Real "Experience" Patina???

G

getpower

Joined
Sep 24, 2008
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I was holding off on this post because I was trying to research it before I went ahead and asked.

I tried the search function on the site, but the results were to no avail.

What I want to know is (and more information might come from the older guys here) what will give one of my knives a nice, dark-grey patina?

I am talking about while using the knife. I am not asking how I can force a patina. I want it to be a real-use patina.

I am trying to carry nothing but my Large Case CV Stockman, and I have a couple of stains on the blades from rubbing and cutting fruits. But I dont know if I am hindering the knife from getting a real patina by rubbing the blade down with oil frequently or what?

I dont want to mess the knife up, but rather I am wondering what will enable the knife to eventually acquire the kind of used look that I am describing?

How long do you guys think that this could take if I go ahead and use nothing but this knife on a daily basis for "normal" cutting chores?

I apologize if this these questions have been answered before, but if they have, maybe one of you guys would know where to look and post a link for me?

Thanks in advance.
 
Since you don't want to force it, you will get the best results from just using it. Will look a little uneven at first, but think about the old knives you see with a nice even patina...that just came from use. One of the nice things about natural patina is you can't control it too much. :)
 
From my own experience, the best thing is not to over oil the knife. I just give mine a little oil here and there but mainly just keep it dry after use. My main user is getting quite grey but it takes years to get that real aged look :)

Good luck
 
Developing a patina from real use will depend on what you will use it for and how often. If you cut food or other organic matter, it will develop a patina more rapidly, but any carbon steel will darken over time just due to your own handling of it. Routine oiling will not prevent a patina from forming over time, but may slow it down some. It will prevent the rust and pitting that some folks call patina (it's not it is just rust) and that will be a good thing.

Some folks like the look of an even patina and some like an uneven look. My philosophy is let it do what it is going to do. If you like the look of an even gray colored patina, then you need to artificially force it that way.

This picture is what my avatar knife looks like after 10 months of normal use.

knives110304-002.jpg


Ed

PS, I'm not using that bird dropping to force a patina.. :D
It is a natural setting...
 
Use it. Fruits, onions, potatoes, hot meats, and mayo will all contribute greatly. So pretty much kitchen type tasks will affect the patina the most. I don't know what tasks you consider to be EDC type tasks, but cutting things like string, cardboard, and plastic will do basically nothing for a patina (pocket carry can however influence patina).
 
Thanks guys.

These are so far some of the best responses that I have gotten from anyone when asking about this kind of thing.

Don't get me wrong here either. I know that this can be a controversial subject because some might think that if your knife looks really faded that you don't take pride in them or take care of them at all.

That's not what I'm about. I just know that its going to happen, especially of I carry a knife that has blades that are made of high carbon steel, and asking the questions the way that I did answered to me what will pretty much happen.

Like I said, I am not trying to force the look, but I don't really HATE the way that it looks either. Especially when I know it's inevitable.
 
Patina tells a story. I've forced it before...don't get me wrong...but I doubt I ever will again.
 
We threw a big surprise birthday for a friend. I had maybe 20 people over and grilled ribs, sausage, and chicken that evening. I sliced it all up with a Queen City canoe I had with 1095 carbon steel blade. At the end of the night it had beautiful pink and blue color with a nice patina (the hot greasy meat makes for the best patinas). That was the way to do it. Throw a party!
 
I forced a patina on a knife before, the knife looks good, but it doesn't feel good knowing it got it's patina from Coco cola.

I enjoy just using carbon blades it like it was stainless, cut anything anytime, I'll let it naturally do it's own thing. And it really is nice to see the stories locked inside of a patina stained blade.
 
texasflyfisher said:
We threw a big surprise birthday for a friend. I had maybe 20 people over and grilled ribs, sausage, and chicken that evening. I sliced it all up with a Queen City canoe I had with 1095 carbon steel blade. At the end of the night it had beautiful pink and blue color with a nice patina (the hot greasy meat makes for the best patinas). That was the way to do it. Throw a party!
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
For what it's worth, cutting Granny Smith's apples darkened my CV 6375 faster than anything else I've cut with it, including lemons, limes, oranges and other kinds of apples.
 
yablanowitz said:
For what it's worth, cutting Granny Smith's apples darkened my CV 6375 faster than anything else I've cut with it, including lemons, limes, oranges and other kinds of apples.
Click to expand...

the granny smith apples really put a patina on my yella meduim stockman, i have one a couple of times a week at work as a snack in the afternoon. it's a very nice solid grey with a little blue in the edges, but it also gets used on everything else from cutting packages and mail, to bondo and plastic. i like that it's getting a used look, it'll remind me that it's been a good friend in my pocket for a long time someday.

thanks
sam
 
I put some Franks Red Hot on a 1095 Landi blade, wiped it off when it dried. The patina was BLACK. With use it faded to an even gray. Normally I don't force a patina but that was a fun experiment.
 
Forced with alternating apple and orange for total 2 hours (an experiment).
1stPatina-1.jpg


Natural with 45+ years age and use (lots of experience!).
boyscout.jpg
 
In my experience, the best things are apples and meat that has some kind of sauce on it (BBQ sauce is good).
 
The only patina that is on the blade is from after I cut an apple up while eating it.

I don't see cutting apples up as forcing a patina if its something that you generally use a knife for.

Personally, I don't like to bite into apples because it just seems kind of uncomfortable. So, I always have used a knife.

It also makes a fun way to eat fruits that you don't normally like to eat.
 
Hi getpower -

In my most recent experience, potatos and onions seem to put the most patina on my knives that are made from 01 steel.

To clean up, I just rinse the knives off with hot water and then dry them before putting them in the knife block.

The patina is getting really nice on my JK Riverwoods Companion after about 9 months of ownership and frequent use in the kitchen.

In short, kitchen use will get your knife looking like it is used, because it has been!

best regards -

mqqn
 
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Patina....natural patina is just awesome, 1095 just patina's up so very quickly, Im not too sure just how quick CV does though?...pretty much as everyone has suggested...use the knife...use it on your Veges, and your fruit, onions etc..if anything will bring up an honest patina...this will...I would love the oportunity to show my favourite Queen...this old Trapper is an early, genuine bone ol' girl..and check out the blades...you want patina?...here it is :D....( top left)
myknives010.jpg
 
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