How do you rustproof and darken a knife blade?

[44minimum]

I'm using 1095 high carbon steel and I'd like to make it a little more corrosion resistant and if possible, darken it at the same time. I would like it dark blue or black. And I need an easy method, I don't have access to spray guns, chemical tanks or anything like that. Cold blue? Spray paint? I'm open to suggestions. Is there something like cold blue that is black?

[bruce drake]

Birchwood Casey Cold Blue is an easy way to darken a knife blade. I've done it in the past and it works as long as the blade isn't a cheap Chinese "stainless" blade.

Bruce

[oneokie]

Have heard that sticking the knife blade in a potato a leaving it for a period of time will do that.

[405]

Yep any of the cold blues will work to darken regular carbon steel. How much that prevents corrosion?- dunno. I like the potato idea. There are several fruit and vegetable juices that will do it also. Usually, for any "cold" bluing you need to get ALL the oil off and have the metal clean to begin with- alcohol or acetone works. Heat it a little and apply the chemical. Wash in water and scrub with 4-0 steel wool. Degrease again- repeat heat and application until desired darkness and eveness of coverage is reached. I like 44-40 for small bluing projects.

[IridiumRed]

This is a topic I'm gonna keep an eye on. I love shooting, working on guns, and reload sometimes, but have never cast a bullet. Excuse me, boolit... :) But I LOVE this site, I read it all the time, I think it has some of the most creative / innovative people on it.

With a topic like this, I'm never surprised if it ends up being 5 pages or more, and someone posts a solution that costs like $3.27, is available at local stores, and works great

About cold blue -

Does cold bluing really do anything to protect the surface? I've heard various things.... ranging from "it just colors the steel, it provides no real protection" to "well applied, using the right cold blue, you get some protection... not as much as a good hot or rust blue, but better than nothing"

Have you considered rust bluing?? It costs a few dollars for the chemicals, but I'm thinking that it is in the range of under $30, and would give you plenty of supplies to do a bunch of knife blades in the future if you wanted, or a few guns.

I've never rust blued anything, but have certainly considered it. Seems like it takes more time & effort than money, but yeilds great results (done enough times, it is supposed to give you one of those "6 foot deep" blue jobs, and it does give a fair amount of corrosion protection)

Besides the chemicals, you need a few things, but it sounds like those things are relatively common / cheap / easy to fabricate (like a pot to boil the water in, and a sort of "sweat box" to add a little heat and a lot of humidity - but that can be a box with a wet rag & a 50 watt electric bulb....)

Anyways. That may be more effort / money than you want to spend.

Another option, there are some popular spray on / paint like finishes available that are popular for finishing guns, maybe one of those would work for you

The more I think about this, the more I think we need to know about what you want -

How much are you willing to spend
How much effort are you willing to put into this
How much corrosion protection are you looking for
How much upkeep are you willing to put into it (which kinda ties in to the question before)?

If you want something that would survive days/weeks/months of salt spray without any real cleaning / oiling, thats different than something you are gonna keep in your truck, and are willing to clean it after use and put a little oil on it....

[Papa Jack]

I have a Marine Corps Fighting Knife that I cleaned up and used Cold Blue Solution on it over 30 years ago... It still looks good today.
I simply keep it clean and put a little oil on it once in a while like the rest of my steel gear...
There are several good articles on line about Home made gun blueing solutions.
It's a simple matter to use the locally available cold blue solutions. If you don't like the finish polish it off and start over, I like the PASTE stuff, use a cotton ball, keep the surface WET !
Make sure to DEGREASE !! Warm up the surface a little too, that helps rather than being stone cold..... Good luck ! "PJ"

[Naphtali]

I have used the following process for many years on/for non-stainless steel blades.

1. Clean the blade with detergent and water.
2. Slice one or more tomatoes and put the blade aside - unwashed - while you "do your thing" with the tomatoes.
3. Clean the blade with detergent and water. Towel dry.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 as necessary.

