Yellow Magnacut :(

[vivi]

indeed.

https://engineering.stackexchange.com/q ... f-steel#99

[Coastal]

“Tangerine” Rit

solid colors aren't the only possibility



Yellow Pacific dyed green and red



Jade Manix XL scales dyed kelly green then given a fade to black on either end.


I agree the yellow is ugly, one of the ugliest colors for a pocket knife. BUT, it's perfectly functional for the intended role of the knife, takes dye very well, and most salt models are also offered in black for more typical every day use.

Vivi, on your Rasta Pac Salt, did you use Kelly Green to create the green portion, or something else?

[vivi]

pretty sure I used their kelly green for that one. The dark green looks almost black in poor lighting.

viewtopic.php?p=1682879#p1682879

There's a direct comparison between dark green and kelly green.

[RustyIron]

I would hope that LC200n would fill this space. Why make knives with Magnacut with yellow scales?

Dye it red... brown... green... there are plenty of options.

[Bolster]

Boiling water is nowhere near the temperature needed to affect the temper of your steel.

A quick online search has one source saying: "...tempering range can vary between 180C ... up to 600C..." so boiling water at 100C would be well below the limit. Oh! It's the same source Vivi quoted above, lol. We must have done the same keyword search.

A wiki article specifies a low tempering temp at 176 C (350 F). There are graphics at K.S.N. (see article "What a good heat treatment can and cannot do") showing virtually no influence of tempering on hardness up to 200C.

Of course it all depends on the components of the steel, usage, etc, but just trying to establish a simple, safe rule of thumb. I'm sure a knife maker or metallurgist will give us a more informed answer.

[fixall]

I took a different route with my MagnaCut Native 5 Salt...

[kennethsime]

Boiling water is nowhere near the temperature needed to affect the temper of your steel.

A quick online search has one source saying: "...tempering range can vary between 180C ... up to 600C..." so boiling water at 100C would be well below the limit. Oh! It's the same source Vivi quoted above, lol. We must have done the same keyword search.

A wiki article specifies a low tempering temp at 176 C (350 F). There are graphics at K.S.N. (see article "What a good heat treatment can and cannot do") showing virtually no influence of tempering on hardness up to 200C.

Of course it all depends on the components of the steel, usage, etc, but just trying to establish a simple, safe rule of thumb. I'm sure a knife maker or metallurgist will give us a more informed answer.

Thanks for going into more detail, Bolster. My curt response could've been both more informative and more polite.

[kennethsime]

Dunking your knife for 10 seconds will not ruin it.

^ This.

I've RIT-dyed two FRN knives just fine. The most likely consequence of messing up is that your knife comes out darker than you think it will, due to you leaving it in too long. Salt yellow takes up the dye fantastically.

My method for RIT dyeing is to use a 32oz glass mason jar, so as to not contaminate our pots + pans. Super easy to do. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked for G-10 yet - I think I might need to use the more advanced process with the vinegar, and definitely the synthetic RIT dye.

[JSumm]

Nice job Vivi Did not know g10 was able to be dyed. Does the coloring last long on g10? By the way is rit dye a kind of textile dye or is it more for plastic based materials? ( i know plastic isnt the correct word but can not come up with the correct word )

Oh yeah buddy! You can dye G10.

I have found FRN to dye faster at just under boiling but G10 needs a little more. Like boiling more to really take a dark color.

Holds up very well. Unless you drop it on concrete and chip it exposing the material underneath. RIT Dye is meant for textiles. They do make a synthetic RIT Dye version for synthetic products. In theory I guess the synthetic should hold up better, but I've had no issues with the regular.

[apollo]

Nice job Vivi Did not know g10 was able to be dyed. Does the coloring last long on g10? By the way is rit dye a kind of textile dye or is it more for plastic based materials? ( i know plastic isnt the correct word but can not come up with the correct word )

Oh yeah buddy! You can dye G10.

I have found FRN to dye faster at just under boiling but G10 needs a little more. Like boiling more to really take a dark color.

Holds up very well. Unless you drop it on concrete and chip it exposing the material underneath. RIT Dye is meant for textiles. They do make a synthetic RIT Dye version for synthetic products. In theory I guess the synthetic should hold up better, but I've had no issues with the regular.

