My favorite color is BLUE!.............A patina thread.

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B36601A4-425A-4BD4-BE01-2943D1604E16.jpeg Gettin there
 
Hey everybody, I'm new here so I hope this is the correct place to post. (If it's not, could someone please redirect me?)

I just bought my first Japanese knife, a Shinko Seilan ironclad AS 210 gyuto by Shiro Kamo. I look forward to sharpening and maintaining my knife, but I don't know everything I would like to about patina and so I have a few questions. Note that I'd rather have a natural look than an obviously purposeful colouration and I care way more about the steel's health than getting a snazzy appearance quickly:

1. Is it wise to force a patina at all? If so, when?

2. How much patina is healthy for the steel and what unhealthy signs should I look out for?

3. Using the knife daily, do I need to use a coating such as oil or wax to store the knife?

4. If there is anything else I should be aware of please share your input on it.

Thanks for all of your input, everyone!
 
adder said:
Hey everybody, I'm new here so I hope this is the correct place to post. (If it's not, could someone please redirect me?)

I just bought my first Japanese knife, a Shinko Seilan ironclad AS 210 gyuto by Shiro Kamo. I look forward to sharpening and maintaining my knife, but I don't know everything I would like to about patina and so I have a few questions. Note that I'd rather have a natural look than an obviously purposeful colouration and I care way more about the steel's health than getting a snazzy appearance quickly:

1. Is it wise to force a patina at all? If so, when?

2. How much patina is healthy for the steel and what unhealthy signs should I look out for?

3. Using the knife daily, do I need to use a coating such as oil or wax to store the knife?

4. If there is anything else I should be aware of please share your input on it.

Thanks for all of your input, everyone!
Click to expand...

Forcing a patina is up to you. Personally, I don’t like the look and don’t think it’s necessary. I like to cut some hot chicken or beef to get a good start on a blue patina then let things develop on their own. If you’re using it daily (and cleaning/drying shortly after use) I wouldn’t worry about coating it in anything unless you live somewhere crazy humid.
 
adder said:
Hey everybody, I'm new here so I hope this is the correct place to post. (If it's not, could someone please redirect me?)

I just bought my first Japanese knife, a Shinko Seilan ironclad AS 210 gyuto by Shiro Kamo. I look forward to sharpening and maintaining my knife, but I don't know everything I would like to about patina and so I have a few questions. Note that I'd rather have a natural look than an obviously purposeful colouration and I care way more about the steel's health than getting a snazzy appearance quickly:

1. Is it wise to force a patina at all? If so, when?

2. How much patina is healthy for the steel and what unhealthy signs should I look out for?

3. Using the knife daily, do I need to use a coating such as oil or wax to store the knife?

4. If there is anything else I should be aware of please share your input on it.

Thanks for all of your input, everyone!
Click to expand...

For perspective and reference, see My favorite color is USED .......the unvarnished patina thread!
Photos by @stringer and comments by @panda made me crave for a thread for photos of knives in action - heavily used carbon blades with patina (not necessarily blue and pretty but more .... like Pizza?! spotty, orange, red, black and whatever), scratches and wear. Show me your blades, unvarnished, gross and ugly!
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/index.php?posts/629011/

Happy new year!
 
Jon-cal said:
Forcing a patina is up to you. Personally, I don’t like the look and don’t think it’s necessary. I like to cut some hot chicken or beef to get a good start on a blue patina then let things develop on their own. If you’re using it daily (and cleaning/drying shortly after use) I wouldn’t worry about coating it in anything unless you live somewhere crazy humid.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot! I'm happy to hear this; I was thinking with reasonable care, things won't go wonky.
 
Carl Kotte said:
For perspective and reference, see My favorite color is USED .......the unvarnished patina thread!
Photos by @stringer and comments by @panda made me crave for a thread for photos of knives in action - heavily used carbon blades with patina (not necessarily blue and pretty but more .... like Pizza?! spotty, orange, red, black and whatever), scratches and wear. Show me your blades, unvarnished, gross and ugly!
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/index.php?posts/629011/

Happy new year!
Click to expand...
Awesome! I'll check it out!
 
adder said:
Hey everybody, I'm new here so I hope this is the correct place to post. (If it's not, could someone please redirect me?)

I just bought my first Japanese knife, a Shinko Seilan ironclad AS 210 gyuto by Shiro Kamo. I look forward to sharpening and maintaining my knife, but I don't know everything I would like to about patina and so I have a few questions. Note that I'd rather have a natural look than an obviously purposeful colouration and I care way more about the steel's health than getting a snazzy appearance quickly:

1. Is it wise to force a patina at all? If so, when?

2. How much patina is healthy for the steel and what unhealthy signs should I look out for?

3. Using the knife daily, do I need to use a coating such as oil or wax to store the knife?

4. If there is anything else I should be aware of please share your input on it.

Thanks for all of your input, everyone!
Click to expand...

You can force a patina if you don't want to wait for it to develop, but it won't look as good imo. I've never seen a forced patina I've liked. They all look really artificial.

I think the best advice someone can give you is to relax. Knives are meant to be used, so they won't rust to nothing in 5 seconds. That said:

2. As much patina as you want. It's never unhealthy, unless it's rust instead of patina. You can identify rust by its color, but patina will be smooth to the touch, while rust usually has a bit of texture in my experience.

3. You don't need any coating if you're using it daily, as long as you're drying it thoroughly after use. If you're putting it away in a cabinet for weeks, coat it with some camelia oil, or wrap it in VCI paper.

4. You don't need to wipe it down after every ingredient, like some people say, unless you are a professional and `one ingredient' is a case of something. Just use it and wash/dry it whenever you're going to put it on the counter for more than a couple minutes. If you want the natural patina to be beautiful, don't let anything stick to the blade after you cut (especially onions/garlic, etc....), because otherwise you may get cube-shaped spot on the blade where the piece of product was. So brush off all product with your hand after you cut. Cooked meats and tofu give you nice blues, and generally accelerate the development of the patina.

In general, these questions probably should go in their own thread. I'm sure noone minds, but the `blue' and `used' threads are more for people posting pictures of their patinas for others to ogle.
 
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