What are everyone’s thoughts on mustard patinas?

Love it, my man :thumbsup:

Mustard, IMHO, does a great job forcing a patina. I think it works best when you are just trying to let the steel "talk" as in just doing the whole blade of a differentially hardened blade so that the harder and softer parts of the steel contrast against one another. I think harder etches work better when you are looking to set a pattern as mustard is a pretty weak acid for long term use. I'm kinda old school and just like to let whatever acidic thing I'm cutting set the patina (mustard, fruits, etc).

Back when I did more etching, and please do this with plenty of ventilation and the proper safety gear, I used muriatic acid. It won't "paint" like a thick glob of mustard so you will want to do a tape off job if you use it, but it cuts a lot deeper being that the acid is stronger. Once again, plenty of ventilation and gloves and goggles. The stuff will eat concrete and let's of some really noxious fumes. Ask your folks first and all that, of course.


Your work is looking great!
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Love it, my man :thumbsup:

Mustard, IMHO, does a great job forcing a patina. I think it works best when you are just trying to let the steel "talk" as in just doing the whole blade of a differentially hardened blade so that the harder and softer parts of the steel contrast against one another. I think harder etches work better when you are looking to set a pattern as mustard is a pretty weak acid for long term use. I'm kinda old school and just like to let whatever acidic thing I'm cutting set the patina (mustard, fruits, etc).

Back when I did more etching, and please do this with plenty of ventilation and the proper safety gear, I used muriatic acid. It won't "paint" like a thick glob of mustard so you will want to do a tape off job if you use it, but it cuts a lot deeper being that the acid is stronger. Once again, plenty of ventilation and gloves and goggles. The stuff will eat concrete and let's of some really noxious fumes. Ask your folks first and all that, of course.


Your work is looking great
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thank you! I will look into muriatic acid (safely)
 
Looks like a good start, welcome to the addiction 😅. Fun to play with for sure. Check out cold gun blue and a bleach soak. Definitely a more aggressive etch, to the point of pitting the blade. It definitely makes it look aged. Don’t soak it to long, think I used a cotton ball to dab the cold blue on. Use gloves and all the PPE.
 
I like it:

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More copper than mustard, but there's some French's in here somewhere:
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vltor17 said:
Looks like a good start, welcome to the addiction 😅. Fun to play with for sure. Check out cold gun blue and a bleach soak. Definitely a more aggressive etch, to the point of pitting the blade. It definitely makes it look aged. Don’t soak it to long, think I used a cotton ball to dab the cold blue on. Use gloves and all the PPE.
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Ok thanks so much!
 
I like just letting them turn on their own over time using on food or vegetation outdoors.....

here's a favorite, but wasn't mustard. original owner did vinegar of some kind. when I got it I just used it and it turned more....you can tell the original patina patterns and color from the just using it patina.....
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shane45-1911 said:
It's easy enough to restore, and it is hardly "ruined" by use. Slather on some more mustard - it's not rocket science.
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It seems to me people use mustard specifically to get that stripey look.

I prefer to just let them age and gain character with use.
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I wish I had a more recent picture of that Opinel, it's nearly uniformly black now.
 
NapalmCheese said:
It seems to me people use mustard specifically to get that stripey look.

I prefer to just let them age and gain character with use.
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Nothing wrong with that, either.

I prefer a more subtle mustard patina, which is a lot closer to a natural patina. I don't go for the hard stripes very often. :)
 
shane45-1911 said:
I prefer a more subtle mustard patina, which is a lot closer to a natural patina. :)
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Does it not just get washed out?

If there's one thing I've learned from that carbon K Sabatier, it's that the patina changes every week (or day). Sometimes it's just a dull grey, sometimes it's splotchy (lemons in particular do that), sometimes it's sort of a rainbowy blue (pineapple tends to do that). If I tried to have any sort of specific 'type' of patina to it, it simply wouldn't last.
 
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