GEC Harness Jack Progress

Ed, looks good either way. I personally liked that heavy patina, but they both look great. Sounds like that reward was worth all the effort.

 

Great job putting this one to work. :thumbup: (And nice pics too.)

I like good carbon steel with a patina finish, but like you I'm more into a 'character' appearance, not so much a 'heavy use' look. I patina'd a blade with an onion, and wound up with the circular pattern of the onion innards on the blade. After that, I decided to let my carbon steel blades patina on their own through use.

~Chris

 

Vinegar is a pretty vigorous oxidizer! I have turned a blade pitch black in 2-3 minutes with warm vinegar, so yes, it is etched.
I always rinse a knife off immediately after I cut meat, or encounter acidic food. The acids are water soluble, so the blade will etch much less.
Nice to see that HJ a-workin'!!:thumbup:

 

I agree with you I don't really like the heavy patina.

 

Looks good either way. I never polish my blades personally. I find the natural patina, however it is earned is kind of neat. Ive had mine get pretty dark, but that dark layer usually comes off when I carve some harder material such as carving wood

 

Great topic on the patina Ed, I found that the GEC's patina very quickly, apples will do that too...i cut some apples-then took some shots of the knife with the apple slices etc, so in all the apple juice may have been on there for say...20minutes...man..that was enough for the juice to etch in all right.
One thing I have noticed with Northfields...the etch dissapears very quickly once a light acid such as the above mentioned acids hit it.

 

I love a dark patina on a carbon blade. Whenever I get a new knife with carbon blades the first thing I do is eat an apple with it. After a few apples it takes on a nice dark gray patina. And, the more you use it, the darker it gets. The only thing I'll do is wash it off with water, wipe it down, then wipe it with an oily cloth. There's just something that the dark gray patina does for me. I love the looks of it.

 

I generally keep my carbon blades pretty clean and shiny. I usually clean them up pretty quick if they cut something juicy. Not Always. I have a couple that have a nice "earned" patina. I've only forced a patina on one knife by sticking it in a pear for a few hours.

But I think that one looks great with the dark blade. I may have to give a vinegar bath a try on a blade soon. I did it to a tomahawk a few weeks ago and liked how it came out.

 

I've gotten a patina on a few of my blades over the course of time.

The only one that ever etched like that was a Schrade Old Timer.
I had put the knife in my Wife's travel bag, put that in a suitcase, and checked the whole thing for a trip to MD.

Getting there I found that her Shampoo/Conditioner had leaked and gotten all over the blade. Washed it, oiled it, but it still took a pretty sever etch all over.

 

Well, call it patina or something else, but I work very hard to keep any sort of stains off my knives. What I really like is a surgically clean blade, and try to keep all my knives that way, helped by an oc personality that extends to keeping the edges razor sharp, having the blades with no wobble and dead center when closed, etc.

 

That is a great looking knife. Personally, I thought the patina looked fantastic but that's just me.

 

Wow! That harness jack is fantastic. A carbon knife looks great with a well earned patine! Personally, I don't care to force a patina on my carbon steel blades, but carbon steel does what it does. I don't have any problem with a natural patina, but I do keep my blades clean and dry and oiled when not using them.

Here's what my Avatar knife looks like after a year of life with me.



Ed

 

I am a big fan of that Harness Jack pattern and the dark patina to boot. ..

..However Ed, a fine friend of mine just asked me if that is a White-Clear Vinegar or Red Vinegar imposed PATINA you are referring to in regard to that hi-carbon blade??. I told her it was likely a White Vinegar PATINA.. But, I reckon I'll let you say what is what.


Anthony

 

That's a sure way to get it off and running on a fine patina! Great knife for the job too!

 

Thanks for the clarification here Ed..

Incidently, I am so taken with this HJ of yours that I just closed a deal with a friend on a trade so I can add one of these to EDC as well.



Best,
Anthony

 

Modoc/ Ed. I think your knife looks even nicer now , has a bit of character.



Tostig

 

As most everyone here knows, Charlie (Waynorth) started the Harness Jack "rebirth" He 1st went to Queen and had 3 different runs made before going to gec.
And because this is a HJ thread I just can't resist posting the 2 knives Charlie had gec build.
The 1st is a stag the 2nd an ebony :thumbup::thumbup:



Dave