What is with the obsession of patina on knives?

[ourgon]

Removing patina from blade with sharpening stone? LOL.

BTW

 

[katanas]

Sometimes patina can be a "memory". I have a CS Trailmaster carbon V which has a fair amount and I remember how they got there; "these are from the time I was cutting pine boughs for a shelter in the Jemez" , "These are from that "gentleman" camping trip when I was cutting limes for my gin and tonics" etc. I have an opinel 12 carbone with a great patina which I deliberately used to prep and cut up to serve a full lobster and crab dinner (complete with lemons) for the wife and myself for a special occasion; every time I look at it, I remember that evening . Now, there are some of my knives I would hate to see patina on, so I avoid using them in ways which will cause it. I believe the bottom line is that these are some of the reasons why it is a NECESSITY that we have many knives .

 

[timberweasel]

I'm not obsessed with patina but it doesn't bother me much either. To me, a natural patina can be as visually interesting as damascus steel and a forced patina can be as even as a factory blade coating. YMMV.

Emerson Horseman, Becker BK-17 with forced patina, Spyderco PM2 DLC

Becker BK-9 with forced patina and hand-polished highlights

Just stick to stainless steels that aren't bead-blasted and you should be fine, OP. If corrosion is a particular issue for you, try Benchmade's H2O series in N680 or any of Spyderco's H1 offerings.

Good luck!

-Brett

 

[timberweasel]

Oh, and here's a Scagel Fruitport with natural patina. I think it looks cool with the gnarly old Ram's Horn scales...

-Brett

 

[marcinek]

Patina scares me for food prep.

And why is that?

 

[upnorth]

Forced made sense to me for non coated carbon. But I found myself following the other Lemmings on sub forums and stripping protective coatings off unnecessarily, adding to my knife maintenance. To each their own, I prefer less maintenance and to leave protective coatings alone.

 

[Lee48]

I grew up with non-stainless knives and the stains that developed on the blades. We didn't call it "patina", we called it stains or "crud". As a kid, we used to clean the stuff off our knives by sticking them in the ground a few times. The abrasion removed some of the stains and made the knives shine a little bit. Then a few swipes on an Arkansas stone would get it fairly sharp and ready to use. Since it was hot and humid where I lived, knives would rust fast if you didn't clean and oil them, patina or not. Lots of nice pocket knives and sheath knives got tossed in the trash due to having been put away dirty and/or damp for a few days, weeks or months. Back then, knives were pretty cheap so it was no big deal to most folks. You could buy a decent sheath knife for a dollar or two that would get you through the hunting season. Frequently used pocket knives that were carefully cared for to prevent rusting had to be kept sharpened and that used up the soft steel blade relatively fast. So knives were considered disposable. Most people looked on the patina as inevitable evidence of the knife deteriorating with use and time.

Fast forward to today. Various stainless steels are available and have proven to perform superbly. For most jobs, it simply works better than the old carbon steels of the past. But patina is suddenly trendy with knife enthusiasts. Instead of it forming naturally with use, knife people today affect a patina with various methods. Seems a bit odd to me--all you gotta do is use the knife and it will stain. Makes me think a lot of people don't really use their knives much. Which is okay with me since I have a lot of knives I don't use either. And, no, I'm not putting down traditional carbon steel knives. I love those knives and own a bunch of them. My favorite knife today is the Spyderco Gayle Bradley and it's made with M4 steel, a carbon steel that resists corrosion well. However...for practical purposes, I also frequently carry stainless knives with shiny, scratched blades.

WD-40. The stuff must be the most disparaged and most used oil in the world. While there are lots of things I wouldn't use it for, it does help to prevent corrosion and it does clean knives. As an example, I have an old Kabar USMC knife and a Camillus-made Becker BK9 I use in the backyard for various jobs. Both are stored in their sheaths, something we're told not to do. After using them, many times I just quickly wipe them off and spray them with WD-40 before putting them away. They are stored in an outdoor cabinet under a shed in the backyard...the Kabar has been kept there over 20 years, the Becker at least 10 years. They don't look like new but they haven't rusted away either.

 

[Armadew]

Are people obsessed? If so, I didn't notice.

Some people like the way it looks, some don't. Some people find it practical, some don't.

I think it looks good and I think it's practical.

