Forced patina

JNewell said:
There was a thread from a guy a while back who literally had a D2 blade start to disintegrate after "forcing" a "patina."

Honest use is honest use. IMO/YMMV/FWIW a forced patina is abuse.
Click to expand...

I had the choice to put a patina on my D2 Para or watch it rust (in the Florida humidity). I chose to put a patina on it and I would do it again.
 
JNewell said:
There was a thread from a guy a while back who literally had a D2 blade start to disintegrate after "forcing" a "patina."

Honest use is honest use. IMO/YMMV/FWIW a forced patina is abuse.
Click to expand...

Forced patina is abuse?

If putting a knife through pineapples, oranges, and potato is abuse then its quite obvious that the knife is not well made. Whats the difference between naturally cutting potato and sticking it in one for an hour?

Just sharing my opinion.
 
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An example of naturally formed patina.
Not stainless does not necessarily mean stainfull.
 
i just picked up a case canoe knife w/ cv blades

i am going to force my first patina (my other carbon blades have natural patinas acquired through use)

quick question: if i use the potato method, is the potato edible afterward?
we have one potato and i am certain my wife needs it for a recipe
 
I forced a patina w/ an apple. I ate the apple afterwards. I think there were some discolored areas I cut out though.
 
Frequently using a carbon knife and wiping it down keeps it in fine shape,leaving it laying around in a damp environment is guaranteed to rust it and rust means pitting.

Have my grandparent's wedding present of carbon steel poultry carvers,many years of dis-use in drawers had lead to red rusting and pitting. These knives are 106 years old and looked in a dreary state, the stag handles were still good though. i cleaned the rust with solvents and wire wool to remove the worst of the scars and pitting,sharpened them and started using them again.Result? They soon developed a nice blue colour from carving hot meat&serving. All I do is hand wash them in very hot soapy water and dry thoroughly.The more I use them the nicer they look.

So, yes patina and use DO protect and enhance knives. Forcing it works well with any of the onion family and the best fruit I find are pears for some reason.
 
Fascinating thread for a newbie like me to read. If I understand this right, to "force a patina" you stick the blade in oranges, fruits, onions etc and let it "soak".....is that right ? And when you stick it in mustard is that what you guys call a "mustard finish" ? And while I am full of questions, anybody ever use mayonnaise ? I recall my grandmother would get onto me for leaving a knife stuck in the mayo jar.....I think it was because it tarnished her silver plated knife (and ruined the mayo) ???
 
wow. i used a potato but not much happened after an hour. overripe kumquats, however... whoa. i daresay the pattern brings to mind damascus steel since it took a few kumquats to cover the blade.

i will take pics this weekend. thanks for the help folks
 
drlozier said:
Fascinating thread for a newbie like me to read. If I understand this right, to "force a patina" you stick the blade in oranges, fruits, onions etc and let it "soak".....is that right ?
Click to expand...

That's about it. Of course we're talking about non-stainless steels. Typically people like a patina on traditonal knives like Case stockmans or Trappers. The Case CV steel takes on a real nice patina.

When I forced the patina on my Case I left in stuck in an apple over night. I have a new Case stockman and instead of forcing the patina I've decided to just let it develop naturally. I've found that just a couple minutes exposure to acidic fruits like grapefruit is enough to cause a patina to start forming.

The patina actually provides some protection to the blade from rust.

Can't help you w/ the mayo.

Cheers :)
 
coat the blade with mustard, then take a piece of scrunched up paper towel and dab the blade, just like sponge painting a wall. Leave it an hour and rinse. Really cool pattern that way.
I made my CS laredo bowie look like pirate knife with that.
pic's one day when my new wife can train me how.
 
i used my little bro's schrade sharpfinger to spread mayo once and it did "stain" the blade, at the time i didn't know anything about patina, but yeah it started to patina the blade.
 
Thanks !!! I will experiment some and let you all know how it turns out. Hey Vancouver....how's the weather ? Here in Pensacola Florida we have had below freezing but it got up to 66 f today....really messing up my fishing plans !!
 
it is 10 celcius with monsoon rains here in Vancouver. All the local mountains have shut down all skiing and snowshoeing trails, sure hope we get a cold snap a week or two before the Olympic's. I am getting fishing fever as well.
 
sounds like a good time to spend time in the shop. I tried forcing patina with your technique last night on three old small blades, one with mustard, one with mayonnaise, and one stuck into a sago palm tree fig from the front yard (experimenting :) ). I let them soak all night (probably too long with the mustard and fig)....they all worked on the metal and did not ruin my blades but the mayo was most impressive and made some nice "damascus like...kinda" lines. I do recommend folks try the mayo (Hellmans Fat Free :) ) I will keep playing around and post some pics when I get my camera operating. This is a great forum ! I learn something new every day....many thanks !!
 
I used lemon juice to force the patina on a d2 para millie....I really like the

look.There was a thread on the Spyderco forum last year IIRC...it may have

been 08. You could do a search on the Spydie forum.
 
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