Patinas (Questions, Comments & Methods)

wbsneed

wbsneed

Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
105
Be honest. How many of you force a patina on your carbon steel blades? For whatever purpose it is, "rust inhibitor", or just plain cool. If you're familiar with guitars, this is close to what players call 'relicing'.
I was just wondering, because I'm probably going to get a Case Barehead Slimline Trapper soon, in CV of course. The first thing I do is probably gonna be to stick it in an apple and leave it.
Also, which model should I get, yellow handle or red bone? I'm thinking yellow, sway me. Ahh, I guess I'm done rambling.
 
I did it once to a Bowie and promptly removed it afterward. Haven't done it since.

As to the other...well, yellow of course. ;)
 
How promptly are we talkin'? How did you remove it? By the way, I was up in North Carolina last week, Outer Banks to be specific. It's a pretty cool place to be for a country boy like me.
 
Promptly, as in immediately afterward.

A little scrubbing/elbow grease took care of it right quick. If I used an abrasive cleanser I don't recall specifically since it was several years ago.

I'm way west in the mountains. It'd take me about ten hours to drive to the Outer Banks from here. Glad you enjoyed the coast.
 
I have on both my Case YH CV's. I used a vinegar bath and the blades came out a nice shade of gray. My Bokers I have helped. A wipe of vinegar here or there, slicing strawberries etc. My Barlow has really taken on a multi-color look. I have found the patina aids in preventing the red surface rust. While my Case YH CVs (a mini sodbuster and a slimline bareheaded trapper) are users in the yard and garden. I have not and will not be forcing it with my Queen or Moore Maker.
 
Hello wbsneed,

(1) I have never, ever done this. In fact, their are several threads in this forum where in the past I have explained in passionate detail why I don't do this. I won't rehash it and beat down the proverbial dead horse. Suffice it to say its a sin in my book and I prefer to put an honest patina on my carbon steel.

But hey, to each his own.

(2) Go with Bone every time, life is to short for yellow plastic scales.:D

All the best,

Anthony
 
I've done it in the past. I didn't much like the result, so I don't do it anymore. I do however wait longer than I need to before I clean my knives.

Get the redbone. Natural materials are always better than plastic when it comes to slippies.
 
I did it once, and also quickly removed it. I used Flitz or Simichrome to take it off.

I've come to realize I prefer shiny steel, so I now use A.G. Russell's "Rust Free" on most of my carbon blades.

FWIW, I did this to my Red Bone Slimline Trapper. I also have a yellow Delrin one, as well as a brown Delrin model. Both of these are in stainless. I'd go for the yellow CV if I were you. The Red Bone can be pretty bright, and yet oddly pink and washed out near the edges. CV is not available with the brown handle.

-- Sam
 
I have always followed the same routine when I get home. Take off guns, wipe them down with a silicon rag, put them up. I then take out my knives I carried that day and do the same. As a result my 30 year old soddie has a bright and shiny blade just as all my carbon steel does.

This comes from habit installed when I was 6 or so when I got my first knife. My father would often ask to see it and if it wasn't clean and shiny I would lose it for a month or so. Only happened one time and that lesson has stuck with me for over 40 years, clean your tools daily and keep them oiled and looking good. I can understand a natural patina being a source of pride for some, it shows age and the fact the blade is a user....but to artificially induce a patina....well....that seems like fraud in a way...
 
I've forced a patina on some opinels just to play but I feel that if you are planning to make a knife a companion than you owe it to yourself and to the blade to let it build a charectar of it's own..than each stain will be a memory of a time you shared together like each scar on your body tells of some past adventure...so in 10 years when you whip out that trapper to cut some twine or to slice off a hunk of cheddar and it almost looks like a fillet knife because it's been sharpened so many times...you can catcha casual glance at that black splotchy blade and know in all certainty that that knife has walked the road and brought you home every time... but that's just me...
 
I didn't check my shorts before I tossed them in the washer,and my junker Kutmaster stockman went through the washer AND dryer. Little bit of Loctite inside, and it opens now :D. The patina looks much better too :D.
 
Down here in south Mississippi it doesn't take too long to develop a natural patina, if you use the knife. So, I don't really ever have to force one. Actually, I'd never heard of forcing a patina on a knife until I began reading these boards. Before that I carried carbon steel Case knives for thirty years. Those knives all developed natural patinas. Sometimes they might be kinda splotchy, but that's just show's a little more character!
 
I recently forced a patina on my No. 9 Opinel. Did it with just plain ol' yellow Mustard. Didn't take too long either. Did it mainly to help keep the red rust off, but I still wipe it down with a little olive oil after using it. And it does have that rather "cool" multi-gray look. But I would think twice to doing it to a more expensive knife. Agree with the others....let it form naturally.

-BluesK
 
I've done it to some and have not done it to others. I'll unlike others do it again. Personally I dislike the splotchy look of some of the natural formed patina. I have been able to even it out by forcing a more even patina, and will do again. Depending on the knife I will also force a patina or leave it natural to my likeing.
 
I've done it on some, don't think I will do it on any more.
Unless I get another Sodbuster, or an Old Hickory.
Sodbuster- just doens't look right with a shiny blade.
Old Hickory- I would be using it in the kitchen, and I wouldn't want kitchen guests to look at an uneven patina and say
"Ooh! Rust! Tetanus! Apocolypse!"
 
So my new question is, if I get anything in the inner workings of this knife, how do I thoroughly clean it out? I have skinned small game with a Spyderco and I just took it apart to clean. I've never gotten a slipjoint like this dirty to the point it needed it, but just in case. No pun intended.

Thanks,
Will
 
A couple of days ago I brassoed my CV stockman clean.
Including the natural patina.

The blades are shiny but not a deep gloss like new.
I will see how the patina comes back...
 
wbsneed said:
Be honest. How many of you force a patina on your carbon steel blades? For whatever purpose it is, "rust inhibitor", or just plain cool. If you're familiar with guitars, this is close to what players call 'relicing'.
Click to expand...

Relicing a guitar is purely cosmetic (and a bit silly), where putting a patina on a carbon steel blade is usually (not always) done for reasons of performance (i.e. rust inhibitor).

Here's how I do it: I wash the blade with hot, soapy water and then wipe it down with rubbing alcohol and dry it. Then I slowly quarter an apple and cut off thin slice after thin slice, eating the apple and letting the juice stay on the blade. After I'm done with the apple, I'll rinse off the blade with water, dry it and jam the knife into my pocket (close it first, Einsteins! :D ). I'll do this a few times over the course of a week or so and it develops a reasonable pre-patina. Again, I don't do this to make the knife look cool - I do it to inhibit rust.

The question is: Since I'm using the knife for a legit knife use (cutting apples), am I forcing a patina, thereby incurring the wrath and scorn of bladeforums patina purists everywhere? Or am I just, you know, using the knife? And, what is the sound of one blade closing? :p
 
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