Does anyone else prefer the look of a forced patina on a knife?

R

robertj298

Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Messages
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Maybe it's just me but I prefer the smoother look you get from
a forced patina to the splotchy looks I see on a lot of natural patinas.
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Nice looking knives. Thats the beauty of it, we can do what we want based on personal preferences.
 
Forced patina isn't always smooth-looking, and natural patina isn't always splotchy.

How it looks after the fact depends so much upon how the patina was formed, and not depending specifically on whether it was forced or not, or occurred naturally or not. In other words, if it was 'forced' to look smooth & even or, as with many 'creative' methods, forced to create a splotchy look. Many forced patinas are done to create a patterned or 'splotchy' look, as with mustard applied in a pattern. And many natural patinas end up looking very even & uniform. An old blade that's been carried a lot, but not necessarily used to cut acidic or corrosive materials, can develop a beautiful, even grey patina, simply by exposure to the air over many, many years.

And the line between 'forced' and 'natural' gets blurred too. If I knowingly 'force' a deliberate patina by slicing up some acidic fruit or cutting into a well-seasoned steak in the course of fixing & eating a meal, where did the line get crossed, between forcing it or letting it just happen in normal use?

And on knives that get used after initially forcing a patina, the original patina will morph into something completely different over time, with each new exposure to anything acidic or corrosive. So, whether it was forced initially or not, it ends up being essentially moot anyway.

For me personally, the initial forcing of a patina is mainly geared to giving the blade a leg up, in reducing it's vulnerability to rust out of the gate. Sort of like applying a coat of varnish or urethane to a new piece of furniture, to protect the wood. The finish will color the wood in a sort of 'unnatural' way at the beginning. After that, time and use will take their toll on the finish, leaving much more 'character' to be seen in the wood, and often for the better, as compared to how it started out.
 
I love a forced patina or natural. But I am metal sensitive and can taste it on cut fruit so I don’t use carbon anymore. I used to. I had a near mint case Texas jack I forced a patina on. I heated the blade under my faucet on hot water for a minute and smeared lime juice on it. Waited a minute and rinsed. Repeated a few times till I got that dull gray I was after. Easy peezy.
 
I used to force patina on my carbon steel blades, now I just use them for whatever comes up. The last vinegar dip I did was on my Douk Douk after having a Walter Matthau moment eating an apple... Now I'll just do a reset every now and then with some polish and see where things go. 1609287230935570157737.jpg
I cut a load of zip ties and stripped a bunch of wire today, just finished a touch up on the stones. It might get used on dinner later or cut some sausage tomorrow, who knows? I'm actually debating polishing it up this evening. The even grey has pretty much set in, I polish it every few months, whenever I get a hankering for some change.
 
robertj298 said:
After reading various posts I thought I'd try something different so I stuck each blade in an onion
for an hour and a half and really like the patina it achieved. Not like some I see that just look like
very dark spots on the blade.
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Click to expand...
Onions make a great design, and yours looks really good! I did something similar with my Izula when I first got it, although your result is a bit better.

That was my first carbon blade. I was disappointed when the cool pattern I achieved disappeared after a little use. Now it's a fine even gray, which I love.
 
akaMatt said:
Onions make a great design, and yours looks really good! I did something similar with my Izula when I first got it, although your result is a bit better.

That was my first carbon blade. I was disappointed when the cool pattern I achieved disappeared after a little use. Now it's a fine even gray, which I love.
Click to expand...
Have to agree, a fine even gray is a beautiful state especially when it's the by product of use and lots of time

The only bit of the blade to see polish is the edge
 
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What's not to love about stainless or carbon with a patina of any kind? This one I "forced" (or sped up the process) by using a paper towel soaked in vinegar, heated, and wrapped around the blade for about ten minutes. It took two times of doing that for what you see.
 
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