patinas

a patina acquired by about 2 decades worth of use for everything from hunting to chopping down small saplings
 
Well id start with mild rubbing/polishing compound. I use no. 7 rubbing compound on mine. If that doesn't take it off try fine sandpaper (1000 +) it will leave tiny scratches in its wake but it you increase the grit those will polish out. I think wd40 works to but I've never tried that
 
I've also used steel wool and elbow grease. Anything that works on an iron skillet will clean up your knife.
 
Polish the blade with something like Simichrome, Flitz, etc. The 'patina' is just black iron oxide, which is what these polishing pastes are designed to remove. Make sure to use a polish that's made for hardened steel. Some polishes are made for softer metals, like gold & silver, and won't be as effective. I wouldn't use sandpaper for this, without first trying the polish, unless you're not worried about the scratches.

As noted earlier, personally, I wouldn't mess with that natural patina. It's a good thing, which helps protect the steel from red rust. If you just want to clean the blade (tree sap, dirt, glue, etc.), I'd just scrub with #0000 steel wool and WD-40.
 
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