Speeding up the patina process

Unbreakable

Unbreakable

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Sep 21, 2002
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I was looking at an old timer knife that my father had when he was younger. The knife has to have been made in the 60's. It isn't rusted (As in orange)... its dark dull gray. It has a patina to it... is there anyway to speed up the process on a carbon steel blade. To sort of get it over with... otherwise I know I'll keep fighting it as long as it begins with a few minor spots... It will bug me and I'll get out the flitz and I'll polish the dang thing... so is there a way to do it all in a weekend. Like say and acid bath or somehting?
 
Very interesting... Thanks guys. I wonder what hot sauce would do. I mean pepers are about as acidic as you can get and they are mixed in with vinegar.
 
Just use (warm) vinegar on a clean wrag and wrap the blade for a few minutes, check it out, if you have to, do it again, then steel wool it, and a little oil and it should look good.
 
Why do you steel wool it? Does it actually rust in that time frame? My Bark Rivers have yet to rust but have a nice, if uneven, patina. Does the steel wool improve the look? Sorry for the dumb questions in advance.

Pete
 
It gets a dull look to it and the steel wool kinda makes it shine somewhat. It works real well for me. It does start to turn gray very fast with warm vinegar....
 
I do have a sort of technical question. I've always heard that rust breeds rust. Now the old bdark gray Old Timer referenced in my frist post... doesn't seem to rust anymore now that it's aged... I mean I'm sure it would rust badly if I left it out in the rain for a week or soaked it in salt water. But just laying around in it's sheat... humid or not... doesn't seem to get any of that orange rust on it. So will this patina process actually help keep it from rusting in a way that will cause pits or damage... or will this process actually make the blade more apt to rust or none of the above...

BTW, Thank you everone who responded... I have a few blades I'm going to play with this weekend.
 
I have been told in the past that rust and patina are two separate entities. One is ferrous oxide and one is ferric oxide. Don't remember which is which, but basically a patina is a rust inhibitor. Certainly doesn't make your knife stainless but does a reasonable job of inhibiting the formation of rust compared to a shiny carbon blade. If I have been told incorrectly then forgive my misinformation.

Pete
 
I am no steel expert ,but my carbon knives that have patina on them,really don't go any further as far as the orange rust, and I do very little to them so I think that it (patina) does put like a thin layer of what ever it is, to keep it from going completely rusted fast. Might be wrong, but I don't think so.I do it ,I see it,It works. I agree with Pete...
 
Black "rust" patina is protective while red rust is active and "corrosive".
At least that's the case with Japanese sword tangs.

Rich S
 
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