Believe it or not, oil or rust preventatives are not necessary to maintain the blade. Stropping/wiping the blade on your pant leg daily is all that need be done to a clean blade. "How do you know this?" you might reasonably ask.

I carried a Cold Steel TwistMaster® medium clip point for about ten years. I had a phobia about rust and this inexpensive knife was my test medium to confirm speed and severity of rust within abnormally slackard conditions. The blade turned a mottled finish similar to a lousy case hardening job. Stropping for corrosion prevention was discovered by accident. The phobia caused me to examine the blade often. When I did this, I stropped it as a reflex. After several months, I realized the blade was not deteriorating in any way, so the stropping became less and less frequent - eventually reduced to once per day. I suspect this was still needlessly too often.

This knife, that has in my opinion the single most useful blade shape, was retired when I O.D.'d and bought a Reeve Umnumzaan. While the CRT is a beautiful machine and significantly more durably designed than the TwistMaster®, the Cold Steel cheapie is orders of magnitude better value.

Hope this helps.

[TCLouis]

I used a method suggested here in the past . . .

Clean blade thoroughly with soap and hot water.

clean blade with a degreaser.

Coat with coating of plain ol repared yellow mustard and let it sit . . .

Rinse off mustard


May take more than one application

Funny so many want that polished shiny blade ad the rest of us are looking to expedite the patina process.

Wonder how Mustard would work on my 1886 to create a nice consistent patina?

I can hear the groans now about that.

[Gelandangan]

To make patina, simply soak the knife in a solution of citric acid, about 1 table spoon to a cup of water.
Soak for about 6 - 8 hours and take out, rinse well then oil lightly.

[a.squibload]

+1 on the mustard!

Granpa gave me my first sheath knife, a Western. Sometime while in Boy Scouts
I used it to spread some mustard on a sandwich. Blade has been dark ever since,
won't wash off, never has any rust. "Mustard bluing"?

I never told him I threw that knife at a fence and broke the tip off.
Almost has a point now after many sharpenings.

[44minimum]

Thanks for the information. I'm not willing to spend very much, I don't have a whole lot of patience and I'm not really looking for some super duper corrosion protection that will withstand 820 days of salt water spray. I would just like to make some knives and keep them from rusting.

[Lloyd Smale]

pee on it. the original rust blue. ;)

[gwpercle]

44 min.
I just went into the kitchen and looked at all the knives that are not stainless steel. Every one has a nice dark coating with no rust. All I do is use them in food preparation - like cutting, slicing and dicing meat and vegetables. Wash in hot water with a little soap, no scrubbing with comet or with a brillo pad. dry knife and put away. Now that I look at the coating it reminds me of the finish of a cast iron skillet bottom. I dont think it takes long for this patina to form and it's cheap.

So just bring it in the kitchen and use it, actually the kitchen is where I use knives the most. Can't go hunting and fishing everyday but gotta eat and that means cooking.

[tomme boy]

I like to put a age look to knives. Use a cold blue on it. Then put the knife in bleach. It will start to rust in front of your eyes. Depending on how old you want it to look, is how long to leave it in the bleach. If you leave it too long, it will eat the whole knife! This will darken and put pits in the knife. So be careful on how long yo do this. You will have to re sharpen this afterwards.

[W.R.Buchanan]

You could always parkerize it. The solution is available from Brownells and you don't have to be a rockett scientist to use it.

You do have to saturate it with oil afterwards but it will be far more rust resistant than any type of blueing or vegitable process.

I made a few skeleton knives back in the 80's that I parkerized, and they came out a nice charcoal gray and looked good..'

Don't put the final edge on the knife before you parkerize it or you will be doing it over.

