Forced Patina BK2

amp281 · Oct 26, 2012

Well I just redid the patina:

1)Vinegar first layer
then
2)Mustard flames
then
3)tabasco sauce all over

What do you guys think?

UPDATE:
How it looks now...

tramp775 · Oct 26, 2012

Well I think I'm saving the pic so I can copy it !!! Looks super thanks for showing us

bsmith_shoot · Oct 26, 2012

I normally like just a patina that reminds you of your grandpas old knife, but that does look great. Good job man!

amp281 · Oct 27, 2012

Its crazy, the handle area won't patina much at all. I've sanded it down and tried to force it like the blade but not much luck so far. I am going to try putting it in hot apple cider vinegar for 20 minutes.

DxAxN · Oct 27, 2012

amp281 said:
Its crazy, the handle area won't patina much at all. I've sanded it down and tried to force it like the blade but not much luck so far. I am going to try putting it in hot apple cider vinegar for 20 minutes.

I had the same results with the handle, maybe something to do with the heat treat to the blade.

Yours came out looking good

amp281 · Oct 27, 2012

DxAxN said:
I had the same results with the handle, maybe something to do with the heat treat to the blade.

Yours came out looking good

Yeah man its insane. I had it for 10 mins in very hot apple cider vinegar and nothing, but the leading edge of the handle near the blade started to turn color, nothing on the handle though. Maybe that means the handle will also be a bit more rust proof.

amp281 · Oct 28, 2012

The stylized patina didn't last long. I chopped up a bunch of vegetables and fruits over the past 2 days and it now looks like grandpa's knife

tramp775 · Nov 8, 2012

Still better than that ugly black coating !

bsmith_shoot · Nov 8, 2012

Now its perfect!!!!!

DxAxN · Nov 8, 2012

tramp775 said:
Still better than that ugly black coating !

I prefer the patina over the black coating... but when I showed my son my BK2 after the patina, he liked it but preferred it with the black coating

amp281 · Nov 8, 2012

Alright so I've used the knife a decent amount now and I figured I'd share what I've done with it up till now. I evened out the patina to a uniform state by dipping it repeatedly in boiling apple cider vinegar and then sanding. A thumb divot was added with a dremel. The grips have been stippled with a soldering iron point, and I clear-coated the handle up to the choil with VHT Clear Wheel Paint (3 coats, 400 grit first coat, 1000 grit wet sand second coat, 1500,2000,2500 wet sand final coat). The clearcoat looks like darker metal but is mostly invisible. This finish appears to be durable enough but we will see. Most of the cider patina wore down from batoning through an hours worth of wood the other day so it is now looking pretty servicable. I probably won't mess with the patina from now on because the metal is sort of in a final state I think.

Coatcoated:

Stippled Handles:

"In use"

The handle feels great. I sanded it with a 320grit foam block after adding the dimpling to soften it up. It feels like a golfball.