Forcing a patina on D2

Uncle Timbo

Uncle Timbo

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Nov 23, 2005
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Hey everybody. Has anybody ever forced a patina on some D2? If you have, pics would be fantastic. I love me a good patina and I'm 61 y/o and I can't wait on one to happen naturally. :) We'll both get a patina at the same time! No, I'll prolly get one faster.

I know I can cut up some citrus and all, and put it in vinegar, or use mustard. But I don't even know if those ideas will work, and I don't want to jack my knife up. Any ideas?

Thank you my brothers.
 
D2 is considered a semi-stainless so it's not going to take a patina easily.

Start with very hot apple cider vinegar and let it soak overnight.

Depending on the size of the blade, you could try suspending it in a pot of apple cider vinegar and let it simmer for hours. NOTE: The blade must not touch the pot itself! Use a wooden or plastic spoon to suspend it.

I understand that bladesmiths sometimes use chemicals like ferric oxides and ferric chlorides to force patinas but I'd leave that stuff to the pros.
 
I have accidentally force patina some blades. I think they were tool steals. One was cutting lemons. I didn't wash the knife, and in the morning it looked outstanding. Other time was camping, I was scrambling eggs. Lots of them. It left all kinds of neat marks on my knife. I am guessing the sulfur in the eggs did it.
Good luck.
 
Kootaga13 said:
The hot cider vinegar sounds great. What if I cut into a lime or a lemon and left it in for X amount of hrs?
Click to expand...
Sure. Start small.

Cut up some acidic fruits or stand it up in a tall jar of hot apple cider vinegar and see what develops after 1 hr, 2 hr, 3 hr, ...

Don't like what you get? Clean it with some metal polish and try another method. You aren't going to hurt it. ;)
 
Thanks my brothers. Every comment gets me a tad further down the road....

A1 steak sauce would prolly work also. Hot coffee grounds? I know the coffee does a number on my esophagus and stomach if I drink too much!
 
Okay, I can rule lemons out. D2 is way too anti-corrosive for a lemon. I sliced one and left the juice on overnight...nothing. I even stuck it half-way in and left it overnight...nothing. Well, I can't sat nothing, it left small looking lemony/orange spots on the blade. I did what you said Travish and cleaned the blade up a tad. It won't clean up all the way as this is a user and no telling where she's been.

I might try mustard next. If no luck with that, hot apple cider. Maybe some Grey Poupon? :) Or some horse radish stuff?
 
Tom Krein uses an acid wash on D2 that is a pretty attractive finish.
 
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Try hot white vinegar. Put the vinegar in a microwave safe glass. Heat it up to where it just starts to boil. Take out of microwave using an oven mitt or towel (it is hot). Dip blade into vinegar and hold it there. Carbon steel will turn black in about 30 seconds. I have never tried it with D2.
 
JC, I will get to that, however, I have patina'ed carbon steel on a Mora. Turned out real sweet. D2 is proving to be impervious to all but possibly acid. Tough sh!*
 
Well, vinegar is a diluted form of acetic acid. So it's just a relatively safe one.

There have been a number of threads over the years about it here on BF. If you want to actually ETCH the surface, then Ferric Chloride will do it. For a patina, everyone seems to recommend vinegar.

Also - if the existing surface is mirror polished, light sanding will help with patina formation.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1052223-Leek-1660cb-bringing-the-two-tone-look-back
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/770709-D2-patina-question
 
Thanks JC. I'll check these out later when I have more time. I thought I was gonna have to go and gut a grapefruit or something.
 
Please let us know the results of your experiments. I have a CPM D2 knife I am also considering putting some kind of patina on.
 
There is an etchant that Tandy carries that will do it, the name escapes me right now. Ferric chloride?

Russ
 
To the original poster, I once forced a patina on a BM 710D2 using lemon juice. I removed the blade from the handle and let it sit in bottled lemon juice for about three hours. It dulled the knife's lustre by a small amount. I let it sit for 12 hours, checking the color periodically, and got it darker. Repeated the same the next day and the blade has dark bead blast look to it now.

Hope this helps.
 
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