Randy

[DoubleAdobe]

Brownell's Oxpho-Blue, easy to use, great looking dark blue. Good for touch up on gun blueing, but I use it mostly on knives..
Before I knew this however, I used lemon juice, potato juice, etc. with mixed results, but ruined a good Bulldog pocket knife by dropping it in a cup of vinegar for a couple of hours. It weakened the backspring so much, the spring broke the first time I used it. Doh!
So, be careful of vinegar or anything else kind of strong on the springs.

[andremajic]

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=137610

I've detailed the process I used on this link above. All it involves is a battery charger, some scrap steel, baking soda and some fine 0000 steel wool.

I'd boil the part as suggested by some other members to deactivate the rust, then use the steel wool to get ride of the excess rust.
Cheap, fast and safe.

[Angus]

If you have a blaster and airbrush you could use Gun-Kote. It's really durable and rust proof everywhere but the cutting edge.

[shotman]

there is new product out . its for inside and out . pricey but all reports are good . You ML guys would like it but most of you dont have any money so its out for you guys
check out ---dynamicfinishes.com--- heading Dyna tec
this is only for the guys that have money I have 4 sets on order

[TCLouis]

Never mind thread is so old I did not read all the post and come to find out as I read up I have already posted my suggestion.

[Rayc384]

Mayonnaise

[429421Cowboy]

Heat blade up to 200`F and place on wooden holding blocks completly submerged by white vinegar for a day, comes out a nice dull oxide gray finish. If you write your name or maker's mark on the blade with a Sharpies marker after you heat it then put it in vinegar it will come out raised instead of inset like most maker's marks

[mstarling]

Depends on the use to which you intend to subject the blade.

Parkerizing works well with 1095. Is not a pretty finish. Durability is OK.

The quick liquid touch up bluing materials will not last well.

he Brownell's Dichropan IM boiled rust blue is pretty good and lasts very well. Real rust blue is as durable as any blue I've ever used.

GunKote is very, very good. I used it for a combat blade I made for my son when he went to war. Is an ATS-34 blade HT'd to RC 59 in molten salt pots. Guard and bolsters are naval bronze that will patina with time. Skins are milled 7075 aluminum. The skins are captured at the front in the guard and at the rear in the bolsters. The skins are also cross bolted with hollow pins. There are holes in the guard as well so the knife can be used as a spear point if necessary.

The finish is FDE GunKote.

Knife looks new after two tours beyond the wire.

http://mstarling.com/Album/Combat_dagger_small.jpg

[Shooter6br]

Try blacking.Use of drain cleaner.Check old post here under reloading equipment.lt works using Cystal drano and the like

[JASON50CAL]

I would use Brownell's Oxpho blue, it works pretty good and it says there is no worry of after rust like most cold blues so maybe it has a little corosion resistance to it.

[Michael J. Spangler]

http://www.spanglercustomknives.com/Spangler_Custom_Knives/Gallery/Pages/Camp_Knives.html#5

clean the blade
warm with a hair dryer or heat gun
pat with a dauber or applicator soaked in cold blue
suspend in bleach for 10 or 15 minutes till covered in rust
remove the blade, lightly sand with 0000 or 1000 grit paper till off of the light black oxide is gone
lather rinse repeat 2 more times or until "even" coverage is achieved
you can leave the last layer darker or lightly sand with 1000 grit to brighten up the high spots and leave the pits darker.
it gives an awesome look to a blade, and no matter how much you beat it up it doesn't show wear.
my friend got that bolo pictures and had his clear flood. the blade was all rusted and he freaked out. i told him to rub it with some steel wool and wd-40 and it looked like he just picked it up.
it keeps pretty well without rusting, unless of course it sits in a flooded cellar all day long ; )

[onesonek]

After treating with just about any acid based solution, I found Ezzox to be likely one of, if not the best rust prevenitive's around. I haven't tested it against Boeshield as yet, but it cost slightly more regardless.
I did a test against BreakFree CLP, which is supposedly a very good prevenitive.
This steel bar was thuroughly cleaned in degreaser. Then treated in 1/3's with BF/CLP, Hoppes, and Ezzox. With a gap the width of a Q-Tip between.

