Definitely a knife noob. Wanted a new fixed blade for camping. Ordered an Ontario rat 3 and didn’t like the painted black finish on the blade. I stripped it and used hot distilled white vinegar to put a patina on it but it came out spotty. How can I fix this so it’s a solid coat all around?
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Uneven patina
- Thread starter OKCRAT
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If you describe how you used the vinegar to put the patina on it might help troubleshoot the issue. Pics also wouldn't hurt.
I boiled the vinegar and stuck the blade in for a bout 3 minutes. I can’t seem to figure out how to load a picture from the browser on my phone
I cleaned and wiped it with hot water, I realize now I should have used something a little more intense. So now I’m just trying to fix my mistakes
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Sounds like you're on the right track now.
You need a paid membership to upload pics directly to the site, otherwise, use a third party hosting site, and then img tags to link to it here.
You need a paid membership to upload pics directly to the site, otherwise, use a third party hosting site, and then img tags to link to it here.
Just trying to figure out how to remove what I did to start over, do i sand? Or some sort of acid wash? Then start over
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Use a 1 x 30 and surface conditioning belts if you have it. That's the minimum I would want to use.
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Question- what is the importance of an even patina?
If it really must be even, I wouldn't start sanding, although some of the advice above is given by those more knowledgable than me. I'd just hit it with a little metal polish (like Flitz) and it should come right off. No reason to use harsher abrasives and start down the rabbit hole of chasing scratch patterns. Once you are dont polishing, make sure you evenly clean off the polish, and then start the patina process again from scratch.
But is there any reason you can't just use some rubbing alcohol to remove any oils, and then just start using it in the kitchen. Cut hot proteins like chicken, or steaks. Use it to slice onions, peppers, tomatoes, fruits, or anything with some natural acids that will patina it. I've always had a weakness for earned patinas. If you use the knife, the patina will change over time anyway. When I was a knife noob I didnt realize this and forced a beautifully even patina on a BK16. Then the moment I batonned it through a branch, and ended up with streaks up the patina I said "Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense. Oh well. Better use it in the kitchen and rebuild it." Now that BK16 has the same crazy mottled patina as all my other carbon steel knives.
Obviously not everyone is into the uneven patina, but if the knife is a user it's really really hard to keep the even patina. Each of these below has a patina earned through use.
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You know infinitely more than I do about the topic so I'll defer to your opinion on this, but for removing a patina, wouldn't a metal polish work, without being overly abrasive? If I use a carbon steel knife, and the edge gets patina'd, even just a quick stropping on the leather strop with green compound is enough to remove a patina, based on my experience, and that's about as mild of an abrasive as it gets.
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You're probably right. I probably take my grinder for granted.
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As a happily married man, these are not words I'm accustomed to hearing often. I'll just savor the moment.
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Why remove a patina if the goal is to just add more patina? Just use the knife, as was said above.
*Edit: if you MUST remove it for your own satisfaction, put a little metal polish on the blade and rub with crumpled foil. The foil is softer than the blade steel, so it won't add scratches; and it's a whole lot more effective (in my experience) than anything short of power tools. It might not get out really dark area; but it will lighten them considerably so you can work over them.
*Edit: if you MUST remove it for your own satisfaction, put a little metal polish on the blade and rub with crumpled foil. The foil is softer than the blade steel, so it won't add scratches; and it's a whole lot more effective (in my experience) than anything short of power tools. It might not get out really dark area; but it will lighten them considerably so you can work over them.
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I'd try a little Flitz. Might work, or it might not. But I find that, it works great on many different materials. Generally speaking, it's pretty gentle. But I did come close to going through a chrome plated finish with it once, when I went a little crazy with it.