
So if you come across orange or red stains, it’s not patina. Rust has a red-orange color appearance while patina appears to have a grey or black color. Rust and patina are easy to mistake for one another, but they often have different colors. Patina - Works as a protective coating and is merely a discoloration. Rust - Causes irreversible damage to your carbon steel blade, creates unwanted cracks and sharp edges on the metal surface. What does this mean? Even though they’re chemically alike, the characteristics of rust are very different from patina and damaging to your blade. Both are a form of Iron Oxide, but the chemistry behind the two is different. Now that you know what a patina is, how do you separate and recognize it from rust? Rust is also a type of metal corrosion that causes stains and marks on the blade, and it can be difficult to separate it from patina. What is the difference between rust and patina? You don’t need to be worried about Patina though, because compared to rust, it’s not a bad thing.

A metal c orrosion will most likely appear on your blade, forming a patina, because of the sensitivity in c arbon steel. For example, if you touch your carbon steel blade with a sweaty finger you’ll affect the chemistry of the blade due to salt and moisture. Hence the name, stainless steel, because they won’t get stains of patina or rust.īut why do patina and stains appear on carbon steel blades? Patina, a metal corrosion, is almost impossible to avoid because it appears when the carbon steel reacts towards moisture, salt and or acidity. This is because stainless steel blades contain something called Chromium that makes them resistant to all kinds of corrosion. It’s very common for patina to appear on Ultra High Carbon and Carbon steel blades it does not appear on stainless steel blades. Patina is a type of metal corrosion that causes stains and marks on the blade. So what is patina and why does it appear on your blade? Well, first of all we have to explain what patina is, on a chemistry level.

You could say that Patina almost has the same function as growth rings inside a tree trunk, it is merely a sign of life and actually makes the knife stronger. However, you don’t need to worry about it because patina is not a bad thing, like rust. In this blogpost we'llexplain what patina is, how it occurs, its advantages and how you separate it from rust.Ī patina is chemistry's way of saying that your knife is aging.

However, rust is not to be mistaken for patina. The disadvantage though is that a carbon steel knife can rust. When choosing a carbon steel knife you have a knife that is sharper and remains sharper than a stainless steel. What is patina, and is it bad for your knife?
