Forced Patina projects

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Dogzovwar81

Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Messages
503
Ever since I started coming to Blade Forums, I noticed some great looking blades that had patinas forced with household ingredients. I had a few carbon steel blades, and thought I'd try my hand. Here is my first attempt using my constant companion in Iraq, my Ka-Bar tanto
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My next knife is my Okapi ratchet knife. Procured this while manning a checkpoint in Baghdad from a fello who no longer needed it. When I got it the blade was rusty, so I sandpapered it down and used my normal process of vinegar, hot sauce and mustard.
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Next is my Condor Dundee Bowie. I used the shot out of it with the original finish and after most had been worn off, I stripped it as well.
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Last one is my neighbors Cold Steel Warhead. He had used it for drywalling, so the finish was shot. He gave me the go-ahead whe he saw my other knives.
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Anyway, its a fun way to kill some time, be creative and protect the blade from red rust. I need more carbon steel...
 
Those are pretty nice :D I tried doin' a patina on my opinel, but failed miserably. I let the blade sit in hot vinegar for about 50 minutes and when I pulled it out the blade was just completely black. Not to mention it didn't smell to good either. xD But I eventually sanded it off with some 1000 grit sandpaper lol.
 
Lol. Yeah, I found that just leaving the blade in vinegar, it will just get darker and darker. That's why I use hot sause after. It leaves a random pattern and lightens the color. The mustard I use for stripes.
 
Thats*pretty cool man...i use vinegar and then spicy brown mustard, lol....so the hot sauce actually lightens up the patina? i may have to try that...
 
I just spread the hot sause (Tapatio) all over the blade with a paint brush, then let it sit for a few hours. The pattern produced is always different. I yellow mustard stripe is after I wash the hot sause off. Good luck!
 
So, apparently I missed metallurgy class and am unfamiliar with what are carbon content blades and what are not. So here go the stupid questions. Is something classed as stainless a carbon steel? I have a stainless buck knife I am partial to because it makes a good all around hunting knife. The problem is I can use it as a signalling mirror. Buck describes the blade material as 420HC. Can a forced patina using the techniques above work on such a blade?

Dogzovwar81, thank you for your service and the pics of the great looking knives.
 
Pretty much all steel is technically carbon steel, since iron + carbon = steel. Iron + carbon + nickel, etc. = stainless. In common parlance though, carbon steel usually is used to refer to non-stainless steels. You will find it very difficult to patina a stainless blade with most household chemicals. They were specifically designed to resist exactly this type of "staining." And 420HC is a stainless steel.
 
Exactly what eKretz said. I tried doing the same to my Kershaw Tremor which is stainless and got no results save the writing on the blade faded. From my understanding, you have to use much harsher acids to "force patina" stainless blades. And thank you, Wolfman.
 
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