Super Blue and patinas

[TkoK83Spy]

I just received my Calypso Jr in Super Blue from National Knives yesterday. The steel is what attracted me to it. I've wanted a knife that can develop an easy patina, besides a few of the models I have that just do so at the laminate line. I was hoping for some advice on what types of foods I should cut with it, that would help achieve that blue/grey hue I've seen on some knives? I remember reading someone cut a lot of steak and hot butter with Rex45 to get that effect, and was wondering if Super Blue would react the same way? I really like that look and figured this is the perfect steel to do so, especially on an under $100 knife...in case I botch the attempt!

[SG89]

I just received my Calypso Jr in Super Blue from National Knives yesterday. The steel is what attracted me to it. I've wanted a knife that can develop an easy patina, besides a few of the models I have that just do so at the laminate line. I was hoping for some advice on what types of foods I should cut with it, that would help achieve that blue/grey hue I've seen on some knives? I remember reading someone cut a lot of steak and hot butter with Rex45 to get that effect, and was wondering if Super Blue would react the same way? I really like that look and figured this is the perfect steel to do so, especially on an under $100 knife...in case I botch the attempt!

How do you cut hot butter?

[Basetta70]

You can try onions and tomatoes.

[SG89]

I have seen people use mustard to get a crazy patina

[TkoK83Spy]

Hahah, very thorough reading of my post Spydergirl :p I guess I should have said "hot steak with butter"!

[The Meat man]

Mine patina'd literally before my eyes on cutting kiwi fruit. Any kind of acidic fruit, or meat, should do the trick.

[vivi]

Stab it into a mango and check back every half hour. That's how I start mine if I'm not planning to let it develop naturally.

[emanuel]

For a natural looking bluish patina I suggest chopping some garlic and making sure the juice covers all the blade and let it sit, checking and reapplying as it dries every 5-10 minutes until you get your desired color. You can also chop the garlic into tinny squares and cover the entire blade with it, it will create very beautiful geometric shapes on it that won't look as artificial compared to using mustards lines.

[Larry_Mott]

Not into "shabby-chic" or "reliced" knives. Just using it will bring a natural patina on.
Hate pre-shredded jeans and artificially aged leather jackets too.. You can spot it at a 100 paces.. Just my opinion of course.

[PanChango]

I don't have the Calypso Jr, but I do have a few of the older super blue knives. Just use it and it will patina. There is no need to seek out any special foods.

[TkoK83Spy]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Impatient me really wanted a patina so I went ahead and gave it one when I got home from work late last night. I used white vinegar on the laminate line of Vtoku2 before and I liked the look, so last night I whipped up an odd mix to see what happened...I cut a lemon into 4 thick slices and put it in a glass, added a bit of pickle juice and a couple teaspoons of white vinegar and stabbed the knife into the lemon slices. I then took a shower and had a snack. Around 35 minutes later, this is what I got...

I'm stuck in the warehouse all day, so I couldn't take the pics in natural light. I guess it's not too bad, I hoped for more imbalances on the show side. I like the way the clip side turned out though. A bit more blue would have been nice, but it is what it is now! I don't really care much for the model itself. It's a bit underwhelming. I thought it would be comparable to the Chaparral...that it is not! No jimping on the index choil and ramp is a bit of a bummer. Regardless, it's going to be a keeper and user that I'll experiment with. I cut a lot of abrasives at work, so I'm wondering if the patina will wear away a bit and form a newer one as I continue to use it? That's happened a few times with my Vtoku2 Dragonfly.

[wrdwrght]

Not into "shabby-chic" or "reliced" knives. Just using it will bring a natural patina on.
Hate pre-shredded jeans and artificially aged leather jackets too.. You can spot it at a 100 paces.. Just my opinion of course.

Mine, too, FWIW.

[TkoK83Spy]

It likely would have taken years for me to naturally develop a patina. I have a very hard time carrying the same knife a few times a week, I'm constantly rotating. I also lack patience when I have an idea in mind haha.

[JonLeBlanc]

Rick I've heard strawberries in particular give a blue tint to SB.

[Cambertree]

I have a lot of carbon steel/non stainless knives, probably about half my collection, and although I tend to just use them normally in order to develop patina, here are a couple of things I’ve learned.

Superblue develops some really striking early stage patina.

Slicing into hot meats, especially meat with blood in it like steak produces those intense blues and purples.

If the blade itself is hot, it accentuates the effect. Sometimes I dip the blade in hot water first to pre-heat it, just to see what kind of crazy patterning I get.

Once you have sliced with the blade for a while, running it under a trickling hot tap/faucet to clean it helps to set the patina, and make it more distinct. The idea is not to have the full blade immersed in hot water, but parts of the blade being warmed up and exposed to air as the water trickles over it, and washes off the fats and oils.

In terms of fruit, kiwi fruit produces a really nice patina.

The above techniques don’t increase functionality of course, but I just like to play around with the appealing colours you can get on a fresh non stainless blade.

After a while, the blade patina just goes a uniform dark grey. That looks cool too.



Hope you enjoy that Superblue, Rick. I love that steel.

[TkoK83Spy]

Thanks for the advice! I look forward to playing around with this steel and see what kind of results I can get. I'll probably try some Flitz at some point on it and see if I can start from a cleaner canvas and try different things. It should be fun!