RokJok
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,252
A favorite patina method for me is to boil white vinegar, then submerge the blade in it for 10 minutes or more. On high carbon steels like 1095 or A2 this method typically yields a nice dark gray gun-metal colored patina of consistent color. The mustard or Miracle Whip patinas can get splotchy due to their paste-like consistency causing inconsistent contact with the metal, even though it is the vinegar in them doing the patina building.
I like to use a heavy beer mug for standing the knife upright while soaking. That uses less vinegar than covering the knife in a cake pan. Obviously, the beer mug limits the length of blade that can get soaked this way moreso than does a 9x13 cake pan or a sheet pan. Good thing I use the house brand el-cheapo white vinegar from the grocery store, something like 89 cents a gallon.
I tried the boiling vinegar soak yesterday on an INFI Scrapper 5 LE to see if INFI would patina up this way. It didn't touch the INFI at all.
At the end of 10 minutes, the INFI looked like it did when it went into the hot vinegar bath -- shiny silver color. So I put the knife back into the bath, not expecting it to do much because with the patina method most of the effect is usually in place in the first 5 minutes or so. After the Scrapper had spent 20 minutes total in the soak, there was no change. The INFI still looked like it did the day it left the shop.
After taking the S5 LE out of the vinegar bath, I put in an A2 blade that the vinegar darkened up okay (not great) even though the vinegar was mostly cooled off by that point in time.
So I'm thinking that INFI is pretty resistant to corrosion from acids. I will have to try some phosphoric acid rust-remover spray which stains cast iron *immediately* or a saturated salt-water soak to see how INFI fares in those environments. More results then.
I like to use a heavy beer mug for standing the knife upright while soaking. That uses less vinegar than covering the knife in a cake pan. Obviously, the beer mug limits the length of blade that can get soaked this way moreso than does a 9x13 cake pan or a sheet pan. Good thing I use the house brand el-cheapo white vinegar from the grocery store, something like 89 cents a gallon.
I tried the boiling vinegar soak yesterday on an INFI Scrapper 5 LE to see if INFI would patina up this way. It didn't touch the INFI at all.
At the end of 10 minutes, the INFI looked like it did when it went into the hot vinegar bath -- shiny silver color. So I put the knife back into the bath, not expecting it to do much because with the patina method most of the effect is usually in place in the first 5 minutes or so. After the Scrapper had spent 20 minutes total in the soak, there was no change. The INFI still looked like it did the day it left the shop.
After taking the S5 LE out of the vinegar bath, I put in an A2 blade that the vinegar darkened up okay (not great) even though the vinegar was mostly cooled off by that point in time.
So I'm thinking that INFI is pretty resistant to corrosion from acids. I will have to try some phosphoric acid rust-remover spray which stains cast iron *immediately* or a saturated salt-water soak to see how INFI fares in those environments. More results then.
