Cheap DIY Knife Blade Coating: Cold Bluing my Mora Companion HD MG Knives
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2015
- I've been meaning to demonstrate how to coat a knife using the cold bluing technique for some time now. Here's a demonstration of how to use this very effective coating for blades and other carbon steel objects (but not stainless steel!).
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Thank you Dean for clearin up some things I didn't know about this process... Great job and good-lookin knife
Turned out pretty awesome.
Pretty nicely done and thanks for sharing the steps Deen 🌝
Nice and simple, thank you Dean!
+TurtleWolf Pack Thanks, JC! This was a lot simpler than I thought and I love the results. Plus it's very easy to reapply if it gets worn off or scratched - just repeat all the steps.
Alberta Bushcrafter Yes it is simple and easy, while adding a touch of class to the tool. As you know I prefer hot blue but for some applications it just won't work, like on the Mora knives.
I haven't done anything with cold blue in ages but I've been considering this same process for a long while now.
Right now I'm experimenting with an extendable shower curtain rod for a center pole tarp tent set up.
Very nice Dean, very nice. I think I'll try this.
Very nice, my friend! I, too, have heard a lot of guys talk about bluing their blades but never have seen the actual process. Nice job! -Dave
+HighCarbonSteel Love Actually, the coating I got on these three knives was one of the best I've ever done and it came out really dark. It's not as perfect as it would have been if I'd made a dip tank, but that would have needed a lot more solution. This way is much quicker and I really like the way they turned out. Thanks Dave!
Great Tutorial!! Thank you!
I like your back yard. Looks like a great place to kick back.
It is. The place is close enoough to town that I can get anything I need easily, but far enough away that I don't have a lot of idiot neighbors - only a few.
Awesome video Dean I think I might try this with my Mora 511
+James McIntyre I think it would work great on that 511. If you try it, be sure to post the results!
Nice job! Did not know to gun oil after bluing. Thank you!
I didn't know it either till I tried it. And it really seals in the bluing for a long time!
Good job .
thanks dean i know that youre able to doo that now because of this vid and i just did it turned out pretty darn sweet,thanks frome denmark (:
Glad I could help out!
Just wanted to let you know that any type of cold blueing is going to be toxic so do not use for any food prep or animal processing. I have talked to Birchwood Casey myself, to get a clear answer a few years ago when I used to Blue my carbon steel knives. I know a lot of guys who still use it but it is not safe at all. I have also had discussions with people who really understand the chemicals in it, and after my experiences, I would never blue a knife that may come into contact with food. Patinas and parkerizing are food safe alternatives as long as you use a food safe oil. But if it's just cutting wood and such, then blueing is perfectly fine. Thanks and take care!
Good advice. I carry a separate set of cutlery for food anyway. Not because of coatings, but because I don't like my food tasting like willow or poplar bark or spruce sap.
Thanks for the tip. My cook kit also has a Mora dedicated to cutting food and also as a backup. But that Mora is a stainless steel model as I didn't like the stains a carbon steel blade picks up. Especially from onions.
Thanks for this comment! I was looking around for different coatings or patinas to put on my blank Moras, but the food safety issue is a dealbreaker for this coating method. Will have to put this on ice for something that I'll definitely not use for food. Maybe an axe.
Beautiful
Glad to help!
bonus content: pasty white gun show at the end! hehe, thanks for the tips!
thanks for the video. you just won a subscriber
You're welcome! This was my first real attempt at cold-bluing a blade.
Thank you 👍
Outstanding
Thanks very much!
I know this is an older video, but an easy way to even out the bluing is to apply the bluing with fine steel wool. I vigorously brush the steel wool over the steel like I'm cleaning it. It seems to get a little deeper, more even finish.
Thanks! I'll try that.
Found it. Pretty cool. And I finally learned I'd been pronouncing the name of that stuff wrong :) Thanks.
+Simon's Discoveries This is one of the nicest bluing products I've come across - not that there's a lot of choices out there. It works very quickly and as you can see it leaves a nice, dark finish. I picked up a few Hultafors knives based on your videos, but I'm still in the shooting process. If they get beat up maybe I'll coat them too.
Alberta Bushcrafter I'm guessing you don't mind the smell then? :) Let's be honest - this stuff stinks :) At least to me it does.
Actually, mine doesn't seem to smell that bad. It's kind of a rusty vinegar smell, but I'm used to much worse - plenty of deer crap and rabbit poop on my lawn these days.
