Forced patina question. (New pics added)

Ok. I've done the vinegar thing before, but I've got a better way. It's a two step process.

Step one. Smear the blade (both sides) with Inglehoffer's Stone ground mustard & let air dry. Takes about an hour. This stuff not only tastes great, but is apparently caustic to to carbon steel. It reacts faster than any other vinegar reaction I've used. Must be the whole mustard seed mixed with the vinegar in the mustard to cause some super reaction. However, it doesn't give a solid, single tinted patina. On to step two.

Step two. Cold gun blue pen. Simple, sharpie-esque application. Simply color the whole blade, even over what patina-ed with the mustard. You'll get a real nice, super deep, dark black/grey patina that's simply outstanding for about an hour & twenty minutes invested!
 
Bowman1911 said:
Ok. I've done the vinegar thing before, but I've got a better way. It's a two step process.

Step one. Smear the blade (both sides) with Inglehoffer's Stone ground mustard & let air dry. Takes about an hour. This stuff not only tastes great, but is apparently caustic to to carbon steel. It reacts faster than any other vinegar reaction I've used. Must be the whole mustard seed mixed with the vinegar in the mustard to cause some super reaction. However, it doesn't give a solid, single tinted patina. On to step two.

Step two. Cold gun blue pen. Simple, sharpie-esque application. Simply color the whole blade, even over what patina-ed with the mustard. You'll get a real nice, super deep, dark black/grey patina that's simply outstanding for about an hour & twenty minutes invested!
Click to expand...

When I worked in the semiconductor business we used to do that to chipped powdercoat saved the company thousands. ;)

I just made a flame mask with scotch tape and I'm soakin' it now in some cold vinegar while watchin' Netflix.
 
Alright so 2 minutes with a piece of cellophane tape applied and cut into a flame pattern resulted in this result, I'm gonna hafta play with this. :)

DSCF6340_zps16394f7c.jpg
 
Regarding a mottled look, I mix yellow mustard with cider vinegar in roughly equal parts. Paint it on very thin and let air dry and repeat. I do it when working on the computer during the day.


Opinel #10 (modified) by Pinnah, on Flickr
 
I've never done it on a knife, but I did force a patina on a couple razor restores.

Here's from a post of mine over on another forum:

"I did a forced patina on this one. Heat hydrogen peroxide (H3O) in the microwave until warm. Mix in salt. Heat again, mix in more salt. Keep doing that until the H3O can't hold any more salt. Then mix that solution with regular white vinegar in a 4 parts solution to 1 part vinegar mix. You can experiment with different ratios too.
Dump it all into a spray bottle. Try to keep it as warm as you can.
You will have previously needed to make sure your blade is as clean as possible. Brake cleaner or dawn dish soap and water. Absolutely no oil can be on the blade.
Run the blade under hot hot water to warm it. Spray the solution on the blade and let it fizz up. It will turn red and drip so do it over the sink. Keep spraying until it all turns red. Then run it under the hot water again and scrub the red rust off with a toothbrush or your fingers (in clean gloves). Alternate spraying, waiting, and wiping until you have the color you want. Once that's done, suspend the blade in a pot of boiling water until for 15 minutes. Take it out of the water and immediately wipe with mineral oil or ren wax. One gives a shiny black and one gives a dull black (relative to each other, neither is very shiny or dull), but I can't remember which.

It's basically a forced rust blue. It actually turns some steels brownish, which is cool looking too. Make sure you don't let the metal touch the bottom of the pan when you're boiling it."

Before:
IMAGE_1000000689.JPG


After:
IMAGE_1000001068.JPG




Before:
IMAGE_1000000455.JPG


After:
IMAGE_1000000731.JPG
 
mnblade said:
I hate to go all zen on you guys, but assuming the knife is a user, at what point does a forced patina become an earned patina? Surely it will at some point.

-- Mark
Click to expand...

I prepared some salsa I made with Louisiana hot sauce using my Opinel No.9 Carbon blade and let it sit in the salsa while I was eating, as I was using it as a spoon. When I took it out, I noticed that the blade had darkened.

In my opinion, THAT'S an Earned patina! ;)
 
Here's a couple pics of the Russlock redone and an Opinel I tried, still experimentin' with tape and stuff.

DSCF64202_zpscf077f8b.jpg


DSCF64352_zps798a17ad.jpg
 
The reactiveness of acids goes up if you heat them.
 
I tried to heat up the vinegar, the problem I had was when doing an overall patina that worked fine but as soon I put tape on blade to mask it the hot vinegar melted adhesive and got under the mask, I'm gonna try usin' frog tape®.
 
I think this tape method may have potential for some neat looking results. I wonder how it would work to tape and patina, remove, then do a second run with a different tape cutout to create bare, once, and twice-treated areas...
 
bwperdue said:
I think this tape method may have potential for some neat looking results. I wonder how it would work to tape and patina, remove, then do a second run with a different tape cutout to create bare, once, and twice-treated areas...
Click to expand...

... And then you cut an onion or two, and have thrice-treated, even gray. ;)

~ P.
 
bwperdue said:
I think this tape method may have potential for some neat looking results. I wonder how it would work to tape and patina, remove, then do a second run with a different tape cutout to create bare, once, and twice-treated areas...
Click to expand...

It creates shading and it gives it a little depth. If ya look at the first pic in post 29 you'll see the the hint of the first attempt made the flame at the base danger where it etched for a second time.
 
Yeah! You could totally have a palette of grey tones and layers. A raindrop pattern made with overlapping and multi-layered ovals and circles would look awesome.

T. Erdelyi said:
It creates shading and it gives it a little depth. If ya look at the first pic in post 29 you'll see the the hint of the first attempt made the flame at the base danger where it etched for a second time.
Click to expand...
 
I usually just get a cup and fill it up with vinegar until the blade can be fully submersed (3'' blade = 3'' of vinegar). Heat the cup in the microwave for about a minute or until steaming and stick the knife in tip down. usually takes a minute or 2. Plus with a clear glass, you can see the reaction. I wonder if you could use a small paint brush and maybe some silicone to make the designs. Just peal the silicon up after you are done.

BTW the designs you made are pretty neat. good idea

-Gabe
 
A lemon heated in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute seems to work well for me. Stick the knife blade into the lemon and allow to sit for about a minute, inspect the results and repeat until the desired effect is acheived. By inserting the blade in the lemon, it keeps the patina where I want it.

For knives with larger blades, cut the lemon in half before heating, then wipe on the blade. Applying heat with a blow-dryer while the blade is wet can also help speed the reaction. Lightly clean with steel wool, then baking soda or windex to neutralize the acid, dry and oil. Seems to work okay for me :)
 
Here's my Sunfish after a vinegar bath. I've done it several times. The first time I heated the vinegar, but for subsequent times, I just used room temperature vinegar. I wrap the blade in a paper towel that I dip in vinegar. Set in on the counter for 15-30 minutes and get what you see on the left. I then put some Simichrome on the blade and work it some with a clean paper towel. It seems that the more you do the process, the darker the blade gets. I really like it, and do think it helps protect it from rust. I don't really care that it's not even, looks more natural to me.
tumblr_mi46f4My0R1qdutkjo1_1280_zpse5221eda.jpg
[/IMG]
 
stvpourciau said:
I prepared some salsa I made with Louisiana hot sauce using my Opinel No.9 Carbon blade and let it sit in the salsa while I was eating, as I was using it as a spoon. When I took it out, I noticed that the blade had darkened.

In my opinion, THAT'S an Earned patina! ;)
Click to expand...

Now dat's what I'm talkin 'bout
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top