First Mega patina attempt

[lmcq784]

So... never tried to force apatina on any BusseKin before and certainly not something this big either.

First try with SR-101 Swamp Comp and white vinegar. Not terribly excited about the results... I didn’t have a container big enough to leave the entire blade in, so you can see a line in the middle of the blade where I had to flip, and I think I let the front of the blade stay in the air too long and developed some brown oxidation. Might try to buff the whole thing off and retry at some point. I wanted this thing in sexy shades of grey. Any pointers?

 

[RATequila]

I have heard mustard dose wonders

 

[lmcq784]

Now... my biggest question right now is this: does the brown looking stuff on my blade matter? Is that oxidation gonna harm anything? (Should I be concerned about getting/buffing it off asap?)

I’ve been thinking about mustard.... we don’t eat mustard at home, so it’s not something we have readily. I shall go buy a small bottle!

 

[elof_alv]

Just cut up some fruit (citrus & mango will be the quickest to act) and veggies (onion & chillies are fast), they will add the patina.
When forcing, wrap the blade/knife in paper towels and use vinegars, put mustard or hot sauce on and leave for a while.
Cutting a medium-rare steak will add a blue & purple hue.
The beauty of patina is that it will be kind of self healing thing when using the knife on different materials that cause it to form

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

Chop up 6 or 7 jalapenos, 5 tomatoes and an apple or two.
Mix the food.
Spread the mixture out on the blade for a couple minutes.

Flip it and spread again.

Cut up some rare steak with bbq sawse.

Eat yo salsa and steak

Clean your knaaaf with HOT HOT HOT water and Dawn dish soap. Any dishsoap will work I'm sure, but all I have experience with is dawn. The hot water will help dry the knaaaf actually as it will simply evaporate off

You should smell a nice pungent old penny type smell. I can almost taste the steel at this point. It's my favorite part.

Watch the colors pop. It's a sweet process.

Do it as many times as you like. In my experience the thing will never rust after this.

 

[lmcq784]

Chop up 6 or 7 jalapenos, 5 tomatoes and an apple or two.
Mix the food.
Spread the mixture out on the blade for a couple minutes.

Flip it and spread again.

Cut up some rare steak with bbq sawse.

Eat yo salsa and steak

Clean your knaaaf with HOT HOT HOT water and Dawn dish soap. Any dishsoap will work I'm sure, but all I have experience with is dawn. The hot water will help dry the knaaaf actually as it will simply evaporate off

You should smell a nice pungent old penny type smell. I can almost taste the steel at this point. It's my favorite part.

Watch the colors pop. It's a sweet process.

Do it as many times as you like. In my experience the thing will never rust after this.

That sounds delicious!
Now. To both of you ( elof_alv & tinfoil hat timmy ), would I need to, or should I polish off the existing layer to start over? What would you recommend for getting rid of this first layer of patina?

 

[elof_alv]

That sounds delicious!
Now. To both of you ( elof_alv & tinfoil hat timmy ), would I need to, or should I polish off the existing layer to start over? What would you recommend for getting rid of this first layer of patina?

I'd say that all you need to do is wash it in hot water with any dish soap to remove any fats off the blade (methylated spirits/rubbing alcohol will do as well) then slice off some onion and rub it along the exposed steel, you'll smell what Timmy is describing (though different people will perceive different smells from it) and will see the onion turning colour as well, then do the same thing with a lemon/lime/orange and at that stage you will have your blade primed for most daily activities.

Patina is a different type of oxidation from rust, and it creates barrier that protects your blade from rust

Vex D2, Vex2 SR-101 coated Vex Mini Sr-101

CS Rodent Solution

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

A little scotch brite or something similar will remove a patina, but I think you're good to go as is

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

My scrapivore le is used in the kitchen quite frequently. This is a couple days worth

 

[lmcq784]

I'd say that all you need to do is wash it in hot water with any dish soap to remove any fats off the blade (methylated spirits/rubbing alcohol will do as well) then slice off some onion and rub it along the exposed steel, you'll smell what Timmy is describing (though different people will perceive different smells from it) and will see the onion turning colour as well, then do the same thing with a lemon/lime/orange and at that stage you will have your blade primed for most daily activities.

Patina is a different type of oxidation from rust, and it creates barrier that protects your blade from rust

Vex D2, Vex2 SR-101 coated Vex Mini Sr-101

CS Rodent Solution

A little scotch brite or something similar will remove a patina, but I think you're good to go as is

Thank you both!! I shall retry and report back! (Once I can get supplies like grocery..)

 

[SpyderPhreak]

I was going to do a solid gray vinegar patina myself. At least that was the original plan anyway. But then when I realized it was going to take over a quart of vinegar to fully submerge the blade in the pan I was going to use, I changed my mind. BTW, if you want to use vinegar, it works a LOT better if you get (and keep) the vinegar hot. I usually keep it just below boiling. You'll get a much darker gray patina this way, and avoid any of the orange-looking stuff. I'll be doing at least one of my comp MEGA Wardens this way when they get here.

