Hey, Jow Forums l noticed that on my spyderco that a bit of surface rust has developed on the blade so l dissasembled the knife and took out the blade so l can leave it submerged in a container of white vinagar for like an entire day.
Now the blade has gotten noticebly darker and it doesn't look the same.
wtf is going on? is it still just rust on it or am l forcing a patina or something onto it?
pic related lm not sure if you can tell the difference.
Here's a pic of it before.
put some Gallium on it to get the shine back
>forcing a patina?
Yep
>wtf is going on?
Vinegar is an acid that can corrode and stain steel, depending on the steel. You can polish it out, but I wouldn't recommend using vinegar to remove rust ever again. Next time just use oil and brass wool.
You pickled it, it's common in jewelry making post solder.
Also very similar to acid etching Damascus to show contrast
Pickling is the pre-passivation process of treating stainless steel parts with a hydrofluoric acid solution, which would remove oxide scale and heat tint while dissolving steel flecks embedded in the part. Because of EPA regulations, however, this aggressive pre-treatment is increasingly rare, and few companies still practice pickling.
Basically poor man's blueing of steel
>y knife turn funny color when soak in acid all day
I wonder. You are why the human race is doomed.
Acid reacts with the metal, some hillbillies use vinegar to prevent flash rust or remove a little rust, after doing de-greasing or paint removal on vehicle parts. For a knife, keep it oiled. not ideal to etch with acid as it is not a painted or to be painted surface.
it's fucked, dude.
chuck it. buy a new ZT/Kershaw/etc blade.
skip Bitchmade and Spiderjew.
i honestly can't fucking believe someone posted a discovery i made when i was 12 years old in such a confused and concerned tone
You ducking moron. Let’s put carbon steel in a cup of acid for an entire day. That will end well!!!
why do people worry about a tiny bit of surface rust on a thing which is only supposed to stab people?
Looks better tbqh
m4 is a tool steel
tool steels rust
vinegar is an acid, dumbfuck
wear gloves, blast it clean with some carb/choke/brake cleaner, get some cold blue and do the whole blade
>bonus points if you high polish it first
I mean, it did. It forced a patina. Now it won't rust more. You might be dumber than him.
Or just fucking leave it because it's fine.
And out of all the retards in this thread, you might be the dumbest.
>only supposed to stab people
>small folding pocket knife
no user, it's meant to do just about everything but that.
It's fine, ignore retards.
Jow Forums in a nutshell. Stupid. Zero education. Rural hick.
Yeah, rural hicks know more about maintaining tools than your prissy urbanite leftist ass. Go suck hormones somewhere else.
steel doesn't form a patina retard all you did was lower the reflectivity by corroding the surface
>corroding the surface
What exactly do you think a patina is, retard?
patina is a layer of sulfides and shit that forms on some metals like copper and silver. steel doesn't patina, it rusts.
>submerged in a container of white vinagar for like an entire day.
>submerged steel into acid for a whole day
You done and got you some acid etching, boss.
>M4 steel
no wonder, it has barely better rust resistance than other carbon steels, but it doesn't hold a candle near any of the alloy steels. It can take more physical punishment than the stainless steels that are popular today but you really have to keep an eye on M4, especially if you wear it daily and sweat a lot.
If you really want, you can polish it, but I'd personally just keep it oiled regularly from now on. Wear on a daily carry knife shouldn't be a bad thing at all. That's character,
looks fine..
Dork. Just do what I do
>stainless steel starts spot rusting
>take steel wool to it
>now a brushed steel finish
>just gotta keep it oiled
>It forced a patina. Now it won't rust more.
It will absolutely continue rusting.