CLP on the left, Hoppes in the middle, and Ezzox on the right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/onesonek/100_4371.jpg

Immersed in saltwater bath 3x that of seawater
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/onesonek/100_4376.jpg

after 24 hrs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/onesonek/100_4376.jpg

48 hrs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/onesonek/100_4383.jpg

72 hrs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/onesonek/100_4384.jpg

Notice what logically seems the Ezzox crept to fill the void between it and the Hoppes.
Hoppes did pretty good, but was starting it fail.
CLP isn't what I thought it to be.
(note,,,I wiped some of the surface rust off, showing the etching results.)
Now I use Ezzox on everthing, inside and out. It does an excellent job of cleaning bores as well.

[m.chalmers]

Go old school. Blacken it. Get some used motor oil in a metal container the knife will fit in. Heat knife till red and drop in oil. Oh, have something to cover container if you get a flash over (fire). Goggle some Enfield forums and you'll find it written up much better.

[Just Duke]

I used to die my traps with logwood dye. aka Black Walnut hulls

[William Yanda]

Staghorn Sumac blossoms will work too.

[longbow]

Randy's got it... that was my suggestion too ~ parkerize it. If it is good enough for the military it is good enough for me!

Good parkerizing should be durable and do what you want ~ darkening the blade and protecting it from rust.

[Buckeye357]

Clean oil off of blade and soak in apple cider vinegar for about 1/2 hour then wrap blade with cider vinegar soaked paper towel until you get desired color. Clean off vinegar and oil blade and you're good to go. I do this to a lot of my Case CV pocket knives ,just oil blades once in a while. This is the fastest and cheapest method,if you are not in a hurry cut up some apples and clean off and cut some more.
All knives in picture are treated with apple cider vinegar except top left which is untreated.

[Texas by God]

Cut up green pecans till the blade is coated. Let it set a day then oil it. Cheap as it gets. Best, Thomas
but Gun Kote is the best! M starling that is a serious knife. Thank your son for his Service.

[w5pv]

Put it in your pcket and use it when ever and in time the patina will be almost black that's my way.

[flint45]

If you use any acid or other corrisive method protect the edge if it has the edge on it all ready with something so it does not etch you dont want to harm the cutting edge. Iam a knife maker and have ued many of the above methods one of the easiest is good old mustard and vinager also after oil quenching leave the black coating if it is flaking, steel wool lightly with vinager let sit wet then soak in vinager soluition then finnish grinding edge gives a nice look also to blade.

[Lightning22]

I've had very good results with rust bluing on carbon steel blades.

[Ithaca Gunner]

The knife I carry daily is a German, "EYE" brand Sodbuster Jr. Nothing fancy, just a good carbon steel knife that holds an edge. I cut whatever I need to cut, wipe it off and stick it in my pocket. It didn't take long at all for it to get a nice pleasing charcoal color on it's own. I sometimes eat with that knife and don't want chemicals on it.

[Teddy (punchie)]

I was also thinking walnut.

[CastingFool]

I was cutting up some onions yesterday with a carbon steel knife yesterday. I let the knife sit unwashed for a while and when I went to rinse it off, the knife had dark streaks where the onion juice had stained it. Just a thought.

[REDTAIL]

What about spraying the blades with some RUSTOLUM spray paint, would that work also.

[knifemaker]

190295I use GunKote on my tactical knives made from 0-1 carbon steel. You can get it in a spray can from Brownells and I would get the dark gray. It will come out a flat non reflective gray black after baking at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. It is very good at abrasion resistant. I make my tactical knives to have removable handle scales. After several years of hard use, remove handle scales and sand down the old finish and recoat and bake and you have a new looking knife.
They recommend sand blasting the steel, but no need to do that as a 220 grit finish will work fine for the GunKote.