Anyway, so instead, I used plain yellow mustard like I do on some of my carbon steel folders. First, I scrubbed the whole knife with in hot water with Dawn (seems to get the best results, it's the only dish soap I use), then after drying it off, I also wiped it down with acetone. Squirted a small pile of mustard onto a paper plate, then used my finger to dab it onto the blade. Don't go overboard, a thin coat seems to work the best overall. The little mountiains you get when lifting your fingertip off the blade are what gives it the random pattern.

I let the first coating dry for about 10-15 minutes, then with a small mister bottle, I lightly re-moistened the mustard with some plain, white vinegar. Let that dry again for 10-15 minutes. Next, I cleaned the blade off again with soap and hot water, then acetone as I did before starting, then repeated the mustard and vinegar steps one more time. Washed it off again and oiled it with mineral oil overnight.

Today, I wiped the excess oil off with a paper towel. Got a nice patina, ranging from light to dark gray with bluish-looking reflections. I couldn't get the bluish highlights to show in the photos here with the complex grind.

Glad I went with black canvas on this one, it's VERY dark black! This thing is a beast! Can't wait to get her dirty!!!

 

[lmcq784]

Very nice! I just used some Scotch Brite pad on mine today, buffed the whole blade, got all the brown stuff off. In the end, I had a mildly darkened blade with what's kinda like a grey-washed look. I am digging' it. But I absolutely wanna get this thing a darker shade of grey.

Tried cutting' some salami today, but I think the oils kept it from doing/forming anything.

 

[SpyderPhreak]

Very nice! I just used some Scotch Brite pad on mine today, buffed the whole blade, got all the brown stuff off. In the end, I had a mildly darkened blade with what's kinda like a grey-washed look. I am digging' it. But I absolutely wanna get this thing a darker shade of grey.

Tried cutting' some salami today, but I think the oils kept it from doing/forming anything.

Degrease, then soak in HOT vinegar. That's how I've gotten a nice, uniform dark gray patina on previous Rats.

 

[elof_alv]

You won't get much of a patina from salami, it's the blood/'juices' in meat that cause it.

This one has been dipped in ferric chloride, gives nice and even grey finish.

Used nail polish to protect the edge from acid.

You can brush on ferric chloride on the bigger blades as well, it just needs to be neutralised with ammonia when you're done.

 

[dogboye]

I’ve had the best results by cutting hot meat while cooking. Bed, chicken, pork, doesn’t matter the animal.
Make the cut while the meat is still Rare. That works best.
I suppose I should try to put the meat/blood on the entire blade. But I haven’t tried that yet. Maybe with the mega warden

 

[lmcq784]

You won't get much of a patina from salami, it's the blood/'juices' in meat that cause it.

This one has been dipped in ferric chloride, gives nice and even grey finish.

Used nail polish to protect the edge from acid.

You can brush on ferric chloride on the bigger blades as well, it just needs to be neutralised with ammonia when you're done.

Yeah, the salami was just something we happened to want to eat... Not expecting any patina from that anyways. I like the nail polish idea. You blade almost looks like it's got a fancy hamon!

I think I might do a few things. I'll leave the blue iridescence for another blade. I've done that with my Zwiling-Kramer 52100 knives - cut lotsa meats! - and they're gorgeous! Maybe for the Mega Warden. Or I wonder about how it's work on the SR-77 Of the eRATicator?

The nail polish and hot vinegar combo sounds like what I'd want for this particular blade's look.

 

[hhmoore]

If your goal is to force a cool looking patina, put some vinegar, pickle juice, mustard and salt in a spray bottle. Spray one side and let it sit (in the warm sun is ideal). Flip, and repeat as needed. I do have a picture; but it isn't busse-kin.

Edit: This way is easier, since I attached the image directly - it is in this post, along with what I used (I was a little off in my above description - see post 45 for details)
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...first-day-of-use.1563683/page-3#post-17979497

 

[lmcq784]

If your goal is to force a cool looking patina, put some vinegar, pickle juice, mustard and salt in a spray bottle. Spray one side and let it sit (in the warm sun is ideal). Flip, and repeat as needed. I do have a picture; but it isn't busse-kin.

Would love to see your example!! Sounds cool.

I did patina a small 52100 spyderco blade in a homemade pickle juice... laid it on the cutting board with a juice-soaked paper towel. Turned out really nice, all sorts of cloud-like gradients of darker and lighter grey. Didn't quite get that effect with the white vinegar this time, so I ended up submerging the whole blade (at what I could).

Maybe that's what I need to try again.. pickle juice!

 

[hhmoore]

lmcq784
I updated the post with a link

 

[SpyderPhreak]

The spray-bottle patinas are cool! Might have to try that sometime in the future.