Who Else Is Giving Coal For Christmas-Case Coal

Rockon75

Rockon75

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
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2,087
Well, the title got you to look.

I am in fact giving coal to my Dad for Christmas, a coal black Wharncliffe Copperlock.

My Dad is a huge Case collector. This past year he collected all of the Orvis SFO's. His favorite of the bunch was a very unique Copperlock. The Copperlock wore a whancliffe blade, had worked bolsters and was a beautiful olive/antique green. After the Orvis SFO's dried up, Case came out with the same pattern and blade configuration in the "purple haze". Knowing he would not carry the purple knife, I sought out some advice from Evan on changing the color and, well, I think it worked out well, but I'll let you be the judge.

Said Purple Haze Knife, mottled with white showing at the ends.
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1 package of RIT black powder mixed with 16 OZ of Denatured Alcohol and the blade opened half way. The frame was propped up and on an angle in this "square shaped" canning jar, and fully submerged. I realized if I left the blade half open, I could retrieve the knife without putting my hand into the solution.
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After a 24 hour soak in a warm area (no open flames-denature alcohol is dangerous), I removed the knife and began dipping it into a second jar of denatured alcohol to remove any leftover die.
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A little soap and water rinse.
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Dried with air compressor.
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And finally a little wax and polish.


Pap Pap is getting a coal black Case for Christmas. Many thanks go out to Evan for his guidance on how to make bone take die.

I don't contribute much to this forum, but I sure do keep up with all the posts. I thought I would take a little time and "give back" a little. Just please bare with my inability to take good pictures.

No matter what your family celebrates during this holiday season, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours health and happiness.

Merry Christmas,
Josh
 
EXCELLENT job Josh!!! I like that a lot:thumbup:

A Merry Christmas to you and your family also...
 
That turned out great!! I'm glad it all worked out! Good job, Josh!

I think your dad is going to like that much more that you added your own personal touch!

Merry Christmas!!
 
Yes very nice job indeed, Josh, your dad should be very proud of that one!

Merry Christmas!
 
wow! looking great! looks like Case needs to create a "Jigged Coal Bone". it reminds me of that jigged brown synthetic case makes. i know i'd snatch it up quick.:thumbup:
 
Thanks everyone. I'd say on a scale of 1-10, it was a 1. There is one caveat. Denatured alcohol is nothing to take lightly. It is not rubbing alcohol. User beware, and pay attention to the warning labels. I myself had an unfortunate incident years back with denatured alcohol vapors that could not be seen. Let's just say I was very fortunate to walk away without permanent scarring, but I had second degree burns from the knees to my ankles due to wearing shorts.

This worked out so well, I have a second one in the "dunk tank". I'm going to leave it for 48 hours and see if there is a difference. The nicer of the two goes to Pops, and I'll keep the other.
 
Wow Josh, what a terrific improvement - your Dad is going to be really surprised by such a great gift from you! OH
 
Thanks for the tutorial. Hope your dad loves it. I have the same knife and have been wondering how to fix the purple. Coal!
 
I wonder if using a bright red dye would combine with the purple to give a nice dark mahagony/rosewood color. Could be worth experimenting...
 
Great post, I've got some red bone that's looks pink where it fades to white near the bolster I won't carry because of the color. Thanks for the thread, I'll have to give this a try. :thumbup:

Did you have to do any prep work before dyeing, such as roughing the surface, cleaning, etc. ?
 
55 5 - as per Evan's advice, no prep, just put it in. One thing I couldn't do that Evan recommended was keeping the jar on a candle warmer - again at your own risk. Warmer not heater. He says it helps open the pores of the bone to accept more color.
 
There were a few threads about bone dyeing a while back. I think they got buried deep in the Maintenance, Tinkering, and Embellishment sub-forum.

(Here's the one I was thinking of: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/868446-Dyeing-Bone-A-Tutorial)

To those asking about other colors being possible - they certainly are, you just have to mix your dyes and calibrate the time spent. One thing about dying bone is that you tend to lose any color variations and end up with a solid color.

I used the "stove top method" using RIT liquid dye, mixed with water, heated to a simmer. Takes a much shorter period of time, about 15 to 30 minutes start to finish.

Important note: While I have used this with no worries on Case stainless steel knives, every time I have tried with CV carbon steel has resulted in some minor pitting in the blades. In odd little spots - not an overall patina, just little black spots that appear on the blades or blade spines. You can buff out the spots but the small pits remain.

So I don't recommend the RIT stovetop method for carbon steel. Stainless was unaffected and any apparent discolorations were just remnants of the dye that polished right off.

Here is an example of one knife I dyed:

Before:




After:




Same "after" knife, just different lighting:


I used a mixture of RIT liquid dye Cocoa Brown and Scarlet, I believe a 2:1 ratio.
 
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Great job, Josh; you're a good son!! :o
My first knife was black "jigged plastic", and I still like the looks of almost any black knife I see. I'm surprised that I don't intentionally seek them out.
And John, IMHO, your dye job vastly improved the looks of that TJ! :thumbup:

- GT
 
I looked at some case purple knives over the weekend and did not buy them because the were so dark the looked black.

Dave
 
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