O-1 vs stainless steels

You'd need a SERIOUS acid to etch it with. I've had good luck with Caswell's stainless blackening gel, but you have to be careful and surface prep is key. You can't just pop AUS-8 into an apple overnight and achieve a patina.
 
You can get muriatic acid or "pool acid" at hardware stores. It's just HCl, I'm sure it'd darken stainless steels.
 
I am new but I just had to put in my 2 cents worth. I hope y'all don't mind. I went back to non-stain resistant steels, like 0-1 and 50100-B because they just cut so much better. I was unhappy with the level of performance with some high dollar "stainless" steel knives that would not open and envelope without tearing the paper or cut open a taped box cleanly. I set out to do a cutting test and I found that these steels do a better job day in a day out on common chores, such as: cutting rope, cutting paper, opening boxes, cutting fruit, cutting meat, skinning, and more. I could give a break down, but I think a test where the knife is allowed to do the cutting instead of forcing it through some material is quite instructive. The only downside (if it is one) is that the knives will gain a nice, grey patina, rather than keep a shiny surface polish, after a while.
What do you all think? Have you tried this?
 
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