As I said In a earlier post ( #22) as a boy never talked about patina, was just a natural progression.
A.P.F stated that he thought of patina as a " sign of an uncared for tool " this has not been my experience, when I've purchased old knives lacking patina, they all have had some sort of pitting, sometimes on the blades, most often on the tang and/or choil. I've lived on saltwater my whole life and also work in wet & humid conditions and never had a carbon knife rust or pit on me. I've also noticed the knives that I used the longest at work have more of a dull grey even patina, not a heavy black, because the blade is being used and comes into contact with fibrous and dense materials, but this dull grey is set more permanent then patinas on knives that haven't been used as hard at work. I keep all my tools in excellent working condition, hand or power tools, all my hand tools have a patina by nature, hammer, chisels , pliers, snips, saws, etc, I don't think it would be practical to keep my hand tools shiny and new looking working in the elements, nor would there be enough time in the day, nor have I had to force a patina on any of them. So would they be considered uncared for? My chisels have patina but are sharp, I do sand the head of a hammer when doing finish work not to leave marks on the wood, combination of patina & oil from nails.
I understand keeping knives shiny for the collector who may resell knives later on down the road, I wonder how a user knife kept shiny will hold up down the road? The old knives I've bought that were obvious users and patina generally had better edges and needed little care to be dropped in the pocket and carried, a little oil in the pivot & a few minutes on the stone. The ones without patina I had to spend time removing rust, left with pit marks and had to establish a new edge, which is fine with me I spend a few bucks and enjoy bringing them back to life.
In the end every bodies needs and conditions for use are different, for me lack of a patina would not be practical and would lead to rust & pitting, after a patina has been established carbon blades become fairly maintenance free, I've been stuck camping & working many times in soaking wet conditions for extended time without any issues with carbon knives. I doubt a frontiersmen, trapper, sailor, or New England whaler would try to keep their knives shiny and new looking, I think they would rust out and be of no use to them. If in a office setting or conditioned environment setting, I can understand not needing a patina and keeping it looking shiny, not being in a wet condition for extended hours, the function of patina is not needed.
Pete
P.S I just want to add, I don't think there is a right or wrong, to patina or not to patina, it comes down to the function of the user.
