Patina or Clean

I bought an A2 Aurora from Bark River Knife and Tool. From the first time I used it it was a rusty duck. If I cut fruit, food or green wood with it and turned my back it was rusty in a matter of hours. I took a camping/woodcrafting trip over one weekend and by the time I got back it took a trip to Bark River to clean up the rust.
This is a great knife. It holds an edge like grim death and performs all the tasks associated with a bushcraft knife with flying colors. After the second go around of rusting I decided to apply a protective patina to the blade. I did this using hot white vinegar. I applied it in stages to the blade and the exposed part of the tang;
A2patenia3.BMP


Before

Aurora_Ant_Stg_Bone_Mosaic.jpg

When I was finished I had to completely resharpen the knife. I really like the result. There is some drag on the face of the blade slicing deeply into meat or canvas but for the most part I love the antique appearance. It matches the antique stag bone grips.
 
Did a mustard patina on a kitchen knife that is made from an old brick layers trowel. I let the mustard sit on it over night which was too long. I had to take a brillo pad to it which didn't take the patina off, but mellowed it out a bit. The knife is my favorite kitchen knife but doesn't get treated as well as my users. It doesn't rust unless totally abused.

I may post a pic when I get home.
 
Of course if you like shiny blades basically the same knife is available in 12C27 stainless. Thanks to Mike's skill with tempering it performs just as well as the A2 knives and mine has yet to rust even after ZERO care in wilderness environments including exposure to blood and acid fruits.

It is called the Nebula;

Nebula_Blaze_Orange_S.jpg
 
OK So here are my kitchen knives and a filet knife.
The white ones are stainless polished. they are the oldest and have seen the most abuse (about 10 yrs old)
The filet knife is also stainless and has a "scotch brite" finish which is done with a scotch pad.
The bottom is an old brick layers trowel with a mustard patina. Like I said earlier, It's my favorite kitchen knife.
BTW... All these knives are made by G.L. Drew








Enjoy!
 
I've found A2 to be pretty resistant to rust, almost as much as D2. O1 takes on an awesome patina, my favorite so far really. Riddleofsteel, that's a nice, black patina your Barkie took, I like it!
 
problem i have is if i put a nice protective patina on my tanto the hamon becomes dark and i lose the frosty line and the edge ends up far darker then i can get the body
 
I like a patina. Its like new shoes. They just dont feel right till I break em in.

Scott, you sharpen with that maroon scotchbrite belt??? I just got some in and boy, they make finishing the blade a wiz. But I hadn't sharpened with one... Hmmm.
 
Fiddleback said:
I like a patina. Its like new shoes. They just dont feel right till I break em in.

Scott, you sharpen with that maroon scotchbrite belt??? I just got some in and boy, they make finishing the blade a wiz. But I hadn't sharpened with one... Hmmm.
Click to expand...

Andy, the maroon one is the medium. I hardly ever use that one. I start off with the brown, coarse, then finish with a blue, fine loaded with 600 grit aluminum oxide. The white compound, while using the slack belt attachment. When a knife is really dull, I sharpen on a 100 grit silicon carbide belt on the 2x48 grinder, then go to the scotchbrite belts.
Scott
 
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