Any thoughts on forcing a patina?

Discussion in 'DIY (Do It Yourself)' started by Kaw-liga, Apr 4, 2017.

  1. Mountain Tiger

    Mountain Tiger Member

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    I have a question for this thread since you guys know a lot!

    I accidentally patina'd a carbon steel blade several years ago with CLR and I liked the uniform dark wash it created.

    Seven years out it still looks good and seems to not have any issues.

    Can any of you tell me if there's a chemistry reason why I shouldn't use CLR again in the future to do a uniform dark patina intentionally?

    Enclosed are pictures of the knife. It's been used for years since the CLR.


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  2. Kaw-liga

    Kaw-liga Member

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    The only negative that I could imagine would be that it may not be the safest chemical to use on a knife that you would use for food prep. If this is a concern, a citrus, potato, red meat, or other food-based patina would be worth considering. Is it the same CLR that cleans off calcium, lime, and rust? If so, it would definitely be acidic and force a patina. I'm certainly not a chemist, but I took quite a bit of it in college and my job basically boils down to balancing large quantities of acids and bases. With that said, I wouldn't call myself an expert by a long shot. Thanks for posting. Oh, and if your Mora is stainless, you likely won't get a very dramatic patina, no matter what you use.
     
  3. Mountain Tiger

    Mountain Tiger Member

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    Ok, so it won't hurt the steel long term. Cool.

    I'm not planning on using it for food prep.

    I don't normally buy stainless anything. Not a big fan of stainless.
     
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  4. McKROB

    McKROB Member

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    Rhubarb is rich in oxalic acid and works great for forcing a patina.
     
  5. The Marsh Gorilla

    The Marsh Gorilla Member

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    After @STPNWLF ’s question in other knives thread I figured I’d go into more detail about how I cleaned up this “ancient to me” Old Timer my pawpaw gave me as a kid. It’d gotten stored in it’s belt sheath at the bottom of my knife box cause I simply didn’t dig slip joints very much for a long time. As you can see it had a fairly grimy old use patina and some rust in the nail nick.
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    I scrubbed the old patina and grime off with a green scotchbrite pad then soaked the blades in white vinegar all morning to get the rust out the nail nick and force a new patina back on. Ended up having to use the awl from an SAK to get finish getting the rust out the nail nick, which to my surprise came out in one piece. Guess that’s because of the vinegar soaking. Then I put an edge back on the main blade with my red DMT bench stone to get the tip back to a sharp point and finished up both on my Lansky turn box ceramic sticks. Pics were taken before it got coconut oiled. 2CF62B4C-036D-4B9F-BC12-14D0CB7A304E.jpeg 2DB60D27-F847-4984-BEAC-38DE7298DAC6.jpeg
     

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  6. Knifehunt

    Knifehunt Member

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    Here is my 5 with a natural patina from hard use. I've used this one like a rented mule. IMG_20190212_114734576~2.jpg IMG_20190212_114800224~2.jpg
     
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  7. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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  8. Chris Talley

    Chris Talley Member

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    A little experiment: Mora with grapefruit forced patina. I think it was stabbed in grapefruit for approximately 10 hours.
     
  9. Chris Talley

    Chris Talley Member

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    Another grapefruit experiment on a TOPS BOB Fieldcraft. Sorry these photos don’t go it justice.
     
  10. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    Looks legit to me!
     
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  11. The Warrior

    The Warrior Member

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  12. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    The handle patina is nice too!!!
     
  13. Kaw-liga

    Kaw-liga Member

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    @The Warrior that's a good looking Kephart man! Who made it?
     
  14. The Warrior

    The Warrior Member

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    Thanks guys. I distressed the leather sheath, and the walnut scales, make it look a little older. @Kaw-liga , it's the Becker BK62. Ethan Becker got a hold of an original Colclesser Kephart, and had KA-BAR reproduce it. Nice blade. Here's a link to my mod, if you want to see it: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/becker-bk62-mod.1632929/
     
  15. Kaw-liga

    Kaw-liga Member

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    Thanks man, I do. I'll go check that out.
     
  16. Brandon8485

    Brandon8485 Member

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    Not sure if this belongs in this thread, but I recently tried acid stonewashing a blade for the first time. I used one part ferric chloride and 3 parts water and let it soak for about 25 minutes. Covered the parts where tolerances matter with my wife's nail polish. In my opinion came out pretty good for a first try. Screenshot_20200410_200405.jpg
     
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  17. Brandon8485

    Brandon8485 Member

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    Forgot to add that after the acid bath I tumbled it in some smooth stones with soap and water.
     
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  18. Kaw-liga

    Kaw-liga Member

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    I've always been curious about doing an acid/stone wash. I think it turned out amazingly!
     
  19. Kylemeister

    Kylemeister Member

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    That looks great Brandon!
     
  20. Brandon8485

    Brandon8485 Member

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    Thanks. Bladehq did a really good instruction video on how to do it. So I just followed that and it came out better than expected. This is the link.

     
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