Patina- harder than it looks

C

Cold Kill

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I tried to put a patina on my Svord Peasant last night, and well... it didn't quite work. I did what some others have suggested, and soaked it in lemon juice for 30 minutes. The end result was an ugly, smelly blade that looks like it has been to hell and back. My Svord is... to say the least... ruined. I don't know how, but the soak caused some pretty nasty pitting on the blade.
I just ordered an Opinel no.7, and would like to put a patina on it. What is the best method to put a patina on it, without making another Svord?
 
If the Opinel is carbon and not stainless, you might stick it in an apple, checking it every 30 - 60 minutes until it looks groovy.

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What knife is that? Looks like a Sodbuster, but I don't know any of them made in anything other than stainless or D2 (which is basically stainless).

I think I will try the apple, just one question: how long did that patina take?
 
Oh yeah... keep forgetting CV is a carbon steel. Too used to carbon steels with the usual names, like tool steels or numbers.
 
Depending on the kind of look you're going for, mustard can work quite well. Its what I have done on all of my knives.
 
Cold Kill said:
how long did that patina take?
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I don't really remember, except that I checked it every 30 - 60 minutes until it looked tasty. It might have been 3 hours total, but I just can't remember.

Thats the only blade I've forced. You may get some "better" answers, but the apple does do the trick.

You can see on the blade the oval spot where it bisected a seed.
 
The end result was an ugly, smelly blade that looks like it has been to hell and back. My Svord is... to say the least... ruined. I don't know how, but the soak caused some pretty nasty pitting on the blade.
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Wow, you ended up with actual pitting in just 30 minutes?
 
Cut up apple. Eat apple. About a half hour later, rinse off your blade. Repeat.

All there is to it.
 
Yeah there's no way thirty minutes pitted your knife up. And even if it did, it would still be far from ruined. I personally think some slight pitting could actually make a svord look even better haha.

I did the tiger stripe mustard patina on a mora that turned out well, but looked to contrived to me so I took it off. Other than that this is the closest to forced I have a picture of. Cut up a bunch of plums and let it sit for forty minutes or so.
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I will usually cut up some fruit and let the knife sit for a half hour or so when I get new carbon steel. Sometimes it darkens up a ton right away, sometimes it is barely noticeable.
 
The first spineward third of my peasant is rough-finished is yours not? It kinda seems to me that it would look good with a rough finish dark patina and shiny edge. I guess what I'm driving at here is can I see pics?

But at any rate, I would assume (having not seen the results of your patina) that it's nothing you couldn't fix with a little oil and sandpaper. --please feel to correct me if this went horribly, horribly wrong. Either way I'm sorry you didn't get the results you were looking for.

I have on several different blades and steels had good results with white vinegar. It can be made more aggressive by heating it. So, if lemon juice is too aggressive, then you might try vinegar at room temp and monitor it closely. I have found that I alternate 15-30 minutes of vinegar time and then a similar legnth of time in air (oxygen has to help an oxidization process, right?).

here is a patina I did on my BK-14 using the above method -- steel is 1095CV for the record.


Hope this helps.
 
I used sandpaper to try to refinish my Svord, and I got it mostly finished, but needed some foam to put the final touches on it. It sat for about a month when it was just roughed up. After getting the foam, it was rusted up pretty badly, and that is where most of the pitting came from. It seems like the lemon juice just brought it out more. To settle it, the lemon juice was actually quite potent (strong to me, and I can and have chugged bottles of lemon juice).
 
I've seen one other guy on here that's used vinegar with a paper towel, characteristic spots on the blade, at least from that kind of paper towel.

My recommendation for a shake and bake patina is that cheap toilet paper (flat surface) wet it with vinegar the hold it over a hair dryer or an open flame (gas stove/grill/fire) the more air movement with the heated vinegar the faster the patina.
 
Heat speeds up the forming of a patina? And air flow does to? So it is a controlled form of oxidation.
 
Ive used a few different methods

Rice Vinegar - leaves a light bluish patina, almost anodized look. But if you leave it too long itll turn a dull grey.

Red Wine Vinegar - A much darker patina, dark grey

Potato - a dull grey finish

Mustard - if your careful with it you can make some pretty cool designs, I tried making a damascus-esque patina with this but it just bled and turned into tiger stripes
 
Cold Kill said:
I used sandpaper to try to refinish my Svord, and I got it mostly finished, but needed some foam to put the final touches on it. It sat for about a month when it was just roughed up. After getting the foam, it was rusted up pretty badly, and that is where most of the pitting came from. It seems like the lemon juice just brought it out more. To settle it, the lemon juice was actually quite potent (strong to me, and I can and have chugged bottles of lemon juice).
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Sounds like the key lime of lemons. Kinda makes me want lemon bars:D. But, in my experience, you pretty well have to oil any high carbon steel after looking at it funny if you don't want the evil red rust. At least, until you get a patina you like.

Skimo said:
I've seen one other guy on here that's used vinegar with a paper towel, characteristic spots on the blade, at least from that kind of paper towel.

My recommendation for a shake and bake patina is that cheap toilet paper (flat surface) wet it with vinegar the hold it over a hair dryer or an open flame (gas stove/grill/fire) the more air movement with the heated vinegar the faster the patina.
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Ok, I want to try this with a cool-textured paper towel and see if it produces a cool finish. If only I had a knife that needed a patina now.
 
ThePointyEnd said:
Ok, I want to try this with a cool-textured paper towel and see if it produces a cool finish. If only I had a knife that needed a patina now.
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find a knife you think needs a new one and sandpaper away the old, its not like your taking off that much more steel
 
The sandpaper really isn't doing anything to it now, I think I may need to use a wire wheel at low speed. I do want to salvage my Svord, because it is a really cool knife, but my main focus is preparing for when my Opinel shows up. Which common-place material makes the darkest patina, and with what method?
 
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