Patina on a Case with cv steel

[clockman]

I just got a couple of Case single blade trappers with liner locks and cv steel.
I've been keeping oil on the blades and I'm still getting a few spots on the blade. Keeping
oil on the blade all the time is a real pain. What can I do or use a get a patina on this polished blade with cv steel?
Or should I just not use any oil on blade and get a natural patina....not wiping
the blade after cutting fruits and vegies and what else?

 

[black mamba]

Keeping oil on the blade will prevent a patina. The best way I've found to get a decent patina and help prevent deeper rust spots is to purposely patina the blade. I have used hot vinegar, hot coffee grounds, sticking the blade into an apple or orange, etc. Once you get a nice, even color of patina, rinse the blade in hot water, dry completely, and then oil the blade a little. After that, you just need to keep it dry after use, and your patina will gradually change over time depending on the acidity of the things you are cutting.

Here's a couple of hot vinegar patinas.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Cut some roasted or rotisserie chicken with it, the hotter the better, and some vegetables and stuff.
A couple dinners worth of cutting should give you a real nice patina. If it was a regular non CV carbon steel it could only take one, but CV is a bit more resistant.


This knife isn't CV, but it's a good example of the kind of patina you can get.
Chicken gives you more of the firey blue patina while beef gives you more of the brownish gold patina.
You're greys come from potatoes and stuff.

Not CV either, I only have one CV blade and no pictures of it.

 

[GE Jr]

Before I cut any fruit or anything that I want to eat, I wash the blade with detergent and warm water, then rinse. This also allows the acids to attack the blade a little more easily (I think). I wipe (and rinse) the blades when done...but only after a few minutes if I'm going for the start of a little friendly tarnish. After a few of these sessions, your knife gets a pretty good start of a patina. If I think it's a little too blotchy-looking, I'll wipe it with an SOS pad a few times...evens things out, but leaves a smoother patina, IMO.

 

[davek14]

Wet a paper towel with vinegar. Then wrap the blade with it, one layer is fine. Let it dry overnight.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Btw there's lots of ways than do a forced patina, but a multicolored multi layered natural patina always looks the best imo.
You can always force a patina over a natural one if you don't like it, but a natural patina doesn't show as well on top of a forced one and you'd have to remove first, so I'd recommend starting natural.

 

[afishhunter]

you can smear French's Yellow mustard on the blade, let dry, then wipe or wash off, and dry the blade again if you wash it.
Mustard gives a nice patina.
I have not tried ketchup or catsup, but they might work, too.

 

[akaMatt]

Cut a nectarine or two. Let the blade sit for a few minutes while you eat it, then wipe off the blade with a wet paper towel and wipe dry. I just discovered that with a new Case pen last week over lunch!

 

[Ernie1980]

Matt you need to cut something with the rest of that blade!
I have found that cutting a variety of fruits gives a nice pattern that develops pretty quickly, I usually do that with carbon blades that I plan on letting patina.

 

[akaMatt]

Matt you need to cut something with the rest of that blade!
I have found that cutting a variety of fruits gives a nice pattern that develops pretty quickly, I usually do that with carbon blades that I plan on letting patina.

Lol, yeah I got a couple more nectarines today, I'll take care of the rest of that blade! However, I also just bought the mini trapper pictured, so they'll be splitting time... this one is SS, so it won't get that "mostly patina'd" look.

 

[Wowbagger]

I'm going for hot vineger ( just for a change from food patina). I wonder why one would dilute it with water rather than use it full strength ?

 

[Planterz]

I have not tried ketchup or catsup, but they might work, too.

 

[Hickory n steel]

you can smear French's Yellow mustard on the blade, let dry, then wipe or wash off, and dry the blade again if you wash it.
Mustard gives a nice patina.
I have not tried ketchup or catsup, but they might work, too.

Ketchup pretty much does the same thing as vinegar.
It's what I have used multiple times because the smell of vinegar or that horrible yellow stuff will make me vomit in one whiff 9/10.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Cut a nectarine or two. Let the blade sit for a few minutes while you eat it, then wipe off the blade with a wet paper towel and wipe dry. I just discovered that with a new Case pen last week over lunch!

That's an awesome patina, it's like a dark motor oil in water affect. I think it would be awesome to have that on a knife's pen blade and the firey blue chicken patina on the main blade.

 

[Henry Beige]

Make yourself a gimlet. Two ounces of gin (I usually go with Bombay Sapphire) in a lowball glass, over ice. Slice two limes into quarters, and squeeze the juice into the gin. In the absence of a squeezer, a channellock plier will get the last bit of lime juice out.

