Knives and Potatoes

G

Greyeagle

Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
101
Howdy, When I was a kid myself and most everyone I knew would always stick a new carbon steel knife in a potato to take the shine off the blade. I am just wondering if anyone else ever did this. I guess it was a form of bluing the knife. I never knew why we did it but just went with the flow.
Grey
 
GreyE.

You are very correct in what you said.

The starch in the potato was oxidized. The Chlorogenic and Citric acid content in the potato worked on the starch resulting in various chemicals being produced including Sodium Chlorate I and III and Hydrogen Peroxide. These chemicals (and probably others since it depends on the type of potato) oxidized the steel in the knife in a fashion very similar to the process used in gun bluing.
 
There is absolutely no friggin' end to the things one can learn on this forum.

Enlightening response. Being Irish, it'll make me wonder what's going on inside of me everytime I eat a spud. Maybe I'm bluing myself!
 
Using a potato is a new one on me, but some of us use fruit juices, vinegar, mayonaise, commercial cold blue ...

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tim8557 said:
Maybe I'm bluing myself!
Click to expand...

You blue yourself? Neat trick.... ;)


Potatoes are great, you can also use mayo, vinegar, catsup, yellow mustard and a lot of other foods with varying degrees of effectiveness.
 
cpirtle said:
You blue yourself? Neat trick.... ;)
Click to expand...
I just about spewed tea all over my keyboard on that one. Thanks for the morning chuckle. :D

Yep, the process being applied with the fruits & veggies to steel is bluing to achieve a patina. Some of the folks that do this regularly get real caught up in the details -- phase of the moon, color of the bat's hair, how many days the fruit ripened on the tree, pulverizing unobtainable herbs, coating with dust from Mars, that sort of thing. There's a knifemaker down Oregon way who says he'll teach newcomers any aspect of the art he knows, except for his secret patina recipe. That will apparently go the grave with him.
 
tim8557 said:
There is absolutely no friggin' end to the things one can learn on this forum.

Enlightening response. Being Irish, it'll make me wonder what's going on inside of me everytime I eat a spud. Maybe I'm bluing myself!
Click to expand...

The Bushmills, Baileys, and Guiness and other good Irish ales and stouts neutralize the acids (or make you not care). Being of Scotch ancestary we have a similar antidote for our potatos!

http://www.realbeer.com/edu/irish/beer.php

Frankly, I give the Russians credit for the best use of spuds with the French close behind.
 
I have a couple of Slips at home that I need to get the Patina going on.

I wonder how long to leave it in the potato?

:D
 
Sledgehammer said:
I have a couple of Slips at home that I need to get the Patina going on.

I wonder how long to leave it in the potato?

:D
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Usually you will see it turn greenish-black (the potato). Don't leave the potato it in water though or it will start to sprout. You can get gun bluing roll-on or brush-on at any gun store for not much and it works pretty good. Better than an old stinky potato sitting around the workbench.
 
I put the knife in a potato last night for about 10 minutes. Took it out and nothing.

After that I cut up an apple with it and then some grapes.

Still nice and Shiny.

It's a Shrade 330T.
 
Probably stainless.

But it could take longer than 10 minutes for the potato. The apple should have shown some darkening. Did you degrease the blade first?
 
That's why it's called stainless steel. Bluing is rust. A good stainless resists rust.
Bill
 
We would usually put in the potato and leave it overnight. Next day take it out and wash the knife good, oil it and voila it was good to go...
Grey
 
try wiping a lime all over it.....takes about 20 min :)
 
I learn something new everyday!! There is no end to what I am learning here!!
 
We did that as kids in the 60s, we left them in the potato overnight. never really saw much change though, maybe a little dulling of the carbon steel blade.
 
RokJok said:
I just about spewed tea all over my keyboard on that one. Thanks for the morning chuckle. :D

Yep, the process being applied with the fruits & veggies to steel is bluing to achieve a patina. Some of the folks that do this regularly get real caught up in the details -- phase of the moon, color of the bat's hair, how many days the fruit ripened on the tree, pulverizing unobtainable herbs, coating with dust from Mars, that sort of thing. There's a knifemaker down Oregon way who says he'll teach newcomers any aspect of the art he knows, except for his secret patina recipe. That will apparently go the grave with him.
Click to expand...

The best recipe uses the earwax from the bat. Retrieving it pulls out all those little earhairs, so harvesting from the second ear tends to really piss them off. :p

You gotta be quick to get that! :eek: :D
 
Just patinaed a Case Yellow Handle CV medium stockman recently by soaking the entire knife in Coke for about 1 hour after a good wash with soap.

Thew blades have taken on a lovely dark grey colour.

Interestingly, the springs apparently are stainless as they were unaffected.
 
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