Alberta Bushcrafter I don't mind crap as long as it's form a herbivore's butt :) But that toxic smell really puts me off.
I don't mind it too much either - except when it goes through my riding mower's blades. Oh well, I guess that fertilizes the lawn more evenly.
But what I didn't let anybody know is that I recorded this video and half a dozen others while sitting about 2 feet from a pile of dog (or cat or coyote) crap that I couldn't find for the life of me. In some of these vids you can't see it but my eyes are stinging.
Good stuff dean...thanks for sharing. cheers ;-)
+Kanzee Glad you liked it!
+Alberta Bushcrafter wait so you said it doesn't work on stainless steel? and how good is 420 stainless steel against rust?
420 SS is very good against rust and tarnishing. Most of my SS blades lokk a bit dull but that's due to scratches from heavy use, not tarnish or rust. But no, I tried it and 420 SS doesn't take to bluing at all.
О б-же. Они такие здоровенькие, розовенькие, гладенькие. Ну почему они все выглядят такими съедобными? И, мало того, вкусными?
Блин... мы действительно понемногу превращаемся в элоев и морлоков.
Никаких претензий к автору видео. Мужик - ты молодец. Хоть моё подсознание и воспринимает тебя как еду. Думаю, ты с твоими ножами сумеешь постоять за себя. Берегись. Не поворачивайся к незнакомым славянам спиной. Будь здоров, живи долго.
P.S. Люблю ножи от Mora. Дешево, но хорошо. Отлично показывают себя в лесу.
hate him or not he spittin straight fax
That's cool, I guess using a dipping process would cause fewer streaks? I might try this. Thanks for posting.
Yes, dipping would give a better coating, but it takes a lot more fluid too. You can use less if you have a tall, thin vessel, preferably with a seal, as you can't dump this stuff back in the bottle. I only had a few blades to do, so to save fluid (which isn't that cheap), I brushed on a few coats and that eliminated the brush marks.
Hi there, the lighting is a little funny and I can't tell if the knife appears blue, is a a blued gunnel barrel, or if it is black (which is what I see).
awesome i have some folders with black blades that got dinged up a bit im gonna try this to patch em up thanks
Good luck! If the blades aren't stainless, this technique ought to work.
Used that crap on my ex military rifle 25 yrs ago and it wore off fairly quickly. I'm putting patina on my Opinel these days with lemon juice.
lemon juice is better than super blue to get patina ?!
Polish the knife with steel wool between coats and you will get a better application of the bluing. Continue this until you have a very dark uniform bluing. You might want to check out Parkerizing your blades. it holds up better than gun blue. You can buy Parkerization solution on the Brownell's website.
Good idea! I think I'll look into Parkerizing.
Very good video, I'm thinking of doing this myself and thanks for the shout out!!
+SUFFICIENT SURVIVAL Thanks, Chad! It's a very simple process and gives great results.
Great video, thanks! I'd love to see a video comparing the effects of bluing on different knife materials! Also, why can't you blue stainless steel?
Actually, I compared a few before shooting this video. The results on my other knives were unimpressive to say the least - it was only the carbon steel knives that took the coating well and the others just looked a little smudged. Not worth the effort to put them on the video.
Thanks for the video. I am also fond of the Mora line. This is a beautiful coating. I wonder if I used a vegetable oil, it would be safe to use on meat ?
+Chris Stone I'm not sure. I imagine it would work OK. However, I also think that there is such a negligible film left on the knife that it wouldn't make a difference. Some of my friends and I have used knives lubed with WD-40 or gun oil for decades. We've used these on food and never suffered an ill effect. I think the deadly effects of lubrication oil in tiny amounts are really, really exaggerated.
Actually, since my last reply I tried one of these knives for cutting up my dinner. Even WD 40 had no effect - I didn't taste anything and had no ill effects. That's also because there's so little of the oils on the knife that it wouldn't have any effect - at least on me.
Nice, I am getting into knifemaking and I would like the top of the blade to be blue but the bevel still shiny. Have you ever done that. I would think painters tape would have to be used.
I think you're correct, though I haven't tried this. You would really need to use a good brand of painter's tape, like Frogtape, but I can't see it being an issue as you're not dipping the blade but rather wiping on the bluing.