 

[needler420]

And after 2 dinner preparations (mostly vegetables):



Do not fear the patina, embrace it

I never been to a Japanese sushi restaurant and see them use a carbon knife that looks that bad. That knife no matter how much you paid or how good it cuts does not look sanitary to be in a kitchen being used for food prep.

 

[Thalestin]

Honestly, I prefer a patina on my blades much more than ugly scratches. If you use a stainless blade it will get really ugly from scratches over time (this can be off set with a stonewash finish etc). I like a patine to fill in scratches that naturally happen from use and from sharpening. As such, I prefer to have a higher carbon steel blade. I do carry traditional slipjoints mostly and I feel a old patina aged blades just fits the character of the knife.

I have always been a huge fan of old beat up knives with an ancient patina. It is what really drew me into knives in the first place. I am not a big fan of shiny as it just has no character imo.

 

[crom]

True patina is earned from years of use. Look at the old carbon blades at garage sales, practically black. What people are doing is forcing a stain on the blade to begin the patina process, but that's not patina. You can feel a patina.

 

[trevitrace]

I never been to a Japanese sushi restaurant and see them use a carbon knife that looks that bad. That knife no matter how much you paid or how good it cuts does not look sanitary to be in a kitchen being used for food prep.

The bacterias and whatnot, right?

 

[Rhinoknives1]

In the world of kitchen knives the most commonly used is Japanese Camellia oil as it is also suitable to come in contanct with food - one small bottle will last you a lifetime. I would definitely avoid WD40 as it has also come cleaning agents (or so I recall) that might even react with the blade and will not be too healthy for the handle either. Otherwise a pure mineral oil (food grade that is suitable also for wooden cutting boards) should work too as it does not chemically deteriorates over time

What Matus said,
Use Mineral oil if you are going to coat any carbon steels, Never use Olive oil except on a salad or for cooking. If you put it on a blade or board it can turn rancid and make you poop like a Goose!

 

[bighat10]

I don't know about patina. But for instance the knife I am working on cleaning up now, has a bunch of dents and scratches on the bolsters. I COULD go through and fill the dents, and buff all the scratches out. But I like that imperfect look, it shows age, it shows that it has worked hard over the years.
maybe its the same thing for patina?

 

[155440]

I never been to a Japanese sushi restaurant and see them use a carbon knife that looks that bad. That knife no matter how much you paid or how good it cuts does not look sanitary to be in a kitchen being used for food prep.

You have weird hang ups sir.

That reasoning is not a far cry from what I imagine a soccer mom experiences when she sees what she perceives as a dangerous knife.

Perhaps a knife forum is not the right place for you.

 

[Ernie1980]

I like a patina on a work knife, it protects it and shows that it actually sees some work
My neighbor uses a carbon steel knife that is probably as old as me every time he makes bbq. It shows its age and has a great patina. We have not died yet...

 

[Daddyo16]

I think "obsessed" is an overstatement. Those who are not knife enthusiasts probably see us as "obsessed" about knives. Doesn't make it so.

I forced a patina onto a couple of my carbon steel blades because I was curious about what it would do. Am I obsessed? Do I need counseling?

 

[Brisket]

Some of y'all might want to consider staying away from restaurants all together if the sight of a clean carbon steel blade with a patina causes you concern.

 

[155440]

Some of y'all might want to consider staying away from restaurants all together if the sight of a clean carbon steel blade with a patina causes you concern.

My thoughts exactly. It's one thing to dislike the aesthetics but it's another to spout uneducated nonsense about patina being un-hygienic or not sanitary.

Someone should do a little more lurking before posting. There are hundreds of threads already on patina that would've answered the question the OP asked a million times over. Since he obviously hasn't figured out how to use the search feature, I'll do it for him.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...cter-builder-or-Blade-Cancer?highlight=Patina
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/637022-The-mystery-of-patina?highlight=Patina
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1312862-Patina-on-my-Ratmandu?highlight=Patina
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/477983-natural-patina-vs-man-made?highlight=Patina
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/552585-Blade-patina-yea-or-nay?highlight=Patina

The first three links include discussion about patina and how it is formed and other relevant information while the last two almost directly discuss the question OP asks.

 

[Boats]

I read that someone needs to have their knife blades all shiny and pristine and the vibe that a chest shaving metrosexual is writing is palpable.