Forced patina on new JK

[B JACKSON]

I've been contemplating placing a "forced" (man-made in a hurry) patina on my JK Hanna #H6 with its Yellow G10 Handles. Any thoughts? Any pics? Said knife will begin hunting with me, possibly as soon as Saturday (squirrels), and will be my primary deer hunting/field dressing knife this season as well. Has anyone ever cold blued one of Johns blades? I did this to a carbon steel Case XX Sodbuster many tears ago ( I don't know if typing tears instead of years was a typo or a Freudian slip), and it turned out very nice but still wanted to rust rather easily.

 

[HWF]

What I do is just use the blade daily in the kitchen (and for everything else of course ) and a patina forms rather quickly. I LOVE hot sauce and put it on most things and that helps me a lot I've noticed. I really enjoy watching a patina form.

Good luck!

 

[grunt soldier]

I usually use yellow mustard and just kinda paint it on and let it sit. works great. It's easy to take off also if you don't like it. I also do as hwf mentioned and use my carbon blades a lot in the kitchen. They will develop a random pattern pretty quickly

 

[mqqn]

In my experience, onions seem to be the quickest to work on the 01, and potatoes also work quickly to patina the steel.

best

mqqn

 

[mykel m]

Forced patinas & bluing will not keep a knife blade from rusting if it is unprotected in a moist/humid environment as you found out with the Sod Buster.

So don't be afraid to use the bare blade of that H6,just clean it with soap & water after dressing game and keep it dry.The patina will develop naturally.
You'll see the patina start after the first squirrel & the more you use the H6 the better it'll look.:thumbupEspecially after dressing a deer.)

I have blued a couple of blades & forced a mustard patina & a malted vinegar patina.
The only advantage to the mustard & vinegar patinas(IMO) is they etch the blade leaving a pretty cool pattern depending on how you do it.
For mustard just dab it on & let it sit overnight & it'll etch a nice random pattern into the blade.
Scrub it with a dish scrubber & soap & water to get the dried mustard & any rust that might have developed off.
For the vinegar I wrapped the blade in an old sock & poured the vinegar on,soaking the sock then let it sit over night.
I got a nice pattern on that one.

Here's a few pics since you asked.
I don't have any of a mustard etch,but this is from the vinegar/sock soak.

This is an old Cleaver I modded & blued.

I blued the Chop Muk after scotch-briting the forge finish off.
The bluing wears off with use so I don't see an advantage to it but that it looks good initially.

 

[mqqn]

Nice Mykel -

I also like the stainless trans rebuild table -

best

mqqn

 

[KYenglish]

I've done all of the above, now I just use them, make a point of eating an apple every day, I like apples,a dn the patina seems to be very pretty, kinda blue, on 01, of course i use the Tk in the kitchen on everything from onions to potatoes as well

 

[thurin]

I really like natural patinas that come through use. Here's how my Galley Wag is coming along, next to probably my favorite patina on a Super Blue Spyderco. Pictures don't do it justice with all the color variations and layers.

 

[Sulaco]

I don't really go for looks, more for protection from rust. I like to let my carbon steel blades patina naturally, but if I do force one, I use apple cider vindegar. The hotter it is, the darker the metal will get. It holds up better than bluing.

 

[B JACKSON]

Mylel! that cleaver is THE BOMB! Thanks to everybody for the advice and pictures, I am still unsure about what I'm going to do, but I guess the longer I wait to DO something, the more the NATURALY OCCURING PATINA may prevail! And now my confused head is whispering mirror finish into my ear! Anybody know how to best achieve that?

 

[mykel m]

Mylel! that cleaver is THE BOMB! Thanks to everybody for the advice and pictures, I am still unsure about what I'm going to do, but I guess the longer I wait to DO something, the more the NATURALY OCCURING PATINA may prevail! And now my confused head is whispering mirror finish into my ear! Anybody know how to best achieve that?

Thanks you BJ!


For a good mirror finish you'll need plenty of.......








Elbow grease.


Start with something like 220,or maybe 400 grit paper & progress down to 2000 grit.
It should only take about 4-5 hours or more of hand sanding.:barf:

 

[Magnaminous_G]

If it's a very light forced patina, fingerprints will rust right through it. The most protective patina is a natural patina formed over time from regular use. The following is a pic from BF member bearthedog. Look at the Nessmuk in the bottom. That is not/not heat treat scaling. That is a natural patina formed over time with regular use, and if you check out his travel threads (where he takes his knives all over the world into the dessert, jungle, mountains, etc.), you will see how much he uses his knives. But basically, this kind of patina is very protective. I'd say all he probably has to do is wipe the blade down after use and it probably is pretty corrosion resistant, despite being made of O1 (I think).

Pic by bearthedog

Pic by bearthedog (I think these are the original knives, but I'm not sure)

 

[JK Knives]

Those are the original knives in the bottom pic, and I made them.

 

[HWF]

Very cool. Those are some pretty serious patinas. Excellent. :thumbup:

 

[HWF]

Funk house patina starter kit.

 

[gradall5200]

Some of the most wicked patina I ever put on a knife was an accident. I had a knife in the garden pruning tomato plants (cut every branch growing down or without a bud, makes plants look thin but produces the hell out of tomatoes!) anyway even more so than cutting regular tomatoes the pruning/ cutting branches put a blackish thick heavy patina on the blade. Even after a good wash it stayed and seemed to protect well.