mustard Patina

7

724wd

Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
435
guys, i am at that point on my first blade where i am ready to put a patina on it. what are the steps for the mustard patina? just spread on some frenches? Bruce Bump helped me with the heat treat, it's a 5160 copy of a benchmade resistor. i'll see what i can do for pics.
 
It seems to stain best where the air and mustard meet. You wont get the same look from covering the whole thing at once compared to many layers of fine dots or stripes(or large dots , splotches, camo style ....) Experiment.
 
I just did a high carbon kitchen knife i made. I made a random pattern. left it on for probably thirty minutes. It seems to have worked better in the spots where the mustard was thinner.
 
thanks guys. i also did a search here and found all the old threads...

anyway, here's what i'm starting with...
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and this is what happens when you upset your hand model...
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The best way to apply the mustard is to dab it on and try to make it peek. Let it dry out for awhile or even over night. You can also put it in an etch for a few minutes after it has dried and that will speed things up.
 
bruce, it's pretty close to sharp now. gail is a lot of fun to work with. i worked on the grinds a bit then put it in my new lansky. but with the soft grinds, i think a patina'd finish might help make the boo-boo's disappear. it will be a rough duty first knife. i am happy with it. my next knife will be better! and thank you again for all the help, advice and goodies you gave me.
 
I think the main advantage of using mustard is it's viscosity, it will stay where you put it. The vinegar in the mustard is what does most of the "work". I had very good success on a CS Master Hunter using small dabs and plenty of them, not too thick of a dab either, as others said. I left space between each dab, let the mustard stink and dry for an hour, then washed it off and did the same thing. This time I put the dabs where they weren't the first time. Did this a total of 3 times. The spots will be dark grey around the edges, and almost normal-looking in the centers, with subtle other colors in there too. It kinda/sorta looks like damascus that way. Just for grins I treated it with regular Casey cold-blue after it was all done and cleaned up. I think it looks cool, reminds me of a case-hardened gun this way, mostly blue/black with subtle oranges and purples underneath.

If you want a smooth, even, black finish, just let the blade rest in a glass of vinger or lemon juice. There's a zillion threads on this topic around here.
 
I just remembered something. I put the knife in a large plastic ziplock that has some water sprinkled inside and place it near a heater to create a hot moist environment. I try not to smear my mustard pattern with the plastic(or sometimes I do on pupose) It seems to speed things up and turn stains blacker.
 
I have been playing with this recently as well.Get one of those yellow picnic style mustard bottles from walmart,the kind with a small squeeze spout.I also "cut" the mustard with a little more vinegar.Gibsonfan is right about the viscocity thing dont use too much vinegar.Here is some pics the first one is after the fist application tha last two are after about 7 or 8
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J. Marsillo, that looks a LOT better than the painted on stripes you sometimes see. Nice work!
 
My woman loves tie-dye anything... maybe I could do a swirly one for her... ;)

Then again, the poor girl has more knives than she knows what to do with, maybe I should get her some flowers instead...
 
I'm not sure on the durability but I'm gonna put the wharncliffe to the test as soon as I finish sharpening.
GibsonFan if you use some kind of resist like electrical tape? or nail polish you just might be able to get some cool patterns try alternating between mustard and cold blue,even with the squeeze bottle I got some real small lines of mustard out.
 
Nice stuff Joe.
Here are a couple done w/ mustard and the "wet bag" environment.Sorry for the giant pics and low quality of them.
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Nice cooking :) I like the dots look.The tanto is great with any finish :thumbup: I wonder if IG's Ht'ing relish will work for a patina.:D
 
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