Aging a knife

[Moonax]

I have a belt knife that is too new and polished looking.What can I do to age or give patina to the blade.
Thank you for your comments.
Moonax

 

[ReSmiley]

Hello

I use white vineger on my knife blades. It darkens them the longer you leave them in the darker they get. :m2c:

Hope this helps.

Smiley eace:

 

[Jack Walker]

Another method is to smear the blade with a dark brown mustard. The vinager and acids do a fine job. Smear the blade let it sit a while and just check it occasionally until you get the desired look.

 

[Joe Yanta]

Hi Moonax I am with you. I like a knife with a lot of character.

First of all your knife might be stainless steel, if it is I dont think you will live long enough to see any patina grow on it. What kind of handle does it have? Horn or bone is good, natural kind of stuff is good to give age but man made handle material such as micarta, delrin or carbon is bad.

If you have a carbon blade you can dull it up a bit if you have access to a bench grinder that has a fine wire wheel on it. Gently take the polish off the blade with the wire wheel. I use ferric nitrate (available at hobby shops or chemical supply houses) is a solution of water. Clean the blade with alcohol and then apply the solution. You can add a couple of hundred years of patina real quick.

If the handle is natural you can scratch it up alittle and then age it with potassium permanganate. I even use a scuzz mixture of beeswax and rotten stone to work down into the nooks and cranies.

Becareful not to over do any aging projects and try to think where natural wear and aging will take place.

On one of these threads I posted of picture of a patch knife I did this way.

Good luck in your project.

Joe

 

I have found that one of the best ways to get that "Normal use look" is to go to the kitchen and leave the knife on the counter and let the family use it for about a week. By the time it cuts, dices, slices, soaks in the dishwater for several days it will have the look you are wanting.

What you can do is detirmined mostly by the material used for the handle.

I usually age my materials to the desired patina before assembly. A bleach wash will age the blade 100 years in about 20 minutes. Strong tea works well on bone or antler, let it soak to the desired color.

If the blade is stainless you may never get it to the point you desire.

If it is carbon steel, and you do not wish to take any chances, get some cold blue and apply it to the blade, then steel wool the daylights out of it for the wear pattern you want.

If you live where no one will bother the knife, just leave it out on the back porch table through a couple of weeks weather, brush the rust off and oil it down.

:results:

 

[Moonax]

Thanks guys,you have given me some good ideas.The blade is not stainless steel and the handle is a wild boar leg bone.The knife was made by a well known builder,the handle and sheath look great and the knife is well done,too well done.I will try one of your ideas.

 

[Claude Mathis]

My carbon steel blades look pretty "authentic" after a couple seasons of regular use, but sometimes I help speed the process with a little patina.

No matter which of the suggested methods you use, remember that the knife only needs to look "used" by your persona. I've seen guys age their stuff into the historical artifact category and it looked ridiculous. Not many guys carried a 100 year-old knife. :winking:
:imo:

 

Agreed! A new knife would look "new" in 1750 too! We tend to forget those little details.
:thumbsup:

 

[NORD]

Just do it naturally!

I have been using my knife for fish in the summer and birds and big game in the winter (I use it for gutting and cutting up the meat)...I even ask fellow hunters if I can gut their animals for them. :RO: (they are usually very happy to let me)! Anyway the blood from animals are turning my carbon steel blade natural colors...and I must say it is beautiful. Good luck! :thumbsup:

 

I agree with most of what Ghost has to say about weathering a blade. But, I would skip the dishwasher. :m2c: :results:

I have found that one of the best ways to get that "Normal use look" is to go to the kitchen and leave the knife on the counter and let the family use it for about a week. By the time it cuts, dices, slices, soaks in the dishwater for several days it will have the look you are wanting.

 

[Birddog6]

James, depending on how aged you want it to be.

One way I have done them is to duck tape up the handle, bead blast the blade & then take some Tru-Brown & put about 3-4 applications on it, then take a piece of cardboard & card the blade between applications. This rubs the high spots clean just like it would when you would use it. When don, take some 0000 steel wool & some ballistol or WD40 or something & rub the heck out of it. This will give it a etched worn look & minor pitting, etc. If you don't have any Tru-Brown you can use some Mt.Laural browning or some plain ol vinegar or clorox. Watch the clorox as it is aggressive. :thumbsup:

 

[mark starr]

What I do is I put some bees wax on the edge and then I boil the blade in a water/ clorx mixture It gives the knife a hand forged damascus look.good luck markWyoming territory