Forge finish on a stock removal knife?

How can I get a deep, rich black, slightly stippled looking "forge finish" on a stock removal knife? I am using O1 steel, in an evenheat kiln, and have been quenching in "vet grade mineral oil". I do not foil wrap my blades, coat them, or inject inert gas into the kiln. But the darkening of the steel has been surprisingly mild. I wind up with a smooth gray finish that has a few scattered black scaly patches.

Any suggestions for getting a better "forge finish"?

I find it amusing that you're disappointed in how clean your blades are out of the quench! Most folks have the opposite problem.

Anyway, you can the imperfect surface you're looking for by soaking or splattering the blade with bleach. Leaving the bleach on longer will result in more effect.

There are several ways of getting a deep dark patina on O1, such as applying cold blue or soaking in vinegar or lemon juice.

I've used a mustard patina before on steel and it does make for an interesting effect.

As for using the bleach, do you apply it before or after the heat treat cycle?

As for the clean blades, I'm not really disappointed. I like that there is minimal clean-up to do. But I would like to experiment with some nice forge finish effects.

The hardening quench usually causes most of the black scale to fall off the blade. This leaves a texture from the decarb and the formation of scale but if you want the black you will probably have to patina the steel to get it. Mustard and potatoes also both give a dark blue-ish black patina, in addition to what James mentioned.

Quick and easy way is to coat Only the area you want forge finished with pcb compound and heat treat. This will work with O-1 and A-2. Finish the blade to where you're happy and let it sit in vinegar and wipe often till you see what you like. I'll try to post a pic later.

Click on pic.

Obviously this was a mistake on my part. I wasn't aware that you can't use the pcb on high chomium steels untill recently. The results are interesting but not what I was looking for. With a little clean up you'll get that forge finish you're looking for. Be careful with the vinegar...it will etch along the exposed areas.

PetrifiedWood said:

As for using the bleach, do you apply it before or after the heat treat cycle?

Click to expand...

Well that's an interesting question! I've only seen it done after HT, but I imagine the bleach would erode the steel more quickly before it's hardened.

I'm just guessing at this next bit, don't blame me if it doesn't work! You could also hammer on the annealed steel after your main grinding but before HT to get some of the texture you want, even at room temp. I suspect an extra normalizing or stress relief cycle would be a real good idea before HT, after hammering the snot out of cold steel. I also think a purposely-uneven surface might contribute to possible warping.

my to cents here /like james terrio,, said buy a chep hammer weld deforent size ,beads i think there called water cool wen hot file off sharp edges ,after annealing ,wake a SCRAP peace to see if its forge finish you wount ,youll have to flaten it befor H/T,, it can br ruff ore reall ruff ,

If you have access to a stick welder, find a cheaper ball peen hammer and weld a rough pattern on the hammers surface. Put the blade in the Even heat kiln and heat it to 1600, normalizing temp for 01, grip the tang with vise grips or tongs and peen the area you want to roughen. Once you have the look you want run an anneal cycle on the blade and then grind the bevels, leaving the roughened area untouched and finish the tang. When you harden the blade and quench the whole blade the rough area will hold the blackened scale. Clean the area with a brass brush and temper. This process will result in a true forge finish and not a patina look a like.

Even when forging there is quite a bit of work involved to produce an even natural finish.
This blade was acid etched after final finish.

Post a pic of what you come up with.

Fred

Beautiful knife, Fred!

I had an idea about how to achieve an all-over black finish that would be pretty durable. I'm thinking about sandblasting the blade after heat treat, and then using an etching machine set to "mark" instead of etch, with no stencil. This should leave a nice opaque black coating, far darker than a typical patina.

id like to see the knife wen you have etched all over a pic well well be good

graveyard said:

id like to see the knife wen you have etched all over a pic well well be good

Click to expand...

Here's a picture of the finish applied to a knife using the etching machine pad with no stencil.

Have you done any cutting with this knife to see how long it lasts?

I don't really know how long you want it to? In my experience with marking the AC, The Blacking. if you don't do the AC first to give it a place to hide, It won't last long.
"On Stainless Steels"

Let us know?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com/

On the areas you want to have the "faux forge finish" apply some cold blue. Then, dunk the blade in bleach. It will immediately start to rust. The longer you leave it in, the more corroded the blade will be. Try 5-7 minutes to start, take a look, and if you want it aged more than put it back in. Once you get it where you want it then remove the blade from the bleach, wipe down the heavy corrosion, and place in boiling water to neutralize (otherwise it will just keep corroding). Once it's boiled for a few minutes remove it from the water, wipe dry, and oil lightly. The blade will be a dark gray/black and have a well-worn/aged look. I'm not sure if he developed the method, but the first person I knew to describe this "blue-bleach-boil" method was Chuck Burroughs.

...or use windex to neutralize it.