/acid etched my Gayle Bradley in vinegar. It had some marks from use that I wanted to cover up. I heated the vinegar and used an insulated cup. I took the blade out and scrubbed it to get the gunk off every so often. I like the look, more acid etched than patina. I didn't think vinegar would do it this aggressively.
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Looks good! A look like that really suits the GB. I used rice vinegar on mine. The picture doesn' t really show it that well, but the patina is nearly black with an interesting subtle pattern.

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Nice! Seems like yours is quite a bit darker than mine; thanks for sharing it. I used a green pad to clean the gunk away and get the used look to mine. I will use rice vinegar on the next one for sure, thanks for the tip!
 
Thanks! I really like the way the grind lines on yours are darker than the rest.

I soaked paper tissues in the rice vinegar and wrapped the blade in them. I left the blade in there for a few hours, then took it out, washed it off in plain water, and repeated the process a few times. It didn' t take very many runs though, that rice vinegar is very aggressive. Be careful witht that stuff:D
 
Personally I love clean satin finishes and being that I live in southern california, I have no reason to force a patina on my gayle bradley.
 
I normally prefer the look of a satin blade, but your blade looks great! Very nicely done:thumbup:
How long did it take? How any times did you take it out to clean it?
 
Thanks, I appreciate the compliment! I took it out about three or four times. It took a couple hours all together.
 
My Contego has taken a natural patina. I use it whenever I'm cutting something acidic. M4 is a little more stain resistant than I thought it would be. It patinas faster than d2 (obviously), but mine has shown no signs of "bad" corrosion.

After talking to Benchmade about it I figured it would rust by looking at it wrong.
 
I may have to try the vinegar trick. I used gun bluing solution a while back, but for some reason one side of the blade seems to be a nice even color, and the other side is mottled and ugly. I've sold it, but I'd like to even out the finish before I ship it.

~Chris
 
Well it took a few days to get it all done.
I tried the rice vinegar and the first time I wrapped the blade in paper towels soaked with the vinegar.
After 4 hours, it left a cross hatch pattern on one side of the blade and the other side had a dark line running the length of the blade but the rest of it looked normal.
The second time around I used a wash cloth and removed the blade every few hours and after about 8 hours I got a more uniform appearance.
I tried to avoid the pivot area as much as possible but still wanted the top and bottom of the blade to be dark along the entire length.
I could feel the action was just a little bit grittier than it was before. I used a Dremel with a small polishing tip and jewelers rogue to clear that up.
Overall I am very happy with the results.
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Wave mod=cut out on thumb hole?

I just ordered my GB, and I feel like im going to want to make it a customized personal EDC. Any of you guys mod the scales for better access of liner lock? Or do you have problems with it?
 
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