Alberta Bushcrafter what you would do is blue the knife then go back to the belt sander and grind out your bevel again. If painters tape works for you then go for it
It might be good to take care not to get bluing on the bevel. You have to sharpen the entire bevel each time you sharpen a Scandi edge, so you're going to strip the bluing off the bevel, anyway, and it can look pretty streaky for a time, if the bevel is blued. But if you don't mind that, it's fine. I just use vinegar. People say a vinegar patina wipes off, but it isn't true. A lot of it does, but some stays on the blade, so if you wipe off the blade, put it back in the vinegar for an hour, wipe it off again, and do this just a few times, you have a permanent patina that I think is as pretty as it gets. I tape off the bevel so it stays nice and shiny for the next time I sharpen it.
I have a large fantasy knife made of mid-carbon steel 1055, I think. It has a nearly black mirror finish, definitely not paint, on it and recently I cleaned some rust off of it and rubbed some of this coating off. Can you recommend a product or technique for restoring this high gloss coating? Thanks.
It could be bluing, but I wouldn't know - the manufacturer would be the one to check for this.
I would also add that Mora makes very cheap stainless knives that are perfect for fruits and veggies. I paid ten bucks for a Mora 546 Basic at a gun show. It resides in my cook kit. Fork, spoon, and the Mora 546 Basic.
I've got a 547 - nice long blade great for carving. Mora also makes a number of filleting knives and gut hooks for sport fishing, and has a complete line of kitchen knives.
Come to think of it, the Mora 611 and 612 are stainless steel versions of the classic 511 and 512. All of the Mora stainless steel knives are great for all-around work and are very inexpensive. The stainless steel knives won't tarnish from the acids in veggies such as tomatoes and onions either. But I've also found that it takes a bit longer to give a SS blade a razor edge, but when that blade is sharp it keeps that edge for a very long time.
Have you tried hot vinegar? Microwave it till you see some steam(any longer and the fumes get pretty rank), and just stick the blade in and let it cool. It does more of a grey/light blue finish. I have used it on a few blades i have made, and it works surprisingly well.
+Ruzz P Hi Ruzz - I haven't tried that yet, but I'll have to. I'll need to pick up a couple more knives, though, as I've blued all of the ones I use regularly.
The vinegar doesnt need to be heated, this causes evaporating and the condensing gets on parts of the knife that you cant get to (inside folding knives for example) to clean off, and will give a nice layer of rust. only thing heating does is make it quicker, but its also more corrosive, the best way it to cut a piece of paper towel and fold it over the blade cut it to fit so it fold over the spine of the knife, and saturate it with vinegar, smooth out any air bubbles with your finger. about 3hrs on 1095 steel will give a nice even patina, if the paper towel leaves an pattern on the blade you can then dip your finger in some vinegar and rub it on the blades so that it leaves evenly dispersed puddles on the blade, this will help hide the pattern. I find the cheaper thinner paper towels dont leave a strong pattern as long as you smooth out the bubbles / pattern with your finger.
Greetings from Ecuador.... Great video, very informative. I do have a question as I am new to all this. Once is dried and all. Will it be safe for food prep at the campsite?
Yes it will. I've had some that has lasted over two years and it rehydrates just fine.
Thank you for the reply. Would you say this is comparable, worse, or better from the mustard / vinegar force patina process?
I think it's better. The vinegar/mustard forced patina doesn't blue the entire blade so it doesn't protect it 100%. It's a cosmetic treatment, though the effects are very nice. Plus, bluing is a lot faster.
Thanks. Now I know which route to go when my new blade arrives.
Another huge tip - I used gun oil in this video and some people use WD-40. If you're using it on food, use olive oil or some other vegetable oil instead to cure the bluing as WD-40 is toxic, and I don't think gun oil is much better. In fact, I'm switching all of my knife lubricants to olive oil just to be safe.
How tough is the blue coating? Will it work well with a work knife or is it fragile?
It's not tough like a factory powder coat or paint, but it holds up fairly well. I recoat mine every month or two, but that's not as bad as it sounds as it only takes a few minutes.
would this happen to work on a Leatherman? I'm looking to change the color of my wingman from the normal finish
It would depend on the model, I guess. If it's carbon steel, then maybe, but since most multitools are stainless I don't think it would work.
How does the bluing wear over time, I'm making my own fixed blade and I want a durable coating on it for chopping and batoning.......is bluing good for that?
