strip, patina question.

[bullet08]

so.. my 16 is on the way. i'll need to pack this to caming in a week. once done with the camping, i'll be stripping it and putting patina on it.

few questions. do i just put the paint remover on the blade or all over on the tang also? if only blade.. does the original coating better for preventing the rust on the tang?

i like tiger stripe.. specially desert tiger. anyway.. i noticed people doing multiple steps in patina to give certain characters. what solution should i use for the first run and second run to get contrast in the patina? red wine vinegar then white vinegar.. would that create enough contrast?

 

[Uncle Malice]

Strip and patina BEFORE camping! Get some real use on it. The additional natural patina will be awesome and give it more character.

Some people leave the coating on the handle... I strip the whole thing and patina it all... Don't really have any issues.

There is a nearly endless supply of patina forming products. vinegar does usually do a super dark contrast. It's more for a base protective layer. If you want dark contrast use a spicy brown mustard or horseradish sauce. The key is to make it VERY thin. More is not better because it will seal out the oxygen needed to form the patina. Very thin layer. Some people like to use a q-tip.

I'm not really a huge fan of carefully planned patina. They look cool, for sure. But they don't last long. Your patina will be ever-changing. I just did my BK7 last night. did a few applications of white vinegar and a few applications of apple cider vinegar to get it an acceptable base coat to offer some protection. Today I'll go out to the back yard and slice up some limes on the tree... maybe to some steaks tonight and use the bloody juice (which will form a dark patina pretty quickly).

Anything acidic will patina your blade. It adds character. Just let it happen... that's my vote.

 

[bullet08]

wish i could.. but not enough time to do strip and patina before the camping. then i'll have one weekend before another camping. i also have my zt0550 coming in from repair, so that can be used for food prep during the camping and 16 will do the other thing such as making fire and playing with marshmellow sticks. or i might just use my flint and steel.. it's nice to have choices

 

[emperorvince]

I prefer stripping the whole blade..I think it looks better. Be sure to lightly oil it after the strip. As for a patina, I did a fast "light" patina with wine vinegar then applied a decal that I made, and went over that with some brown mustard using a cotton ball. I'm gonna try my hand at etching soon. I agree with Uncle Malice..if you have about 3 spare hours do the strip and take it camping with ya' :thumbup: