Post some pics of forced patinas!

[dipbait]

I made these tiger stripes with thin slices of potatoes left overnight. Id like to try it again with some wavy slices .

 

[metermatch]

Hmmm I like the look of those tiger stripes! I might have to try the potato method!

 

[nevermind35]

Has anyone ever tried forcing a patina or blueing zpd-189?

 

[CliveJericho]

I tried doing a blade with vinegar(must not have been strong enough. it took almost 13 hours to get any substantial amount of patina.)

Next time I'll try a Sulfamic acid slurry(not sulfuric). I've gotten a patina with it on a carbon steel blade in about 15 minutes.

 

[nevermind35]

I tried doing a blade with vinegar(must not have been strong enough. it took almost 13 hours to get any substantial amount of patina.)

Next time I'll try a Sulfamic acid slurry(not sulfuric). I've gotten a patina with it on a carbon steel blade in about 15 minutes.

Was that with ZDP-189 or some other steel? My thought is to cold blue my ZDP Blur so that the lower ZDP section has a nice dark patina and the upper sandvik stainless will stay with the normal stonewash. Anyone try doing this to ZDP? I think I'll try it this weekend.

 

[BryFry]

Ok, so the OP talking about doing a patina on his Laredo Bowie finally got me motivated to do some mods on my own. Here's a few pics:

First I ground out and reshaped the choil so that I can actually get my finger in there when I choke up on the grip. -Then I sprayed a few coats of bleach on the blade and left it on over night trying to get some pitting going, which didn't have as much of an effect as I'd hoped.

Brushed with scotch-bright, then some vinagar, then a few coats of sprayed on gun blue followed by more scotch-bright, and finished with a fresh sharpening.

I was going for an old antiqued kind of look. My wife says my once shiny knife looks like crap now, LOL!, but I think it looks kinda cool...

 

[melsdad]

Bryfry, That is a very nice patina you got on that blade. That is the look I'm going for on the knife I am working on now.

 

[metermatch]

Now that looks good! I'll post some Laredo pics once I figure out exactly what I'm going to do!

 

[revolverman357]

I used spicy brown mustard and ketchup on this belt knife.

 

[Will Power]

Cutting up any of the onion family-but particularly shallots-gives a very nice rainbow hue. Using a knife as a kitchen food prep knife gives a fast and even patina. Fruit&veg and raw meats.

On my pocket knives, I've found that sticking the blade in pears gives much better and even results than apples,citrus or potato. I've no idea why.

 

[sweet_hitch-hiker]

whenm you guys use mustard or vinegar how long did you let them sit? overnight?

 

[melsdad]

whenm you guys use mustard or vinegar how long did you let them sit? overnight?

Mine was 24 hours in the mustard.

 

[Coyja]

JK Hiker. Mustard and Apple Cider Vinegar soaked paper towel was wrapped around the blade for a couple of hours and a couple of applications.
Apple Cider Vinegar seems to work the best.

 

[fujita yuji]

Here's mine.
Steel: M2 HSS
Process: Warmed lemon juice for fifteen minutes.

 

[CliveJericho]

that's a really subtle one.

 

[C.S. Graves]

whenm you guys use mustard or vinegar how long did you let them sit? overnight?

In my case, just between 2-4 hours, close to a warm spot in the house to facilitate drying the mustard. Heat seems to accelerate the patination process.

 

[ccr]

can this work on stainless?

 

[sweet_hitch-hiker]

not like it wuold on carbon steel. i mean it's stainless steel meaning it wont (well really resists) stains. you dont need to cus it wont rust/corrode anyways

 

[C.S. Graves]

Yep, sadly stainless is nigh-impossible to give this sort of antiqued look to.

 

[CliveJericho]

it is quite possible to patina stainless steel, you simply need a stronger acid.

try using sulfamic acid, it's used as a drain cleaner. mix it to a thick paste and only leave it on for about an hour.