It seems quite good. The blade in this video has kept its coating well even with two years' worth of pruning and general abuse. The only thing that seems to wear off the coating seems to be sharpening the blade, but that's no surprise.
@@AlbertaBushcrafter Thank you for the information!
When you say it doesn’t work on stainless, will it work on m390. It is pretty stainless but not completely.
So are there common blade manufacturers that use m390? I've tried bluing the Mora and Hultafors stainless blades and they don't take a coating.
I have a knife made from Aus-8 steel that has the black coating right out of the box. I really like the blue coating even more so than the black coating it already has after watching your very informative video. Do you think stripping the knife of it's original coating and adding super blue to it would be a good idea? What would you advise?
+Patrick Ace From what I could find, Aus-8 is a stainless steel so it won't take bluing (which actually forms an oxide). I'd recommend keeping the knife as it is. If you want to try cold bluing, though, you can find very inexpensive Mora knives to work on. My first try was on a Mora 511 that cost me $10.
+Alberta Bushcrafter that's good advice. I really appreciate it! Already subscribed. :)
Thanks!
I have a Schrade SCHF9CP Extreme Survival knife, 1095 high carbon steel. just bought. First time use just shaving a small piece of wood to test the blade causes the black coating to come off. I was astounded. i don't know if it's a teflon coating or other but Why would the coating be coming off with a first time use? Is this abnormal? If so, what recourse do i have save for re coating the blade?
I wouldn't recoat it, actually. I'd get a refund from whoever sold it to you as it seems to be defective.
Alberta Bushcrafter So this isn't normal at all.. Thanks.. i'll see about taking it back for an exchange. if the new knife does that same thing, I'll know that is a bad brand for coatings.Edit: It was brand new in the package from Academy Sporting Goods. I'm hoping it was just a bad batch.
I hope it's just a defective knife too.
Will the bluing wear off over time?
Yes it will. But unlike some other coatings, it's easy to reapply and I retouch mine every few years. Also, since blades like the MORA Companions in this video are carbon steel, it's important to keep a light film of oil on them and clean them after use. Carbon steel like those can rust and can also tarnish (like when you cut raw onions with one). Bluing cuts down on that considerably but doesn't eliminate it.
use a small and soft brush. it makkes very fine lines on the metal almost like metal vaines.
Good idea - thanks!
can I put this on titanium handles cause I want to make my handles black .
I don't think so - it only works on carbon steel as far as I've seen.
If you etch the blade first will it appear through the bluing?
+Ivan Krylov The bluing is pretty thorough and a couple of swipes makes the blade totally black. So if you etched a design it would show up, but only faintly. It wouldn't be bright steel, just etched lines in black. I like that look, though.
Is there any way to achieve this with a different color?
There are coatings you can get, like Parkerizing and some specialty gun paints that come in a ton of colors. However, I don't know of any chemical dips that would do it. But maybe another subscriber on this channel will leave a comment with more info.
would bluing work on cpm-3v?
+midwestoutdoorsman Sorry, but I don't know. Bluing affects all steels differently. It might, or it might not.
Can you use normal white spirit
Depends on what you mean by "white spirit". If it's alcohol, then yes. However, if it's mineral spirits or other petroleum-based stuff, then I wouldn't use it as it could leave a residue.
It doesn't make much sense to blue a scandi grind since there is no secondary bevel to sharpen. So, when you sharpen it the bluing will just come off the grind.
will this work on a D2 steel blade?
Hard to say. D2 is a high-carbon steel, but also high-chromium. It should work, though you'd have to contack Birchwood Casey to be sure.
Not a troll but I need my Bali perfect lol.
Does it work with iron?
It should, as the chemicals in bluing act upon the iron in the steel to form iron oxide.
Does the blueing make the knife unsafe for food?
Not the bluing itself, I've discovered - it's just iron oxide and once you thoroughly rinse the solution off it wouldn't be harmful . The oil you coat it with makes a difference, though, so if you want to use the knife for food you can skp the gun oil and use a food-safe oil such as olive oil instead. Using an edible oil should also take care of any metallic flavors the bluing might impart. I learned this from a guy that has hand-made blued cutlery in his kitchen.
I forge swords out of carbon steel. Would this work for one of my swords?
Well, if it's carbon steel I don't see why not. I've never tried it though.
Could you also dip it in the solution
Yes, you certainly could. I only had a small bottle and no dip tube, but with more solution, dipping would be a great idea and likely give more consistent results.
