Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

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XX Case XX
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Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by XX Case XX »

I've forced patina on a knife blade before, but I've never thought of cold bluing. Looks kind of interesting. I'm sure you wouldn't want to do this on a knife used to cut food, and I'm certain it would wear off with constant use but it could probably be touched-up very easily.

He also says it won't work on stainless steels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y1AOBiELXk

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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by orvet »

I have forced patina with cold bluing on a new Case swayback jack with a blade that was starting to pit after just a week or two of carrying it in my pocket. I cleaned it well and then use the cold bluing and it seemed to slow down, (hopefully stopped), the pitting.

The straight cold bluing turns the blade a dark color. If you would rather not have such a dark color then dilute the cold bluing with water; two parts water one part bluing for a lighter color. You can even go three parts water or four parts water to one part bluing. The more you dilute the bluing the slower it works and the lighter the resulting patina. You can also control the color by the time it is exposed to the mixture.

If you want the patina to look more like a random and natural patina you can swipe on some mustard with a Q-tip in random blobs and allowed to set for a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the strength of the mustard and how dark you want the patina. If you are not satisfied with un-patinaed blade and dark spots of patina on the blade, then dip the blade in a diluted mixture of bluing and water until you darken the light spots and get a patina that you like. Remember as you use the knife the patina will change and look more natural.

If you are totally unsatisfied with the forced patina you can always polish it off the blade. If I did that I would use my buffer, but I'm sure it could be done by hand with patience and elbow grease. :mrgreen:
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Railsplitter
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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by Railsplitter »

Pretty neat. The finished blade looks good.
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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by tongueriver »

I haven't tried any of this, but there is a similar product that turns steel brown.
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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by Colonel26 »

7A970A62-9888-4F5B-98E5-B6154C3EE191.jpeg
86C7FE53-EA91-4FE6-88CD-AD293EA0CF77.jpeg
This I my new CASE TB sowbelly in CV. I cut an apple with it a week a go and it darkened the blade some, then a few days later I notice a tiny shallow pit. So a couple of days ago I decided to speed things up and force a patina to help protect the blade.

I used plain ol yellow mustard. I coated the blades real thick, waited 2 hours, and rinsed with warm water. It wasn’t dark enough and some areas weren’t dark at all. Do I did a second coat and left it for two hours as well, then rinsed.

I dried it with rubbing alcohol and let it sit and darken some more over night. The next morning I wiped it down with Ballistol. It’s darkened some more still with blues and browns, even some turquoise in the right light.
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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by 1967redrider »

Are you guys talking about the same product you can use to blue firearms?
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

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Colonel26
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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by Colonel26 »

1967redrider wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:08 am Are you guys talking about the same product you can use to blue firearms?
Yep, cold blue.
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by XX Case XX »

1967redrider wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:08 am Are you guys talking about the same product you can use to blue firearms?
Yes Sir, just like the Colonel said. ::nod::

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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by 1967redrider »

Thanks! I'd love to see some more examples if you've done this. ::tu:: ::tu::
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by XX Case XX »

1967redrider wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:54 pm I'd love to see some more examples if you've done this.
I haven't personally done this but I probably will. I only posted that video because I was on "You Tube" looking for something similar and it came up so I watched it. I'll most likely try it on a used fixed blade like that guy did and see how it turns out.

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Re: Cold Bluing a Knife Blade

Post by 1967redrider »

XX Case XX wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:40 am
1967redrider wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:54 pm I'd love to see some more examples if you've done this.
I haven't personally done this but I probably will. I only posted that video because I was on "You Tube" looking for something similar and it came up so I watched it. I'll most likely try it on a used fixed blade like that guy did and see how it turns out.

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Mike
The video was very cool. Looks like a simple process.
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!

You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
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