Forcing a patina

P

peanuts

Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
547
Hi,
I was just wondering what would be a good way to force a patina on to a BM 710 D2. I am after a nice, even colour, as opposed to the more splotchy looking forced patinas. On a random side note: Is there something I don't know about forcing patinas on folders? I just never see it done...

Thanks, peanuts.
 
Slicing up lemons(or any acidic fruit) always works for me.Also remember reading something about mustard & vinegar,but can't recall.Maybe someone can chime in.
 
I have forced a patina many times on my carbon steel blades using hot vinegar. It almost looks like the blueing on a firearm(nice and dark). If you want it to be a lighter gray just wipe it down gently with a scouring pad. I've never tried it on D2 steel however.
 
I used full strength red wine vinegar on a Cold Steel Master Hunter and it turned the blade black.
 
D2 has quite a bit more chromium than other carbon steels. I don't think it can take a patina at all.
 
I've played around with patinas on my RAT-3 D2 blade I stripped. I used mustard (dijon if you want to get specific), gooped it on, waited a 1/2 hour, wiped it off and it left blueish sections on the blade. I scoured it off with 600 grit paper and did a faux-Strider tigerstripe look which I kept for a short while. Now I'm letting it go natural. It'll work.
 
I really don't want it to look strange so I think I will just let it happen naturally. Is there anyway I can help it along though? ie. how thoughoughly (<<spelling?) should I clean it after cutting onions/potatos and whatnot? I don't want to clean it well enough that I slow the process but I don't want to leave it to the point I get red surface rust. This is my first carbon blade, and with the aussie dollar it cost alot, i'm a little nervous, can you tell? lol.
 
I don't think it can be done on BM D2. I've been using a 190 drop point hunter for 2 yrs (awesome little knife btw) regularly in the kitchen cutting all sorts of foods and aside from a slight staining near the tip it shows no discoloration. D2 is tough, stain resistant stuff.
 
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I don't think you can force a patina on D2. I believe it's just 1% Chromium away from being a stainless steel (it's classified as a tool steel). I've heard it will develop a very faint patina over years, but I've never heard of anyone successfully forcing that, with its high Chromium content. If your blade is highly polished, that would make it even more difficult to patina.
 
Ok, so it sound like it is pretty much a stainless steel. So it wont easily take a patina but how rust resistant is it? I have only had it for 4 days and i can see a small cluster of very light, very small,fine dots on the blade. It sometimes looks grey, sometimes slightly reddish and it does not come off. Now I have used it in the kitchen a couple of times, cutting apples potatoes, onions some meat ect. but after each use I wiped the blade with a damp cloth, dried it very well, then very lightly oiled the blade. So I figure it is either the very early begginings of a patina, or the early beginnings of red rust, right?
 
I just looked at it for a while, very closely and it does not appear to be red at all. I also got a second opinion and they said it looked grey. I just peeled and sliced four potatos and now there is more of it, it cant be rusting that quickly so HAS to be the beginings of patina...right? But it shouldn't take a patina very well according to you guys? Now I am really confused.
 
It is indeed a patina. Like I posted before, D2 will take on a patina. My mustard applications worked fine. Not as pronounced as some 1095 blades I have, but it will discolor.
 
With D2, you're likely to get patina-like "spots" or "patches", rather than an overall patina like on carbon steel. D2 does what it wants to do, but you will get patches of dullness, or even areas of color. On my own knives, I've never seen it spread to the entire blade, just to patches.

I suspect part of the surface has more Chromium in it than others, or more bonded Chromium, or something that makes areas less or more susceptible to discoloration than others.

Just my guess as to why...
 
well i dont want patches, so its back to forcing. I will try mustard for a couple hours. If that does nothing, then vinegar maybe.
 
D2 (Queen's to be specific) will absolutely take a patina. I have several Queen knives with patinas on the blade. The one I forced (shown below) was done by wrapping the blade in a paper towel soaked in white vinegar and letting it sit overnight. I then also used the knife extensively to cut food and fruit.

PB180008.jpg
 
Why force a patina? It's like a skater rubbing his shoes on his board just to get a rub mark. Does it do anything for you?
 
I use my EDC for eating and by forcing a patina all at once it lessens the metallic taste that non-stainless blades can impart when used with certain foods.
 
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