Is there a way to Blue a stainless steel knife?
Sorry, but I've never found one. The only successful way that I've seen to coat a stainless steel knife is to give it some sort of coating such as powder coating, CeraKote or DuraCoat. That's also what the big knife manufacturers use, as stainless doesn't take to bluing well, if at all.
Alberta Bushcrafter thank you for your input.
Would this work on titanium ?
As far as I know, it's for carbon steel only.
is this safe for processing game animals
I've heard different answers on this, but most of the time, I hear "no".
I want to treat a sword with this stuff, would be cool
It really would! Probably take only a couple of bottles too.
could you do this on sk5 steel?
+Ben Alvarez SK5 is a high-carbon steel, so yes, it should work. On knives the treatment hasn't worked on, it sometimes dulls the finish a bit, or it wipes right off.
+Alberta Bushcrafter thank you! should I do this on the cold steel gurkha kukri sk5?
All I can say is it should work. If you want to do it, feel free to try it. But keep in mind that I never experiment with anything I'm not prepared to lose - you should too.
But what do you use to strip the coating off? Can't get Jasco here anywhere here in Canada, it sucks!!! All they have are these weak, environmental safe sprays at Canadian Tire and at Wal-Mart!!!
Which Jasco product are you referring to? All I found were solvents you could absolutely find up here in Canada.
@@AlbertaBushcrafter Jasco paint Stripper, the one where you don't even have to use a wire brush because the chemical does all the work. I also was able to find ONE, called Dominion Sure Seal LTD High Strength Paint Stripper it was either sold out everywhere else or didn't carry it, but I got ONE can of the stuff and able to strip my bk7, Schrade SCHF37, Kabar USMC, and my Cold Steel Leatherneck tanto which came out a charcoal grey since it's D2. In Alberta it's easier to get certain things but not so in Manitoba. It SUCKS here, can't wait to go back to BC with my daughter!
@@ricev7071 I think part of it may be because we have a big Zep manufacturing plant in Edmonton, and a RecoChem plant. Both companies produce a lot of the products up here that Jasco does in the US. I'd bet one of those two companies have a similar or identical stripper to the Jasco one.
@@AlbertaBushcrafter I'm going to get Super Blue and use it for my Kabar as I put a satin finish on it. Found a place here in MB where they sell it. Love what you did with the Moras there, absolutely beautiful! This was really an eye-opener for me how the finished product on the bluing looks. I seen some Kabars with Blued blades trying to be passed off as WWII originals in "excellent" condition on ebay but upon closer inspection, the blade was simply blued and not the original phosphate coating that they were known for. Thanks once again for the step-by-step, now I know I can't mess this up!!
@@ricev7071 That's great news - good luck with your project! Mine are looking fine after 5 years and I also blued my Estwing hatchet and it looks fabulous (though I've recoated it twice).
but then I guess you would not want to use it for food prep after this
+iwantosavemoney That's an interesting point. No, you wouldn't, as you're treating it with gun oil and iron oxide. At the very least it would give the food an off taste but it might make you queasy or sick as well. That's a bit of an argument for not bluing a knife (or giving it any surface treatment, I'd guess). In fact, anything other than vegetable oil or olive oil could present that problem too.
I actually tried this knife for food prep a few weeks ago as I was wondering about the coating. I ate my dinner with it and couldn't taste any of the oils. I also had no ill effects so I'd say at least in an emergency you could prep food with this knife.
Do you know what those yellow/orange spots on your hands are?! Nitric Acid burns... Please wear gloves next time...
+- AL3X - Actually, it's foam sealant. I'm always renovating something and the foam gun cleaner dissolved my latex gloves. I've since switched to thicker ones.
+Alberta Bushcrafter Okay that's good. I thought for sure it was the acid after I checked the msds but that makes sense too.
Sorry, but that looks terrible… nice to know it’s an option, but it’s like you took a new shiny knife with a beautiful finish and made it look 15 years old… but not in a classy rustic way- more like a ‘found in the back of the junk drawer’ way.
ruined dat stainless finish to my taste
Sorry bud you lost me at 8min 30s. Youve taken a brand new blade and forced a patina on it that looks like rubbish.
Sorry you feel that way. The final result was great. And the reason I used the Companion HDs is because I have a few of them so I had no qualms about using a couple for this experiment.