How To What types of non food items patina a blade?

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SuzukiGS750EZ

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Hey guys. Curious what you’d bump into on daily life besides vinegar, ketchup, mustard, lemons, etc that would patina your blade? I have the 2021 GEC Barlow that just got shipped to me and I’m curious what I can look forward to cutting and putting some character on it. My first GEC, first Barlow and first folder in 1095.
 
Years and use are what normally will patina a blade....

But, I would imagine anything that has an acidic component to it would do it... maybe trim some tree branches or something. Other than that, I'd just use it for food prep/eating.
 
Anti-freeze (Prestone, yellow type) - was amazed one day to see instant bluing of the front half of this Clip main blade. I cut the foil seal from a jug of anti-freeze to put in my truck and it blued the blade. It has been durable too, that was sometime in the late 2000’s. OH
Kabar-1081-ARNG-1998-2005.jpg
 
1CD322E6-994B-40A7-B659-79C321587291.jpegJust put it in your pocket and use it. Whittle some green branch while listening to a ballgame, cut an apple, stir your coffee, basically anything organic and moist will start the process. No need to force it, patina will happen.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Hey guys. Curious what you’d bump into on daily life besides vinegar, ketchup, mustard, lemons, etc that would patina your blade? I have the 2021 GEC Barlow that just got shipped to me and I’m curious what I can look forward to cutting and putting some character on it. My first GEC, first Barlow and first folder in 1095.
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You're talking about the BF Barlow?
 
Seems to me, a lot of non-food stuff capable of oxidizing a blade might actually be much more aggressive in doing so. In other words, stuff like acidic or alkaline corrosives used as cleaning agents, like chlorine, bleach, lime/scale remover, etc. Even stainless steel isn't immune to deep etching from some of these things. So, personally, I wouldn't be too eager to test a new blade, especially a non-stainless blade, on too many unknown agents without understanding the risks of doing so. A simple 'patina' is much easier to clean up or remove, than will be the deep etching or aggressive rusting brought by some other non-food oxidizers.

If it were mine, I'd just use the blade for more 'normal' stuff, like food, etc. Food will do plenty for patina. Even simple handling of the blade will patinate the steel in time.
 
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SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Hey guys. Curious what you’d bump into on daily life besides vinegar, ketchup, mustard, lemons, etc that would patina your blade? I have the 2021 GEC Barlow that just got shipped to me and I’m curious what I can look forward to cutting and putting some character on it. My first GEC, first Barlow and first folder in 1095.
Click to expand...
Depending on where you live, moisture in the air will do a good job. Carrying a carbon Opinel in Seattle I saw patina begin in weeks with no food prep. Now in Colorado, it would take years without food prep of some kind.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
Seems to me, a lot of non-food stuff capable of oxidizing a blade might actually be much more aggressive in doing so. In other words, stuff like acidic or alkaline corrosives used as cleaning agents, like chlorine, bleach, lime/scale remover, etc. Even stainless steel isn't immune to deep etching from some of these things. So, personally, I wouldn't be too eager to test a new blade, especially a non-stainless blade, on too many unknown agents without understanding the risks of doing so. A simple 'patina' is much easier to clean up or remove, than will be the deep etching or aggressive rusting brought by some other non-food oxidizers.

If it were mine, I'd just use the blade for more 'normal' stuff, like food, etc. Food will do plenty for patina. Even simple handling of the blade will patinate the steel in time.
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I’m not looking to force a patina, more so curious to know what will put a patina on a blade besides the obvious culinary options. I don’t really carry carbon steel often, usually a variety of s30, s35 etc
 
The Zieg said:
Depending on where you live, moisture in the air will do a good job. Carrying a carbon Opinel in Seattle I saw patina begin in weeks with no food prep. Now in Colorado, it takes years without food prep of some kind.
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Wouldn’t the moisture in the air cause brown rust?
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Wouldn’t the moisture in the air cause brown rust?
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I suppose it should, but that was not my experience. From everyday use on non food items (cardboard boxes, leather, rope, whittling wood, window screens, feed bags, fishing line, trimming plastic edges, pruning dead flower beds, my five years in PNW gave me many patina conditioned Opinels; and I did not use them for food prep back then. Now, of course, I do: Whatever knife I have on me gets used for any task, food or not.

Perhaps it would have happened as you say if I had not been using the knife, had just left it sitting out. Maybe the abrasion of use had something to do with it.
 
The Zieg said:
Depending on where you live, moisture in the air will do a good job. Carrying a carbon Opinel in Seattle I saw patina begin in weeks with no food prep. Now in Colorado, it takes years without food prep of some kind.
Click to expand...
Same where I am in New Mexico. For the most part, it's extremely dry here with RH levels in the 5% - <20% ballpark from September through June each year. But in July - August, we have our so-called 'monsoon season', which is more humid at 30% - 40% outdoors. And running our swamp coolers in the summertime makes it more so indoors (50% - 60% RH). So, during monsoon season, I have to watch my blades more closely for rust-spotting issues, which seemingly develop overnight at times. I've come to think of our monsoon season as 'patina season' (or 'rusting season' ).
 
I think anything acidic would do it given enough time and if moisture is present you get red vs black. I’ve gotten unplanned patina on my GEC 93 from tape residue breaking down boxes. A natural patina on the blade with corresponding “bronzing“ of the nickel silver bolsters looks really nice, like someone else said the humidity of the environment will accelarate the process. There was a pretty good thread on forced patinas here, along with a warning about what can happen to dyed bone.

Get A Deep Even Black Patina On 1095 Carbon Steel

I posted this pic on the "What 'Traditional Knife' are ya totin' today?" thread least week, and it received a lot of interest and questions, so I thought I'd post the very simple procedure I used to get this dark, even forced patina on my GEC Northfield (polished) #72 in 1095. If the Mods in...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Same where I am in New Mexico. For the most part, it's extremely dry here with RH levels in the 5% - <20% ballpark from September through June each year. But in July - August, we have our so-called 'monsoon season', which is more humid at 30% - 40% outdoors. And running our swamp coolers in the summertime makes it more so indoors (50% - 60% RH). So, during monsoon season, I have to watch my blades more closely for rust-spotting issues, which seemingly develop overnight at times. I've come to think of our monsoon season as 'patina season' (or 'rusting season' ).
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Yep, the swampy DOES dampen things inside the house!! I'm winterizing mine this weekend!
 
Blood.:D In some respects it's a food though, blood pancakes here and blood sausage- neither of which I'm fond of . But raw meat cutting or butchering has an impact.
 
Banana peel/stem. Technically it's part of a food, but it is the inedible part. Yes, you don't need a knife for that, but I use one because I really dislike bruised fruit.
 
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