petina before or after?

[imacf90]

hey i decided to give knife making a whirl. just for fun i started this pretty cool little blade. my question is if i want to force a patina should i do the whole blade and tang before i put the handle slabs on or should i just put the handles on and then do it, or does it not matter at all?

 

[beluga]

I'd put the patina on the whole blade and tang before putting on the handle slabs. This way, even if there's a microscopic crack between the tang and the slab, the patina will serve as a protective coating to prevent rust on the tang.

 

[IUKE12]

I'll back beluga up, do it before adding the handles, better coverage that way.