Khukuri patina photos
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That's very nice. Putting a patina on the blades can be a lot of when you're bored 
I haven't used my WWII for anything yet, so I have been experimenting with patinas. It's easy to put them on, and then put on another one, etc. When you put your mustard patina on, did you rinse the mustard away with water?
I haven't used my WWII for anything yet, so I have been experimenting with patinas. It's easy to put them on, and then put on another one, etc. When you put your mustard patina on, did you rinse the mustard away with water?That's very nice. Putting a patina on the blades can be a lot of when you're bored
Actually i scrubbed it off with a SOS pad, with soap in it.
http://www.saveoursaucepans.com/
I prepped the metal with the same pad too.
Get the steel *super* clean. Degrease with detergent, "SOS" pad, scuff up the steel, and wipe with paper towels and rubbing alcohol for a thorough degrease.
Apply mustard with a blotter, the thinner the better.
Wait till dry, and scrub off with the same SOS pad. The final scrub is needed to take of any residual rust where the chemical reaction takes place between the steel and the mustard. You will know right away if the reaction is happening. it stinks, and you can see the pattern developing. Dont worry about scrubbing off the patina with the SOS pad. It is pretty tough, which is the whole point isn't it? :^)
but when i say "scrub" i don't mean with more than finger pressure.
Post a photo of the WW2 i want to see!
just go to imageshack
upload photos
select "get url for forums"
ctrl-c the text
ctrl-v to the forum
I really like this picture. With that angle and patina, it looks like its seen some years of good use. Good job.
How did you do the patina?
I didn't realize the WW2 was slender like a sirupate.
First I put superglue all over the cracks in the handle, and then on all the seams around the bolster and end cap. The super glue sealed those parts to prevent patination stuff from getting in there where it would cause corrosion, but couldn't be cleaned away. The superglue also stopped the cracks in the handle from progressing further, and had the lucky side effect of making the slick horn handle a lot more grippy. No, I did not accidentally glue my hand to the handle
I started my patination process the same way you did, by putting 2 drops of ketchup on each side of the blade, smearing it around with my finger tip so everything is covered, and then blotting it with whole hand in different directions to get rid of the smear pattern (it makes ugly artificial-looking patina most of the time). I then gently warmed the blade over a candle to speed up the drying process. I never got it warmer than a little above body temperature, so it feels warm, but not hot. The max temperature was about the same as hot water from the faucet that's not uncomfortable to hold your hand under it for as long as you want.
I figured out that it's not air that causes the patination reaction, it's actually drying of the acids. As the acid dries, it becomes more concentrated, and more reactive. When it's fully dry, it has reached the limit of what it can do. Also, I discovered that vinegar is strong enough to actually REMOVE patination from the ketchup/mustard/fruit/etc. So, I had an idea...
I applied the ketchup patina about 4 times, and rinsed it under hot water after each application of ketchup, and then IMMEDIATELY dried it with a paper towel, while scrubbing it enough to remove any "loose" patina that darkens the paper towel. Then, I wrapped the blade in a thick coat of fresh dry paper towels, and soaked them with vinegar. Then, I put the blade on top of an empty pot on my stove, with the heat at the lowest temperature. Being on top of the pot ensures the knife doesn't get "hot", but only "warm". The wet vinegar-soaked paper towels also ensure that the temperature does not rise much above the boiling point of water even if something goes terribly wrong. If you see steam or hear sizzling vinegar, it's WAAAAY too hot. It should only be warm to the touch.
After about 10 minutes, I unwrapped the blade, and rinsed it under hot water, and dried it off IMMEDIATELY with paper towels. A lot more patina came off on the paper towel. The bubbles that formed under the paper towels are what made those interesting russet patterns on my blade. Basically, the bubbles lifted the vinegar soaked paper towel off the blade in some places, even though it was originally thoroughly soaked. So, there was a difference in how much different parts of the blade were affected by the vinegar.
I think most of the time straight culinary vinegar is too strong. Since it removes patination, it has a thinning effect that can make a nice pattern AFTER you already have a patina that won't rub off when you scrub it hard with a moist paper towel. If you don't do that scrubbing step, your patina will come off one way or another, probably into your food! By removing the loose patina with a moist paper towel scrub, you ensure that the only patina that remains is there to stay. Then, you can start building the patina into thicker layers with more ketchup/mustard treatments.
It turned out really nice, I think. It looks 100% natural with some creative steps in the patination process.
