How many have forced a Patina on M4 or others?

So here it is fresh out the box, sorry for the crappy iPhone photos - I might grab the good camera and shoot it after using it today. Will use it for a few weeks, then force the patina and report back in :)

6gxK+
 
I forced a patina on the hollow grind section of my Bradley 2, I live two blocks from the ocean and even oiling it everyday rust spots were showing along the curved grind section. I forced the patina with battery acid and it took about 30 seconds for a really dark contrast. I will take a few shots when I get home. I really like how it is two tone now and the rust spots seem to have slowed down. My mistake for loving m4 and living by the ocean, even my s90v stuff gets spotty here.
 
My two favorite patina makers are fresh tomato or lemon in that order.
I am not so sure submerging is the best way to go ; seems to me a good wipe of the stuff and leave it in open air to oxidize is best.
Anybody have an opinion / facts about that ?
 
Interesting thread. I can always enjoy some good character.

I see most of my patina from mostly cutting fruit often. A lot of kiwi, oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, and even gotten patina from bananas and apples. Even improvised and stirred my coffee from time to time and gotten patina. Cut sandwiches with mustard and seen effects... tomatoes, etc, etc.
Only two I've ever tried to "force" is a ZDP-189 Stretch that I soaked in various forms of vinegar, just to test it's corrosion resistance. And it just got cloudy grey and seems to be protected a bit now. And I also experimented with a water droplet patina effect on a 1095 Blind Horse fixed blade I have.
Battery acid seems a little excessive to me, but if it helped you slow your natural environmental effects, then more power to ya.


Iamthejellyfish, I truly pity your automobiles. And I thought winter road salt in the Mitten was bad...
 
My GB started getting a bit of a patina around the hole and a few spots on the blade, and i wanted to make it more even all over, so I tried sitting the blade in some ascetic acid (which worked really well on Super Blue), but it didn't seem to work. So I tried it in sulfuric acid for about 30 minutes and that worked. Did need a sharpen afterward.

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CPM-M4 takes an awesome etch if you wanna go all-out with Ferric Chloride, which, in a sense, is just forcing a patina with a heavier acid than lemon juice or vinegar.

iQeip7il.jpg
 
Did you take the entire knife apart for the FriarPhenn? Also how long did you have to soak it?
 
brvheart said:
Did you take the entire knife apart for the FriarPhenn? Also how long did you have to soak it?
Click to expand...

Yeah—took the knife apart. I had Josh at Razor Edge Knives (click the right-most bubble in my signature) do it for me in conjunction with some other work, so I'm not sure on the details. But in my experience with other knives, it only takes 5-ish minutes to set in a good etch. M4 even quicker given its lower resistance to corrosion. If you do remove the blade, remember to mask off the pivot areas and lockface with nail polish or something similar. :thumbup:
 
I've read that if you take it apart and submerge the blade, you need to protect the pivot and the part where the lock touches the blade from the acid. The build tolerances are pretty tight, so changing those surfaces can cause action and lockup issues.
 
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