Vinegar Pattern Etching (new pics added)

[T. Erdelyi]

Alright, I started messin' around with vinegar and carbon steel knife blades.

First I just cleaned with soapy water and final wipe with alcohol and dipped it in a glass of vinegar and let it sit for about 1/2 an hour, when I pulled it out and saw how even the patina was I had an idea and masked off a little spot and repeated the process after polishin' off the coatin'.

So now with some scotch tape and a wharncliff Case SBJ I cut out a crude flame and left that part covered then put it in the vinegar again for about an hourm took it out and rinsed with cold water pat dry and then apply a wipe of oil to coat it, here's the result, I will do this a little longer and a different pattern like maybe a scroll or somethin' anyway here are the pics, keep in mind this was done in a hour so the longer the exposure the higher the contrast.

If anyone would like to try and post yer results here, I'd really like to see 'em, all ya need is a cv or similar high carbon steel blade, some tape, a pointy knife to cut yer pattern, some vinegar and a little imagination, have at it.

This was the first time with a longer exposure.

 

[9blades]

Nice! I'll have to try that on my opinel..

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I got an old #6 or #8 I forget which but I think they should come out nice especially with the flat grind, give it a shot I'd like to see your results.

 

[RetiredGuns]

I did some messin' around with a small Mooremaker and got this by swirling some vinegar, hot sauce and mustard. Looks pretty cool.

 

[simioh]

My Spyderco Endura in zdp-189. Wrapped in a Bounty style paper towel soaked in vinegar.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I love the randomness of that kinda result and it goes well with more modern tactical style knives but when it comes to traditional style slipjoints I like a nice even dark patina, I'll hafta post a pic of my GEC Forum trapper that is so dark and rich lookin'.

Try wrappin' cotton gauze, like the kind that comes in a 1" wide roll ya find in first aid kits, ya can soak it and wrap it in an over lappin' spiral, that would make a cool pattern.

 

[BladeChick777]

Awesome results guys. Now I want to patina my Spyderco Air... ugh you guys suck lol.
I was looking forward to keeping it the way it is unless I got it stonewashed.

But now... It may need a patina. A patina with stars that is.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Awesome results guys. Now I want to patina my Spyderco Air... ugh you guys suck lol.
I was looking forward to keeping it the way it is unless I got it stonewashed.

But now... It may need a patina. A patina with stars that is.

I like that idea, I gotta try that, stars are an easy shape to cut out and would look cool in a random pattern, (there's the oxymoron of the day) the nice thing about this that I can keep changin' it till I get one I really like, all I gotta do is scrub it off.

I have noticed that subsequent maskings and dippings has a neat effect.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Here's my Traditional Forum's GEC Wharncliff Trapper with a nice base patina.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Here some new pics, still messin' around with the different tapes and tryin' different temps, here's the Russlock redone and my Opinel that I tried somethin' different with.

I like the way ya can use the blade like a canvas, it just sucks that most of my high carbon steel blades are 50 years old or better. Well there's always Opinel and Case CV.