Vinegar Patina

S

[scuba]steve

Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
25
So i did the patina thing. long story short, after several attempts with out getting the result I wanted, my last try was wrapping a vinegar soaked towel around the blade. not what I wanted, but I like it none the less. I also did a Becker BK-2
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Same thing happened to me every time I did the stupid thing. I eventually said heck with it, it's starting to grow on me.
 
I'm using hydrogen peroxide, salt and vinegar mixed together, let it sit for a few hours till it's covered in surface rust, sand it down lightly, rinse and repeat the process until you get the desired result.
 
Do you have pictures of your results? You're the reason I'm trying it, I figured adding vinegar would give it an extra kick of acidity and it's working well so far.
 
I originally tried patinating a CS War Hammer using the H2O2+salt+vinegar mix, and results weren't that great.

I was going to give it another try on my first Norse Hawk and realized after I had done it, I forgot to add vinegar... which is ok because that worked even better. I did it exactly the same with Norse Hawk #2 and got the same great results.

The difference I observe is that with the addition of vinegar, the result is blotchy and uneven at best. H2O2+salt without vinegar is much more even and patinates darker.

Here's Norse Hawk #1:
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Here's the War Hammer:
Warhammer2.jpg
 
vinegar is acidic with a lower ph on the 1 to 13 scale. peroxide is alkaline on the ph scale. vinegar is lower than 7 & peroxide is higher than 7. in essence you are mixing fire & water, they tend to cancel each other out.one would probably get better results using one or the other not both at the same time. i've had good luck with lemon or orange juice.
 
+1 Citrus juice worked best for me.

The way I do it is dunk the whole thing in lemon juice and leave it in there a couple of hours, sometimes overnight, depending on the steel.

I scotchbrite the rust off, leaving most of the browning. Then I use the liquid cold blue and wipe it on with a cloth. I let it sit until the rust starts, wipe it off, and then dunk it again in the lemon juice for an hour.

When it comes out, it looks like crap -- blotchy black and brown. I then put some ineral oil on it and scotchbrite it by hand again. Then degrease (to make sure all the etching chemicals are off it), and then coat it in mineral oil again. Gives a nice, fairly even brownish grey patina. Did that on my kukri, and having used it, but done no other maintenance or oiling, I've not seen any rust in over a year.

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Wolf_1989 said:
I originally tried patinating a CS War Hammer using the H2O2+salt+vinegar mix, and results weren't that great.

I was going to give it another try on my first Norse Hawk and realized after I had done it, I forgot to add vinegar... which is ok because that worked even better. I did it exactly the same with Norse Hawk #2 and got the same great results.

The difference I observe is that with the addition of vinegar, the result is blotchy and uneven at best. H2O2+salt without vinegar is much more even and patinates darker.

Here's Norse Hawk #1:
Click to expand...

I see, that's norse hawk came out much better and even than my hawk did. I'll retry with just peroxide and salt. I wish I had a better fuel source for my forge then I wouldn't have to worry about this, the stupid barbecue briquettes I use leave big clusters and pits all over the steel when I heat treat it so I end up having to sand it down.
 
Hi Kenny H.
Try Pilkington's rust blue solution. I bought mine from Brownells many years ago, it worked fine. The idea is the solution causes rust (red iron oxide) to form. The part is immersed in boiling water until the red rust turns black. The black oxide is carded off and the process is repeated until the desired color is achieved. You can't rush it. If you take your time and metal prep is meticulous, a satin luster will be your result. That was the method used for blueing double barrel shotguns and prewar rifles and many prewar handguns.
 
I'll give that a go if I can't get a decent result from peroxide and salt, I'm going to try the cheaper solutions first though ;)
 
I have a spike hawk soaking in vinegar right now....it did a good job of disolving the paint I was unable to get off, but it's really showing the heat treating. The blade and spike are a dark grey for about 1.5", the rest is light grey.
I think I may end up painting after all, i'll use some duracote and it should hold up well.
 
I've tried vinigar, lemon juice, and bleach patinas wasn't all that happy with them. Bleach and salt did create some pitting after a couple days, but now I just use gun blue liquid. Works imediately, and is easier for me to control.
 
Instant coffee also works great. Use 6 tsp instant coffee for each cup of boiling water, you do the math. Let sit until dark enough.

I find that instant coffe gives a nicer i.e. darker patina than vinegar. There is also less chance of red rust like it often occurs with vinegar.


Ookami
 
I've been meaning to try the coffee thing, but Sprite worked so well for me that I never got around to it. Would be interesting to compare the two methods.
 
One thing all these methods have in common is ACID. What we call rust blue is actually called acid blue. It is the method I mentioned a few posts ago.
 
jayinhk said:
I've been meaning to try the coffee thing, but Sprite worked so well for me that I never got around to it. Would be interesting to compare the two methods.
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I bought some flea market hatchets that were painted black and looked ikky. So I took them to work and soda blasted off the nasty paint. I put them in my lunch box and some diet mtn dew dripped on the clean hatchet head making them turn a light blue, haven't played with it much since been to busy.

Pat
 
I browned a rifle many years ago with a cold rust Browning soln. by Birchwood Casey. It worked well is it still around?
 
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