I too would like to know how others make it work. What medium is used and for how long.
I tried a home stonewash on a Spyderco Ambitious, in a small rock tumbler. It didn't work. :grumpy: I used the knife to experiment on and try some embellishments. Starting with the spine, I tried grinding a pattern in, but ended up just looking like a rough stoned edge. Not completely horrible, but not what I was going for.
Then tossed the blade in the tumbler with some half polished rocks, water, and a little dish soap to keep everything loose. Ran it for a day....nothing. Two more days....nothing. I think maybe it needed a smooth sanding first, as there were micro grind lines on the original blade finish. I thought maybe if enough time elapses in the tumbler, it would eventually wear everything down anyway. Ran for a number more days with more coarse rocks, and some coarse media. The edge was completely gone, and my spine work was smoothed out quite a bit, but still not much (if any) of pattern on the flats. Ran a few more days, then at some time the machine got unplugged by kids, and almost forgotten by me. It sat in the water with rocks for almost a week. When I finally removed, it just had a very dark grey patina, with a few rust spots starting to pit. Tried polishing up a bit, but it was a very deep patina. So I just left it as is, re-sharpened and assembled.
