Forced patina "produce section" options

S

SCWillson

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Aug 2, 2013
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I know many knife aficionados like forcing patinas on carbon steel knives with various fruits and vegetables, so I thought I'd ask which of these people here at BF have actually used, and how did you like the result? I've seen suggestions online for using apples, potatoes, lemons, mangoes, grapes, and oranges. What else have you tried? Onions? Avocados? Bananas? Kiwi? Strawberries? Tomatoes? Grapefruit? Rutabaga?

(I find myself speculating as to whether you could successfully patina an entire fixed-blade tactical knife at once by shoving it lengthwise into a large pineapple for an our or so...) :D
 
I found onion works pretty fast ,
of course theres the "mustardizing" technique too.
I like the look of a "forced hamon" looks nice if you keep the edge shiny!
 
I advise against just sticking a knife (especially in a wear resistant carbon steel like M4) in a lemon, as the seeds will create an extremely ugly pattern on the blade while it patinas. I tried it with a Gayle Bradley and it was nigh impossible to remove the patina. Ended up selling the knife because it looked so terrible (among other reasons obviously). I love cutting pineapples with my Cold Steel Trailmaster, it puts a nice even patina on it.
 
Cutting strawberries and nectarines will leave a nice purple hue. Vinegar works pretty darned fast. Some folks put the knife in boiling vinegar, I use a paper towel or cloth soaked in vinegar an wrap around the knife. Check every 10 minutes.
 
Patina can be too forced , ive seen some bad " pitting " excuse the pun .
allways keep an eye on the process dont leave too long unattended go for a light blue to avoid perm-patina !
 
I had some pretty good luck with an Opinel and some limes, sliced some up for beers and laid a few pieces on the blade...pretty cool look
 
I've tried a ton of things and so far my favorite is peaches. They leave beautiful hues of purple, red, and blue. They worked on the CPM-M4 of my Gayle Bradley and the 1095 of my GEC #85 EZ Open Jack.
 
Also, the colors never stay. As you keep using the knife the patina will evolve and transform.

I can clean my blade, force a beautiful sheen patina, and in a few days itll darken to a dark gray blue.
 
I fold a piece of paper towel over the spine and then wet the paper towel with apple cider vinegar. I then just let this dry completely.

Turns out like this

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Some great suggestions. I would never have thought of trying green onions or peaches or strawberries.

Now my only problem is I have more cool patina-ing (?) suggestions than I have patinable knives. But that's a problem with an obvious solution... :D
 
I even have some gun blue in my shop, but for some reason I don't want to blue my knives. I guess I want something of the more colorful possibilities that fruits and vegetables can provide.

Not that I dislike blued steel; I've owned both blued guns and knives in the past. I just want something truly unique.
 
Last edited:
HwangJino said:
Also, the colors never stay. As you keep using the knife the patina will evolve and transform.
Click to expand...

Yes, Hwang is right about this. That evolution, to me, is kinda cool, like how every sunset is different.

Also, mangoes give a nice blue patina.
 
i'm letting my knives patina naturally. sometimes i will use my knife to cut something like a piece of fruit or vegetable and sometimes i'll just use a kitchen knife. it's whatever i feel like doing and if i don't like to eat that something i'm cutting up, i don't buy it. you could tell me that brussel sprouts give the worlds greatest patina, but i'm not going to run out the door and buy brussel sprouts just because someone said it. no offense to the brussel sprout lovers. :D
 
cards94 said:
i'm letting my knives patina naturally. sometimes i will use my knife to cut something like a piece of fruit or vegetable and sometimes i'll just use a kitchen knife. it's whatever i feel like doing and if i don't like to eat that something i'm cutting up, i don't buy it. you could tell me that brussel sprouts give the worlds greatest patina, but i'm not going to run out the door and buy brussel sprouts just because someone said it. no offense to the brussel sprout lovers. :D
Click to expand...

I heard brussels sprouts gives a really cool neon-colored checkered pattern. Or a zombie green and blood splatter pattern. One of those two.

Slicing cherries produces a patina of George Washington's last inaugural address. ;)
 
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