Leave the knife on the cutting board while you drink your cocktail. If you are so inclined, repeat the process. When you are finished, remember the knife on the cutting board. Wipe the blade and put the knife in your pocket.

Repeat as necessary.

 

[jmh33]

Clean-open blades
Use Distilled vinegar.. Fill glass container
Insert knife (glass container point first all the way to tang)
Let set 24 hrs (I have done as little as 6hrs)
Remove and rinse with hot water.. Let air dry.. DO NOT wipe blades..
Lightly wipe oil on blades after air drying..
Let set 15-20min with oil on blades..
Gently wipe oil off with a soft cloth and let stand for another 30 min..

I have done this method on 10-15 knives and it works GREAT.. 1095, O1, CV, A2 steels John

 

[Railsplitter]

Clean-open blades
Use Distilled vinegar.. Fill glass container
Insert knife (glass container point first all the way to tang)
Let set 24 hrs (I have done as little as 6hrs)
Remove and rinse with hot water.. Let air dry.. DO NOT wipe blades..
Lightly wipe oil on blades after air drying..
Let set 15-20min with oil on blades..
Gently wipe oil off with a soft cloth and let stand for another 30 min..

I have done this method on 10-15 knives and it works GREAT.. 1095, O1, CV, A2 steels John

Here's a terrible pic of a Case CV knife with a forced patina using the highlighted methods from John's post above. If I remember correctly, I soaked this blade for 45 minutes. The glass container allows you to view the progress which is very helpful. I'm sure this patina would have turned out darker but I pulled it from the soak when it was at the level of darkness that I wanted.
View attachment 763299

 

[Wowbagger]

I'm going for hot vineger ( just for a change from food patina). I wonder why one would dilute it with water rather than use it full strength ?

[quote below is from the Maintenance and Tinkering duplicate thread]

BTW, as to why(?) I'd mix the vinegar with water, I did this as a matter of convenience while de-scaling my coffee maker, using the mfr's suggested guidelines for that (which was a mix of 5% vinegar and water). De-scaled the coffee maker and patinated my knives at the same time, dipping the blades into it after the mix drains into the carafe (at around ~170-180°F, as heated by the coffee maker). Sort of a two-fer combo job, in getting the most out of my vinegar and my time spent.

I then added over there :
Yes last night I tried full strength white vinegar heated in a double boiler in a tiny jar and dipped part of a trapper CV blade. Then I diluted the vinegar roughly by 50% with tap water and dipped the blade in further. There was still considerable bubbling/reaction and if anything the undipped section of the blade (above the area dipped in the full strength) was even darker and perhaps a bit more tenacious once rinsed off and rubbed with a dry cloth.

Black smiths rub bee's wax on blackened iron to protect and improve the look of the black surface. I tried this on the blade and it seemed to take off more of the patina than the unwaxed section. They heat the steel or put on the wax while quite hot. This would have ruined the temper so obviously I didn't go there.

From the above I am starting to appreciate the patina that comes from food. The patina from food does seem to be more tenacious.

 

[Wowbagger]

Cut a nectarine or two. Let the blade sit for a few minutes while you eat it, then wipe off the blade with a wet paper towel and wipe dry. I just discovered that with a new Case pen last week over lunch!

That's an awesome patina, it's like a dark motor oil in water affect.

Yup.
Nectarines just went on the shopping list.

(I usually go with Bombay Sapphire) . . . . In the absence of a squeezer, a channellock plier will get the last bit of lime juice out.

THANKS ! ! !
I have channel locks (very small set) in the kitchen for handling hot things. I've been looking around for some sort of very small lime squeezer.
By the way The Chef says Bombay Sapphire is definitely the way she rolls.

We recently bought some super duper, organic, small batch, oh my gosh gin made here in Colorado. Tastes like the remains after somebody soaked a stain out of their lederhosen in it. Back to Bombay was the call after that.

 

[Henry Beige]

Yup.
Nectarines just went on the shopping list.



THANKS ! ! !
I have channel locks (very small set) in the kitchen for handling hot things. I've been looking around for some sort of very small lime squeezer.
By the way The Chef says Bombay Sapphire is definitely the way she rolls.

We recently bought some super duper, organic, small batch, oh my gosh gin made here in Colorado. Tastes like the remains after somebody soaked a stain out of their lederhosen in it. Back to Bombay was the call after that.

Remember Eddie Murphy in, I'm gonna say Raw, although it could have been Delerious: "How many of you took your first sip out of a glass of gin and said, 'my that is delicious'?" In any case, the local small-batch gins have not impressed me. After tasting one, I returned it as undrinkable. Hendrick's, Boodle's, Citadelle, but usually Bombay. Booth's is cheaper, fine to mix with, and drinkable on its own.