Patina Contest...WIN $100 Swamp Rat Shop Credit!!!

In a rush, I forgot to add:

Thanks for the support generous offers of multiple winners! That's MEGA cool if you guys!

 

when is this mega ratmandu coming?

 

Congrats guys

 

Yeah I noticed that too.. sounds like it’s getting nearer!

 

Good morning this is great news for wake up time today.
Congrats every body it was fun to do.
If life gives you lemons make Limoncello, we made 3 bottles last week so that is result of
36 lemons with a bit of saran wrap for an hour soaking after.
Thanks MaxRat and RATequila

 

Congratulations all of you.
Very nice work.

 

I agree with Dave,,,nice work everyone and congrats to the winners!

 

Holy cow!!! I actually won something! That doesn't happen very often...

Thanks guys! I'll be taking this beast camping this weekend to properly break her in! I'll post pics next week after I get back.

 

cool can't wait!!!

 

a bit late I know.... i ate some flat iron today. It was delicious.

 

Well, the kids did most of the firewood splitting over the weekend (they were properly trained first, so don't worry, lol), so I didn't get any pics of the MEGA 'Weiler in use. But it worked pretty awesome though. Love this new Hybrid Grind! Got a couple glamour shots instead.





I chopped the head off this White Drum to get the otoliths (lucky stones) out. No problemo.


-------WARNING, GORE PICS AHEAD-------

 

OK, I'm dumb. What are the otoliths? Or Lucky Stones, for that matter?

 

Drum have them in their heads, and I think you have the correct word...otolith

 

Same thing, different name (one proper, one nickname). They're very hard, shiny Calcium deposits in the ear of some (most?) fish and mammals (to a lesser extent) that help maintain balance and detect acceleration. They grow in rings like a tree, so biologists can use the growth rings to age a fish. They look almost like a cross-section of a large hailstone.

The otoliths in Drum happen to be much larger than most other freshwater fish. I've never kept a Drum until now, so I've never collected these before. My buddy wanted to try the meat, but I've heard it's not great. We shall see this weekend.

 

Ah. Thanks for the explanation. I couldn’t find anything on a brief I’net search that matched what I was seeeing in the photos. So I was all cornfused.

 

Here's my Swamp Comp Chubby Warden after a good scrub, then a nice, long, warm vinegar bath last night



I darkened the exposure on this pic to make it look more like it does in person.



A couple of my user comp finish in the Danny sheath:





The vinegar patina turned out interesting. I've noticed that the more recent SR-101 doesn't get the black/gray patina of old, it has more brown in it. It gives the look of a case-hardened revolver. I can live with that.

In case you're wondering how I did this, it's pretty simple. Start off by scrubbing the blade down with warm water and Dawn dish soap. Dry it off and soak/scrub it with acetone. This cleans and degreases it.

Next, fill a pot or pan with enough white vinegar to cover the blade. I laid a couple zip ties in the bottom to keep the blade from sitting right on the surface of the pan, to keep it mostly exposed to the vinegar. Heat the vinegar to a simmer over medium heat, so it's just barely steaming. Once the metal heats up to the same temperature, it will bubble profusely in the vinegar as the reaction takes place. Leave it in the vinegar for about 5-6 minutes, turning it over regularly.

Remove the blade from the vinegar. It will be jet black at this point (I wish it stayed looking like this), but that's just the carbon built up on the surface. Take it to the sink, and scrub the carbon off with a brush or sponge under running water. Dry the blade off and return it to the warm vinegar bath. Repeat this process however many times until you get the desired look. I did it 3 times and the patina on mine is a nice medium grey/brown with almost some hints of olive green. It's a bit splotchy for some reason (I've never encountered this using this same process many times before, no clue why), but as I mentioned earlier, it looks a lot like a case hardened antique revolver, and I cannot for the life of me get this to show up in the photos properly. HTH.

Another thing to note, this changes the feel of the metal's surface too. It goes from smooth and slick to a slightly matte, bead-blasted feel. It holds oil well though, and I do recommend a light wipe-down with some mineral oil.

 

Looking good guys !! As usual im getting to the party way to late.. but heres my mega ratweiler!