Question about a patina

[johnwaynesandw]

I have a Case Kodiak that seems to be pretty old. I have modified it by cutting the top of the guard off. Now it will make a great fish cleaing knife and skinner.

I started to use it after removing the guard and the side without the bear and background etch it has a nice patina everywhere. On the side with the etch (which looks to have been sanded at some point and removed some of the etch) it has a patina on one spot near the top, and the blade under the bear but no where else.

Could anyone tell me why this is? I will try to get some pics up after my class.


Thanks,
John

 

[Lurker]

Are you asking why a patina develops on carbon steel or why it is on the exact spots where it is on that knife?

The bottom line is that it will probably even out over time with use.

 

[johnwaynesandw]

My question is why did it patina on one side and not the other. I have never seen this before on any other carbon blade I use. Every time I have used a Case knife with CV blades, the patina comes in evenly every where the "juice" gets on the blade. It is almost like half the blade is made of carbon blade, and the other SS .


Thanks,
John

 

[Lurker]

Without examining the knife, it would be hard to say. If it had uneven patina before you received the knife, maybe someone tried to clean it off and stopped before finishing. Maybe there had been some kind of protection in place (oil?) and it was applied unevenly.

If you have observed the uneven patina forming during your ownership of the knife, a possible explanation would be an uneven coating. I am pretty sure some of these Case CV blades were chrome plated to resist corrosion and patina. This one may have an uneven plating, possibly from some hard polishing or other work that was done before you received the knife. You mentioned that the blade looked sanded. That could explain it. If that is the case and you want to even it out, you could complete the coating removal.