To people who patinaed thier Gayle Bradley

[bunnyhopskotch]

I tried with mustard and left it on for about 3 hours. However it has only small patches. Do I have to leave it on long?

 

[KNaB]

Apple cider vinegar, I find, works the best on M4. Leave the blade in long enough,it will be a dark greyish/black.

 

[jjoanty01]

Does vinegar do this to all steels?

 

[MRaymond]

I would also add that you should thoroughly clean the blade of any oils or grease, that should help it achieve a more even patina.

 

[K.O.D.]

I've been confused by this. What is the point of having a patina?

 

[moparmatt]

I've been confused by this. What is the point of having a patina?

The patina is really just for looks imho. For me it also saves the headache of avoiding the patina every time I use the knife. I find that if you just put a patina on it right off the bat you aren't battling those little spots that appear later on.

 

[Planterz]

I've been confused by this. What is the point of having a patina?

Patina is a discoloring oxidation on metal. Like an old penny, a well-worn door knob, or the Statue of Liberty. On a non-stainless steel, the patina acts as a protective layer that prevents (or at least slows) the formation of damaging black or red rust. Without a patina on a knife like the Gayle Bradley, you would have to constantly maintain the blade by keeping it away from water, sweat, oils from your hands, and anything acidic like fruit, meats, etc, and frequently polishing it with Flitz or Simichrome to keep it in its original, shiny condition. But letting a patina form means a lot less upkeep and maintenance and worry that your blade will rust. Plus, some people find patinas to be very attractive. Besides the aesthetic qualities of a well-formed patina, there's a sense of pride in a tool that shows use. And every patina is unique, whether it's forced (sometimes with intentional patterns), or "earned" through honest use. For the most part, every standard black handled Military looks like any other one, but your M4 Gayle Bradley will be forever yours because the patina reflects the way you've used it.

 

[simioh]

It's not M4, but here's a before and after of a knife I recently forced patina on:

The pattern comes from the paper towel I wrapped the blade with before soaking it with vinegar, if you just soak the blade you will get an even color. The results shown were after leaving it 1 hour in the soaked paper towel.

 

[moparmatt]

The patina becomes more interesting when a laminate steel is used over a non stainless blade such as the new hitachi super blue knives being released


My super blue endura

and you can clearly see the laminate steels in the spine

 

[philllll]

The thing about doing a mustard patina is you have to spread it realllllly thin to get an even tone. It's the vinegar in the mustard reacting with the air that makes the patina, not so much the yellow mustard solids. Spread too thick and it seals out the air.

 

[moparmatt]

Yeah, so I just did some apple cider vinegar on the endura that I posted above, holy crap, left it for an hour and now all the super blue sections are completely black swirls, what a sweet method!

 

[Surfingringo]

I tried with mustard and left it on for about 3 hours. However it has only small patches. Do I have to leave it on long?

I just finished forcing a patina on a brand new gayle Bradley. If I had it to do over again, I would just oil it and use it. It was extremely difficult to get the steel to patina. I soaked it for hours and hours in lemon, mustard, vinegar, everything. Finally got a decent patina, but like I said, had I known what it would take, I would have just put some tuff glide on and used it! Live and learn.

 

[philllll]

I had interesting results using balsamic vinegar to force a patina on a Mora recently. It came out very dark and almost reddish. It was a stinky job, though.