So I decided to patina my Vex

adrock1978

adrock1978

Joined
May 30, 2009
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I just jumped in and did it after asking a few questions. I did the side opposite the logo first. I left it over night after hour and two hour test periods did nothing. It came out pretty well with the desired results.

What you're looking at here is the "before" of side two. At the time of posting this I dont know how it turned out. We'll see together...


I used regular Gulden's spicy brown mustard and some 9% acidity apple vinegar on both sides. Cross your fingers! Wish me luck! :D:thumbup:
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Can't wait to see how it will turn out. I love the look of a patina. How long are you treating it with both?
 
Jeephat said:
Can't wait to see how it will turn out. I love the look of a patina. How long are you treating it with both?
Click to expand...

Well last night I used the same 2 ingredients on the other side and after 2-3 hours of exposure on the D2 steel, nothing happened. So then I redid it around 10pm and cleaned it off at 7pm tonight with very dark, noticeable results... different pattern. So i think I'm going to play it safe and leave this side over night at least.


*edit - If you look near the spine, that's some of the oxidization from the night before. So you can get an idea of how dark it got in areas.
 
You may want to do just the mustard alone.

One thing that happens is you get a hard patina.

The oxidation happens quicker when the steel is exposed to the air (as oxygen is part of the patina process).

Looking forward to more pics.
 
Bigfattyt said:
You may want to do just the mustard alone.

One thing that happens is you get a hard patina.

The oxidation happens quicker when the steel is exposed to the air (as oxygen is part of the patina process).

Looking forward to more pics.
Click to expand...

You mean just the mustard in spots with no vinegar at all, or just mustard evenly covering the blade?
 
You have too much time on your hands:p:p
Can't wait to see the finished product,
I like the patina on old carbon steel chef knives.
 
You need some relish:cool::cool:

There was a thread where a guy had his Battlerat in the toilet tank to patina:foot:
 
Ok, well here is side two first from last night. It looks like the mustard actually protected areas of the blade from the vinegar based on the clean satin areas. This D2 is tough stuff.

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Here is side one from the previous night. This side was covered in vinegar completely and then I made "Mustard Stripes" on top of the vinegar. The whole side is much darker. It actually got darker last night even though it had no standing vinegar on it. You can feel slight ridges in the steel at each mustard stripe.

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All in all, the results weren't bad for my first time. I know what to expect a little more, and what I would try next time. I'm going to try to patina the areas on the logo side that remained satin. As I typed this, it already has lemon juice spots on those areas.

Stay tuned...
 
the last pic is the best IMO. :thumbup:

THink this would work better or worse on BBDC?
 
knife hunter said:
the last pic is the best IMO. :thumbup:

THink this would work better or worse on BBDC?
Click to expand...

BBDC on the same steel, or INFI? On the same steel I dont think the BBing would make a difference. I think it would oxidize and stain to the same extent. If anything, the mat finish of the BBDC may tone it down a bit.

I think the biggest difference would be doing this on INFI. These stains alone took 24 hours.
 
In my experience when screwing around with mustard, you get less patina if you put it on too thick. I'm not entirely sure why... maybe because there's no air getting to it under the thick mustard. Maybe not.
 
Yeah, must need oxygen to oxidize.

ETA: Thanks for this thread Adrock. I thought about doing this to my Paramilitary. Looks like the vinegar is the way to go but I'll wait till the lemon juice experiment is completed before starting.
 
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