How I Force a Patina

8 hours!?.... That seems a bit extreme to me. But I've never tried lemon juice.
I achieved this patina on my Aogami Superblue Spyderco Caly 3.5 with about 35 minutes in distilled white vinegar. And I'd always advise you do not let the acid touch anything but the blade.

 
Hey moxy, if you watched the video, I described how you can check on your knife often, I noticed that the patina comes quick, also noticed when I take blade out in half hour or so, some patina wipes off. There for I just let it set! I tried different methods vinegar, potatoes fruit, mustard, I like how my knife looks, with lemon or lime juice. Just my personal preference !
 
When that dog popped up on the table, I laughed, not sure why, but I did..

Have you ever tried Ferric Chloride? I have some on the way to mess around with, see what kind of results I can get..
 
skullker said:
Have you ever tried Ferric Chloride? I have some on the way to mess around with, see what kind of results I can get..
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Someone correct me if I am wrong. But Ferric Chloride will etch the blade and not produce a patina. Here is an older thread that used etchant to give the blade an engraved look. Modded-my-Junglas

Looks like the following thread shows an example of using "Forced ferric chloride, vinegar and mustard patina" PSK-Altoids-Knives
 
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Etch and patina are the same. Etching is typically done by strong acid and patina by not so strong acids, either way acid is key ingredient.
 
The thought of using Ferric Chloride on 1095 (as with the small & thin-bladed Schrade Old Timer) makes me cringe; big time overkill, unless a deep, patterned etch is the goal. It is correct, any acid-induced patina is still 'etching'. But, the strength of the acids used is important to consider. Vinegar of the store-bought variety, or lime juice, is much gentler, and will still get the job done on 1095. It patinates very easily, and doesn't need anything so harsh as Ferric Chloride. If we were talking about putting patina on stainless steel (deep etching is what's really going on there), that's where the Ferric Chloride may come in handy, as vinegar or lime juice likely wouldn't do much at all.

Carbon steel can still patinate without being etched, as it'll oxidize with exposure to oxygen, and gradually darken accordingly. But that 'patina' will take a lot longer to form, and won't be as dark as an acid-induced patina.

Ferric chloride is also an etchant of copper, for use in making printed circuit boards. For a brass-lined traditional folder (brass is a copper alloy), that can't be good.


David
 
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I force my knife to cut stuff,hang around in a pocket,and stuff like that.Combined with time it forces it to aquire character and a patina.Of course I never wore acid washed blue jeans or distressed leather jackets either,but I reckon a lot of folks did,and Abercrombie and Fitch also once sold knives.The times they are a changin'.
 
Right on Willis, it is kinda cool to just let your knife take on a character of its own, from natural patina, of every day use!
 
David,

You mix the ferric chloride something like 5 to 1 wth water. Think of it like a deep patina that only takes 30 seconds. Once you use it lemons and vinagar seem waaaayyyy too slow.
 
Jason B. said:
David,

You mix the ferric chloride something like 5 to 1 wth water. Think of it like a deep patina that only takes 30 seconds. Once you use it lemons and vinagar seem waaaayyyy too slow.
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I recently did an Old Timer 8OT stockman (1095) and a Case stockman (CV) using a 50/50 mix of water & vinegar heated to about 170°F (heated via a coffee maker, while using the vinegar to de-scale it). Just dipped the blades into the mix. Patina forms before the eyes, darkening to near-black within a minute or two, per blade. I took mine a bit longer, spending maybe 3-5 minutes on each blade, just to make sure the dark patina took hold.

I'm cautious about the FeCl[SUB]3[/SUB], just because I don't like using so much more 'punch' than is necessary. I know it can be used effectively, but there's a lot less risk in the relative gentleness of a product I could otherwise use on a salad. :D

My 'precious' Old Timer's blades are very thin, and the best slicers I own; wouldn't take much to eat away a lot of steel on these blades. On a big fixed blade in 1095, I wouldn't worry as much. ;)


David
 
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Just used some mustard, vinegar and some pepper juice on a paper towel. Checked in every once in awhile. Results were far above any anticipation.





 
Obsessed with Edges said:
... mix of water & vinegar heated to about 170°F (heated via a coffee maker, while using the vinegar to de-scale it). Just dipped the blades into the mix. Patina forms before the eyes...
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I noticed that, increasing the temperature of the vinegar will speed up the process. I didn't leave the knives submerged long. Only 20 min or so. I don't think the penetration was deep though. After use, some of the patina rubs off. However, I like the primitive used look. I can always do it again next month.
 
Yeah, mine in the video, I would take it out every now and again, and wipe it off, some patina rubs off, but I think it helps, if you keep repeating! That's why I just let it go for 8 hours or so! Don't have to, but I think it helps put a thicker layer on! I do this 2-3 times a year. The patina last pretty good with the lemon or lime juice!
 
I have used ferric chloride on a carbon Opinel and a Douk. It turned them jet black in no time, which eventually wore to a dark gray. Seemed to work okay, overall, but I wouldn't leave it in for a long time. I agree that where it really shines is if you want to turn certain stainless blades a nice matte gray color. It has worked awesomely for me on AUS-8 and fairly well on CPM-154, though I've had zero luck with 4116 and weak results on 440A, despite a fairly strong mixture. Maybe I just need to go stronger for those steels or leave them soaking longer.
 
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