To patina or not patina?

[c11642]

Hey guys Im on the fence. I can't decide if i should force a patina on my Delica superblue or leave it to do it naturally. I probably wont carry it much so its going to be babied. What do you guys think? Thanks

[TomAiello]

Naturally acquired patina has much more character.

[Blerv]

I probably wouldn't bother since 70% or so of the exposed steel is 420ss (or something similar). The again, my Super Blue Caly3 is incessantly coated with Tuf-Cloth so perhaps I'm a tad biased :) .

[Syncharmony]

Well, how many other knives in your collection have a nice patina on them? If you prefer it to look unique, go with the patina, if you prefer it to stay with the same aesthetic as the rest of the collection, keep the patina at bay.

[RanCoWeAla]

Personally I wouldn't have anything but stainless. I have a large German Eye lockback Sodbuster somewhere in my car that is eaten up with not only patina but rust spots. I'm too bad to get in a hurry peel an apple or something and put the knife away without properly cleaning it. I don't even like Damascus because most of it will rust plus it has a rough feel to it.

[M80]

I would let it get its patina naturally.

[phaust]

Personally I wouldn't have anything but stainless. I have a large German Eye lockback Sodbuster somewhere in my car that is eaten up with not only patina but rust spots. I'm too bad to get in a hurry peel an apple or something and put the knife away without properly cleaning it. I don't even like Damascus because most of it will rust plus it has a rough feel to it.

How does that help the OP when he already owns the knife? :p

[Surfingringo]

I faced the same decision with a Gayle Bradley. I chose to force a patina. If I had it to do over again I would not.

[razorsharp]

Let it happen naturally and don't baby it :)

[Syncharmony]

I faced the same decision with a Gayle Bradley. I chose to force a patina. If I had it to do over again I would not.

Why would you not do it again? Looks? Performance?

[gaj999]

I probably wont carry it much so its going to be babied.

If it's going to sit in a drawer, why not put a light coat of oil on it? Then if you decide to sell it someday, it still looks mint. Besides, most of the actual Super Blue is covered up anyway. If you decide to patina, I'd just let it happen naturally. Forced patinas can be tricky and I've had poor results more often than good when trying for the mottled effect. That said, a quick dip in boiling vinegar can get things off to a decent start if you're impatient ...

Gordon

[Surfingringo]

Why would you not do it again? Looks? Performance?

Mainly because it was a pain getting m4 to take a patina. I spent several days alternately soaking in vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, etc and it ended up looking pretty rough. I finally managed to get a decent overall patina, but I remember thinking halfway through the process..."man, I should have just let it happen".

[Evil D]

I'm to the point with my M4 Manix 2 that I'm gonna carry it and use it regardless of rust formation or not. I'll coat the pivot with Tuf Glide and the rest will be what it is. Even pitting rust can be removed and the spots left from it just add to the character.

[steelrat]

The natural patina tells a story... And you see which parts of the blade you really use...

Nico.

[c11642]

Thanks for all the replies guys. :)

[DeathBySnooSnoo]

i just forced a patina on one of my 1095 traditional folders....I took cider vinegar and slowly brought it up to just under a simmer and let it go a few minutes to let some of the water evaporate. Then I used a qtip to brush the vinegar on the blade. Brush and let semi dry, repeat...gave a really good patina that was very even.run under water when it gets dark enough. Let it fully dry. I then coated with tuf glide (not sure that this was necessary but I figured why not). then oiled the pivot...

just in case you or anyone wanted a really good way to force a patina.

[Holland]

Natural all the way, wish I wouldn't have forced my caly3 at the start

[paladin]

You can give it an initial FrogLube conditioning, especially the more inaccessible areas, then let the chips fall where they may...that's what I did with my Gayle Bradley, it will develop a mild patina as the FrogLube's protection wears/weakens... not as dramatic as mustard, grapefruit juice, strawberries, potatoes, or such. It will usually develop a slight patina around the Spyderhole and other contact areas....if subtle is what you're going for this may be the ticket. You can somewhat better "control" the process if you don't like the path the patina's taking and it'll be easier to clean the slate, polish the blade and start over. Give your blade a "booster" shot of Frog Lube to slow down the whole process to a crawl. Of course there are a lot of variables which affect FrogLube's protective properties as it is not a bulletproof rust prohibitor, YMMV. Hard use, wet use, etc. will decrease it's effectiveness. It's a great American product that I learned about from this board and it's food safe to boot!

[xceptnl]

I say let it develop naturally if you are wanting a patina (two-tone) look or keep it protected with a coating of oil if you prefer the factory finish. Patina should be minimal depending on your normal cutting media for a "normal day"

[GoodEyeSniper]

go natural. that's what I decided to do.

the only problem is this super blue just won't stain at all for me under normal use. lol. it has lived in my work pants pocket for weeks. I stopped even marginally wiping it down after use. no stains.

the soft stainless cladding gets super scratched up though.