Vinegar Bluing?

A couple before:

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And after:

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pinetree said:
My favorite patina is a vinegar induced one. I am currently working on a 6" Old Hickory Boning knife that I am soaking in a vinegar bath. I find it gives some protection from "rust" on carbon blades. My Case CVs, Bokers carbons, and Opinel paring knives have vinegar patinas.
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+1 on a vinegar bath to get the best, most even patina.

(Plain white vinegar; and be sure the blade is very clean.)
 
How easily does a vinegar patina scratch when using the knife/hawk/whatever you put it on ??
 
FOG2 said:
How easily does a vinegar patina scratch when using the knife/hawk/whatever you put it on ??
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IDK yet. I haven't gotten a chance to use it since I used the vinegar.


Specifically, here's what I did. Stripped the head a couple weeks ago. Without any other prep, I threw it in a pot of heated white vinegar. Not boiling, but too hot to touch. I left it there for 15 minutes. I was surprised at how dark the patina had gotten over just 15 minutes, but also at the texture. To me, it feels EXACTLY like a good parkerized finish. For no prep, the patina is more uniform than I thought it would be. The greatest differences are in areas of different grinds, such as the inch or two behind the edge and the inch or so behind the poll. While these areas are obviously ground differently, this could also be due to differential heat treating. IDK if CS does this with their hawks. I don't think there's anything you can really do to change the way it takes a patina if this is the case. The only thing I'll do differently next time is to hit it with some brake cleaner before it goes into the pot.
 
IVANKERLEY said:
an old carbon steel tramontina bowie, kinda funky and couldnt get it dark enough for me, removed it and used some birchwood Casey and got what i was looking for... The pict below is with the vinegar patina and it lightened up from what you see here.
I suppose it depends on what you're looking for:)
ivan

bloodwood tram bowie and Dunlap Cattleman i fixed up last year:) i'm trying
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Nice job!
:thumbup::thumbup:

I have one of those old Tramontina "Carbono" Bowies.
They are certainly Diamonds in the rough.Excellent knives.
I got mine for $5 in a pawn shop and rehandled it.
:D
Too bad Tramontina doesn't make those anymore!
Their machetes are still good but all the Tram knives i've see lately are low end stainless steel and kinda....bleah!
 
CaptInsano nice job on the Trailhawk head!
:thumbup::thumbup:

I just finished stripping and patina-ing a Trailhawk head last week.
I used apple cider vinegar which worked fairly well.
But for some reason the apple cider vinegar worked much better on my Becker Companion blank.
Different grades of steel react differently i guess.
And of course the Trailhawk head was very textured and unpolished versus the fairly well polished Becker.
If i get another Trailhawk i think i'll polish it on a belt sander before patina-ing.
 
Started looking at some wisdom for FP on some carbon steel knives that I have. But after looking at the axe head, I realized that this is just the thing for some of the tools that I have in the shed. Great post!
 
I have been messing with patina for a bit.

Vinegar and acids turn carbon grey.

Blood and green onions turn carbon blue.

From my experience, I have snakeskin scale pattern on the back of my misono Swedish steel.
I used mustard mixed with lemon juice and applied (took forever) with toothpick.

Be careful as liquid settles and may not dry in the exact place you drew.
 
Forgot to add, patina makes my knife very sticky to certain foods (fish for me) so I rub rust eraser every few days.
 
I love vinegar patinas :thumbup:

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They do scratch though, so I still wipe down with mineral oil if I won't be using the knife for a while.
 
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