Oh, one more thing, another good reason to scrub vigorously with a moist paper towel after rinsing is because the blade still gets a layer of rust almost instantly after the water begins to dry when you stop rinsing. By scrubbing it with a barely-moist paper towel, it's not enough water to cause rusting, but it is enough to ensure the paper towel "grips" the rust and pulls it away from the surface.
I noticed that the hardened areas of the blade form a slightly different patina. This process I used seems to be capable of revealing what parts of the blade are hardened. If you look at the "sweet spot" on the edge of my blade, you'll notice that area stands out a little bit. I'm not sure why, or what exactly made it do that, but it does show the sweet spot and some of the tip is hardened. The sweet spot is so hard it scratched my chakmak! That's pretty darn hard! I'll have to get a stone or a borosilicate rod to maintain the edge on the sweet spot.
I hope that helps!
I started my patination process the same way you did, by putting 2 drops of ketchup on each side of the blade, smearing it around with my finger tip so everything is covered, and then blotting it with whole hand in different directions to get rid of the smear pattern (it makes ugly artificial-looking patina most of the time). I then gently warmed the blade over a candle to speed up the drying process. I never got it warmer than a little above body temperature, so it feels warm, but not hot. The max temperature was about the same as hot water from the faucet that's not uncomfortable to hold your hand under it for as long as you want.
I figured out that it's not air that causes the patination reaction, it's actually drying of the acids. As the acid dries, it becomes more concentrated, and more reactive. When it's fully dry, it has reached the limit of what it can do. Also, I discovered that vinegar is strong enough to actually REMOVE patination from the ketchup/mustard/fruit/etc. So, I had an idea...
I applied the ketchup patina about 4 times, and rinsed it under hot water after each application of ketchup, and then IMMEDIATELY dried it with a paper towel, while scrubbing it enough to remove any "loose" patina that darkens the paper towel. Then, I wrapped the blade in a thick coat of fresh dry paper towels, and soaked them with vinegar. Then, I put the blade on top of an empty pot on my stove, with the heat at the lowest temperature. Being on top of the pot ensures the knife doesn't get "hot", but only "warm". The wet vinegar-soaked paper towels also ensure that the temperature does not rise much above the boiling point of water even if something goes terribly wrong. If you see steam or hear sizzling vinegar, it's WAAAAY too hot. It should only be warm to the touch.
After about 10 minutes, I unwrapped the blade, and rinsed it under hot water, and dried it off IMMEDIATELY with paper towels. A lot more patina came off on the paper towel. The bubbles that formed under the paper towels are what made those interesting russet patterns on my blade. Basically, the bubbles lifted the vinegar soaked paper towel off the blade in some places, even though it was originally thoroughly soaked. So, there was a difference in how much different parts of the blade were affected by the vinegar.
I think most of the time straight culinary vinegar is too strong. Since it removes patination, it has a thinning effect that can make a nice pattern AFTER you already have a patina that won't rub off when you scrub it hard with a moist paper towel. If you don't do that scrubbing step, your patina will come off one way or another, probably into your food! By removing the loose patina with a moist paper towel scrub, you ensure that the only patina that remains is there to stay. Then, you can start building the patina into thicker layers with more ketchup/mustard treatments.
It turned out really nice, I think. It looks 100% natural with some creative steps in the patination process.
Oh, one more thing, another good reason to scrub vigorously with a moist paper towel after rinsing is because the blade still gets a layer of rust almost instantly after the water begins to dry when you stop rinsing. By scrubbing it with a barely-moist paper towel, it's not enough water to cause rusting, but it is enough to ensure the paper towel "grips" the rust and pulls it away from the surface.
I noticed that the hardened areas of the blade form a slightly different patina. This process I used seems to be capable of revealing what parts of the blade are hardened. If you look at the "sweet spot" on the edge of my blade, you'll notice that area stands out a little bit. I'm not sure why, or what exactly made it do that, but it does show the sweet spot and some of the tip is hardened. The sweet spot is so hard it scratched my chakmak! That's pretty darn hard! I'll have to get a stone or a borosilicate rod to maintain the edge on the sweet spot.
I hope that helps!
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Single best hamon line distribution I've seen on a khukuri.
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Single best hamon line distribution I've seen on a khukuri.
Actually, I think it's a tin chirra....never seen one made by HI before. Was this a special order....???
Either way it is a beautiful knife. Heavily built CAK with some extra fullers..............YES
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I cannot for the life of me remember when or where I got that... It's a Tin Chirra (three fullers) that was likely from a deal of the day. They used to come up on a semi-regular basis, about as regularly as foxys follys and cherokee roses.