Help! Advice on removing/polishing out accidental uneven patina?

A

Aleous

Joined
Aug 24, 2013
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Hello everyone! I want to first apologize if I posted this in the incorrect place, I am still relatively new to the forums and I want to thank you all in advance for your time and advice.

Alright so yesterday I received my very first khukuri from Nepal via TheKhukuriHouse. It had some small dark oxidation spots on the blade and I immediately wanted to eliminate it. I usually take very good care of my blades and rarely if ever encounter rust so I'm very inexperienced in removing it.

So I looked it up and came across 3 options I had at my immediate disposal, those being foil paper, lime juice, and baking soda.

Tried the foil paper first and it lightened the oxidation quite a bit but being an exuberant novice I wanted to try all 3 to see if I could totally get rid of it. Long story short neither the lime or baking soda did any better than the foil paper and ended up staining my blade in what I think was due to the acids in them resulting in an accidental blotchy patina?

Sorry If I'm mistaken and it's something else. I will try to explain it as best I can, currently at work or else I would post pics. I left both the baking soda and lime juice no more than 2 minutes and didn't notice it until I was oiling the blade. It wasn't evident in direct sunlight but in dim light or the right angle it was very noticeable. Best way to describe it would be how a window would look if you cut a lime in half and rubbed it across the glass and let it dry, streaks and dots. Tried rubbing it out but after a while to no avail I guessed the acids penetrated the steel and I had ruined my beautiful new knife that I had owned in less than 24 hours!

Hoping you all can give me some advice on what I can do, hopefully bringing it back to it's original beautiful satin finish and not having ruined it beyond repair. I had already ordered a set of wet dry sandpaper from 1000-3000 grit to try and removing what was left of the oxidation but don't know what else to buy to try and treat the stains. Don't have much in available funds(splurged on three khukuri). I could probably afford some small size polish but can't decide which one I should buy(Metal Glo, Flitz, Nevr-Dull) and some scotch brite pads or steel wool(thought don't know which type/kind to buy) to try and polish it out if it's possible(have never polished my blades before so I don't even know the type of correct motion I should be using so pointers on that would be great too).

Thank you all again for helping this fool.
 
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lime juice only takes moments to lightly stain a carbon steel blade. so, yeah, that was kind of an odd choice to use to try and remove stains. lol.

good news, your blade isn't ruined. go out and use it a bunch and you might just forget about that light staining.

you're on the right track for removing it though. a series of high grits should do the trick. I couldn't tell you specifically which grits though.
 
Some fine 000 steel wool and some wd-40 has worked for me in the past. Just do a light pressure scrub and there should not be any scratch marks left when done. Good luck. Some Flitz would not hurt after if you want a polish finish on the blade. Good luck!

Blessings,

Omar
 
I find Simichrome paste metal polish does a pretty good job of patina removal. Though for tougher instances I'll use some polishing compound(s) first. I've got four sticks of compound that were less than $3 per stick, from Lowe's hardware. They are intended to be used with a buffer but I've had some success with using them on a cloth and just polishing by hand, or a felt wheel on a Dremel tool. If I use one of the compounds I'll finish up with the Simichrome, by hand.
 
Your other option, which will have much to recommend it, will be to use that lime juice to create a nice even patina all over the blade. Those can be quite nice. Once you have achieved the patina you want, then oil it up and rub it in. A nice even patina will take some time and maybe several applications but when you are done, it will either be a nice soft gray color or may, as I have got on a Mora of mine, sort of a color case hardened look which is very nice. Muti-colored. I caked mustard on the blade and left it. I then frequently returned to the caked on mustard and re-wetted it with water (I bet lime juice would have been good too) and sort of "disturbed" the crust a little bit with a q-tip to be sure the fresh wetness made it to the surface. I did this over a period of probably 48 hours or so. Great result. I have not done it on a big knife yet but I have a couple that cry out to me for same.
 
The lime juice can & will alter the patina, but will also work to create more patina, due to it's acidity. Baking soda isn't acidic, but instead a little bit alkaline (pH above 7), and works best to help neutralize acids. It's useful after applying an acid-induced patina, to halt the acidic reaction and prevent excessive corrosion resulting from it. Baking soda's mild abrasiveness also works to scrub red rust and lightly-bonded dark oxide from the blade (especially immediately following the acid patina treatment), but it won't scrub off the more permanently-bonded patina. I use baking soda to scrub my blades after using vinegar or whatever to patina them, and the deep, dark & black oxide comes off, leaving the more permanent grey patina behind.

As mentioned, polishing pastes like Flitz/Simichrome can remove the more deeply-set grey patina, with a little 'elbow grease' help. :)

(I'd attempted to post this yesterday, but the editor wasn't responding)


David
 
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Ordered some Flitz and Metal Glo so they are on the way. I have never polished a blade before so please excuse this question, er, what exactly do I use to apply the polish and how do I use it? Thank you.
 
Aleous said:
Ordered some Flitz and Metal Glo so they are on the way. I have never polished a blade before so please excuse this question, er, what exactly do I use to apply the polish and how do I use it? Thank you.
Click to expand...

A clean rag/cloth is all you need; microfiber towels work very well. Just put a dab of paste on the blade or cloth and scrub it into the steel. You'll see it quickly turning black with the metal/oxide being removed from the blade. Wipe it off the blade as it dries; the fine abrasives will continue to work as long as you keep scrubbing. You'll get a feel for how much scrubbing might be needed, as you use it.


David
 
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That turned out Nice!

I was silently saying to my self, that blade is etched its will never polish out.
glad I was wrong.
 
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