RC-4 Vinegar Patina

wolffbite

wolffbite

Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
1,066
I've seen lots of people forcing patina's with all types of mustard and vinegar... so I wanted to try it for myself!

The first trial (no pics) I just let the blade soak in a glass of vinegar... I saw very minimal patina but instead got a sludgy layer of brown rust that just wiped right off.

Then I realized the oxidation will occur a lot faster and stick more permanently if it was exposed to air... I didn't want just a straight random patina, so I rolled up a paper towel and wrapped it in a spiral pattern, soaked it it white vinegar and left it in my sink for 2 hours.

And here is the result! It left me with a really unique looking patina after I wiped off the loose rust. After some mineral oil it looks fantastic!

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I thought I couldn't love the 4 any more... I was wrong! :D
 
I just did the same thing to my rc4 today. I have beat this knife for 3 weeks straight and the coating was trashed.
I did a vinigar wrapped paper towel for an hour (removed scales and did whole knife). then did a mustard covering for another hour. looks awesome.
I also took the knife to the grinder and sandpaper to remove the rolled edge on the top for an inch right after the thumb serations so my fire rod would work on the back of the blade.

Great job on the patina....the design looks awesome.
 
Very cool! Coating starting to wear a bit on my 4, gonna have to try that soon. Thanks
 
Wow. Can folks show pictures of their work? I think that looks GREAT!! I just need to get the courage to try it.
 
I tried mustard on a cheap Chinese blade. Left it for 3 hours and all I got was dried mustard. Guess I need to try something stronger...any ideas? Really wanting a random pattern. Someone said potatoes I think? Was considering hashbrowns to get a wild look.

Looking for any help because first attempt was a FAIL.
 
Thanks guys!

formtight if you already have it stripped, I'd say go for it! The worst you can do is get a pattern you hate, and then you just need some elbow grease to shine the blade up and give it another go!

skinz0021, just because it's a cheap chinese blade could still mean it is stainless, and you won't have any luck putting a patina on stainless xD. Try vinegar? If not, heat the vinegar and then try it, I know some people get neat almost gun bluing effects with that.
 
Those look good going to have to do that to a few of mine in the future
 
wolffbite said:
I've seen lots of people forcing patina's with all types of mustard and vinegar... so I wanted to try it for myself!

The first trial (no pics) I just let the blade soak in a glass of vinegar... I saw very minimal patina but instead got a sludgy layer of brown rust that just wiped right off.

Then I realized the oxidation will occur a lot faster and stick more permanently if it was exposed to air... I didn't want just a straight random patina, so I rolled up a paper towel and wrapped it in a spiral pattern, soaked it it white vinegar and left it in my sink for 2 hours.

And here is the result! It left me with a really unique looking patina after I wiped off the loose rust. After some mineral oil it looks fantastic!

P7110206.jpg


P7110208.jpg


P7110210.jpg


I thought I couldn't love the 4 any more... I was wrong! :D
Click to expand...

Holy crap! That's amazing! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
 
Looks cool.
I use lime juice or tomato juice.
My next patina experiment will be in a jar of tomato sauce.
 
That looks really good! Just don't use vinegar on any knives where the scales are epoxied on, vinegar is pretty caustic. I usually use mustard to make patterns in my hi carbon knives, but lately I'm liking the random patterns food prep leaves.
 
That's a nice one. First time I really liked that method. I'm doing a mustard joby on my Izula right now. Good job.
 
wolffbite said:
skinz0021, just because it's a cheap chinese blade could still mean it is stainless, and you won't have any luck putting a patina on stainless xD. Try vinegar? If not, heat the vinegar and then try it, I know some people get neat almost gun bluing effects with that.
Click to expand...


thanks i will give that a try.
 
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