Get A Deep Even Black Patina On 1095 Carbon Steel

Just a heads up, I saw on another thread that you can get a deep patina by simply soaking the blade instead of boiling and wiping. being winter, it's hard to go outside and boil stinky vinegar and get a nice patina done when I can just soak. I'm going to try stabbing through a piece of cardboard to let a folder blade soak in a cup full for 8 hours, checking periodically. I did the boiling of apple cider vinegar and it didn't give me a consistent finish, so I hope a soak will help.

Connor
 
For me, the key is a completely clean, degreased blade and surface sanding with fine sandpaper ( all over, I use 1200 grit usually )

Then try the hot apple cinder vinegar treatment ( cold vinegar takes too long, and can be unreliable)

My 2 cents
 
I just read the post about soaking instead of hot vinegar right after I posted. I'll try it next time and also sanding the blade first, it might "set up" the steel.
 
Just tried this on my Izula, only I was getting impatient wiping with the cotton balls, so I just submerged the blade in boiling apple cider vinegar for about 5 minutes, holding it steady while resting on the spine. It came out looking OK, but very uneven. I think maybe if i wasnt doing the cotton ball method at first, it would've turned out smoother.
 
I can't see the advantage of putting a "patina" finish on my "Old Hickory" "sticker". Would it be worth it?, or would I be better off keeping it oiled?
 
Really enjoy this thread, and think the deep black finish looks fantastic in the OP.

Tried this last night on some 1095CV KaBars - but couldn't find the link so didn't follow exactly.
I had previously forced a patina with vinegar and mustard. Used 'em, most of the patterning was gone, and think they'd look great with the nice even black finish.
Hit 'em with dark grey, then white, scotch brite but forgot to degrease/acetone dip.
No fresh Heinz - had some now-defunct grocery-store brand cider vinegar my M-I-L probably bought 12 years ago. So old it was dark and lots of sediment in the bottom.
Heated in a pot, outdoors, to boiling and cooked down to about 1/2 volume. Dipped in a paper sponge, blotted and rubbed on each blade, let 'em sit about 10 minutes, wiped with the white (1200 grit) scotch-brite, and re-applied. After a couple cycles of this, dipped 'em and left for 45 minutes while I went for a walk. Then one more cycle, and left outside overnight.
This morning, rinsed with hot water and scrubbed down with green kitchen scotch-brite.

All I have is an uneven grey patina.
Totally spaced the silver polish - but have plenty of Silversmith's on hand.
Gonna try again this weekend, more closely following OP's instructions here.
My question is - do I need to sand, polish, and clean the blade and start over from scratch? Or can I take it from where it is and expect to get the even, dark finish?
I cut my lemon with of the knives this morning, and let it sit on the cutting board while I ate breakfast. The belly and tip that were exposed to the juice are much darker than the rest of the blade - so I know they've got more to give. It's just a matter of the most efficient way to extract it evenly.
 
Soak in White Vinegar for 24-36hrs.. It gets real black.. I have done this a few times... John
 
Perhaps it's the Chrome-Vanadium.
Tried rubbing, letting it sit, rubbing more. Each time I rinsed with cold water was left with a deep medium gray.

So, I soaked overnight in vinegar, removed and let dry for a couple hours, put back in for hours, took back out to dry, soaked overnight again...
For 3 days. Then dried off with a heat gun.
This time, the black mostly stuck.
Thank you for that!

 
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I have a question, a friend wants me to make him a knife with a Black patina. I am using O1 tool steel. Would this work with O1 or just 1095. Also to what grit would you finish the blade to before forcing the patina. Thank you
 
Washed_3981 said:
I have a question, a friend wants me to make him a knife with a Black patina. I am using O1 tool steel. Would this work with O1 or just 1095. Also to what grit would you finish the blade to before forcing the patina. Thank you
Click to expand...

For O1 tool steel that you're making from scratch, use Ferric Chloride and truly etch the steel rather than trying to force a patina. You'll get a much deeper and more consistent etch this way. O1 won't turn a full blown "black", but it will get to a very dark gray. I think I etched these blades after 400 grit.

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To contribute back to this thread... After using FC, I'll never go back to Vinegar again...
 
I am one of those knife nuts that doesn't like natural patina on non-stainless. Thus I blued a couple of my knives with gun blue (Birchwood Casey Super Blue). The GEC in 1095 , the Boker in C-75. Had good results but it is tricky and takes practice.

full


Then reading another thread here I was surprised to hear that gun gluing a blade makes it unsafe for food prep ?? @Pàdruig mentioned this.

Would the vinegar method be food safe?

Would your Ferric Chloride method be safe Jfowl31 Jfowl31 ??
 
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Pinemoon said:
I am one of those knife nuts that doesn't like natural patina on non-stainless. Thus I blued a couple of my knives with gun blue (Birchwood Casey Super Blue). The GEC in 1095 , the Boker in C-75. Had good results but it is tricky and takes practice.

full


Then reading another thread here I was surprised to hear that gun gluing a blade makes it unsafe for food prep ?? @Pàdruig mentioned this.

Would the vinegar method be food safe?

Would your Ferric Chloride method be safe Jfowl31 Jfowl31 ??
Click to expand...

Pinemoon: cold bluing is definitely toxic and absolutely not food safe. There's been quite a few threads on this subject over the years. In one of them, the manufacturer (presumably Birchwood-Casey) was contacted, and their response was unequivocal: cold blued knives should not to be used for food under any circumstances,

Vinegar and Ferric Chloride should be fine as they are washed away (and neutralised after, if the job is done properly - I use a weak sodium bicarb solution).
 
Cambertree said:
Pinemoon: cold bluing is definitely toxic and absolutely not food safe. There's been quite a few threads on this subject over the years. In one of them, the manufacturer (presumably Birchwood-Casey) was contacted, and their response was unequivocal: cold blued knives should not to be used for food under any circumstances,

Vinegar and Ferric Chloride should be fine as they are washed away (and neutralised after, if the job is done properly - I use a weak sodium bicarb solution).
Click to expand...
Thank for the reply. I was unaware. I typically don't use my non-stainless pocket knives for food prep anyway so I'm safe. And I always rinsed/washed the blade after bluing.
I'll likely try the other treatments on some other blades.
Where does one get ferric chloride?
 
I don't know where to get ferric chloride either. It is obviously an anhydrous (without water) form if sold somewhere, and becomes strongly acid when hydrated. I don't know why cold blue is toxic, either. I don't know much. Maybe copper? Copper is toxic in amounts greater than uhh.... X? They tin copper utinsils to make them more safe in culinary use. Well, here is the obvious researcher's link for the ferric chloride:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(III)_chloride
 
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