Thx Jeff buddy! To my surprise i even found a rit dye seller in a location near me! Now i need to find a spydie i can try to dye.

[Wartstein]

...
Since it's a salt you then dunk the entire knife into the solution for 10 seconds at a time. ...

Vivi, I've never dyed a knife (handle) myself and have a question:

You say "since it is a Salt you [can] dunk the entire knife..."

- Why not also a non -Salt?
- Is it because Rit dye will make not highly corrosion resistant steels rust?
- Or do you mean that steel liners as such pose some kind of a problem? For example that the knife won't take the color where the liners sit (which imo would not matter at all, this area can't be seen anyway unless the knife is apart)?

[vivi]

corrosion concerns.

I believe you're supposed to add a pinch of vinegar to the dye and water, and if you've ever tried a forced patina with vinegar you'll know it's rough on steel. If you put some on uncoated 1095 it'll form surface rust in less than a minute in my experience.

Probably gets diluted enough I'm just being paranoid, but I've never tried risking it on a non salt.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

I LIKE YELLOW!!! However orange would be sweet too and that tangerine looks awesome
Definitely wouldn’t be afraid to experiment with some Rit tho

[JoviAl]

I really like Vivi’s Rasta colour scheme - very nicely executed.

Has anyone experimented to get a vivid lilac/purple? If so, what colour of dye did you opt for? My wife had her dragonfly with wine canvas micarta handle stolen, so this time I’m going to try making her a purple fade handle for her next iteration (mainly because I want my K390 Wharncliffe DF back that she’s ‘borrowed’ until I get her a new one).

[TimButterfield]

I thought so also. So, I did a bit of research. Here is what I found.

Larrin, on KnifeSteelNerds.com, mentioned using a temperature of 400 °F in the chart in the K390 article. The Wikipedia article on "Tempering (metallurgy)" mentioned a range of temperatures for different steel usages with matching colors at different steel temperatures, faint yellow, light straw, etc. The lowest of these temperatures was 176 °C (349 °F). Since boiling point of water at sea level is 100 °C (212 °F), this would not be nearly high enough to affect the temper of any metals in the knife.

So, it should be safe to fully submerge the knife in the boiling RIT (or a little under boiling as mentioned above). Just as a comparative piece of data, when making coffee, I often boil the water and then let it cool for a minute before brewing my coffee. That seems like it may work for RIT dying also.)

It's interesting that very low temperatures of cryogenic treatments can affect steel, but in a positive direction to improve wear resistance or reduce internal stresses. Those temperatures are typically around -300°F / -184°C, or as low as −190 °C (−310 °F) and not something we are likely to do at home.

This discussion is making me want to try an orange on my yellow Native 5 Salt. I like the 'tangerine' color above. Maybe I'll do that in a few weeks once my travels are over.

[Ferruginous]

The bright yellow didn't stay dyed long after I died mine dark blue. The corners turned yellow after a few weeks in the pocket.

I can't stand brightly colored knives. I wouldn't wear bright yellow shoes either, or wear a brightly colored belt. Some things should be black, brown, tan, or olive.

I bought the standard UKPK and swapped the dyed yellow handles and gave them as gifts to friends who really enjoyed them before losing them before the dye had a chance to wear off. I really like my black handled serrated LC200N UKPK for an everywhere knife.

I won't be buying a lot of Spydercos because of the brightly colored handles. It's a good thing I like BD1N and S30V.

[vivi]

You didn't soak it long enough. I have dyed knives that look the same years later despite plenty of use and carry. rit lasts much, much longer than a few weeks when properly applied.

[vandelay]

I thought so also. So, I did a bit of research. Here is what I found.

Larrin, on KnifeSteelNerds.com, mentioned using a temperature of 400 °F in the chart in the K390 article. The Wikipedia article on "Tempering (metallurgy)" mentioned a range of temperatures for different steel usages with matching colors at different steel temperatures, faint yellow, light straw, etc. The lowest of these temperatures was 176 °C (349 °F). Since boiling point of water at sea level is 100 °C (212 °F), this would not be nearly high enough to affect the temper of any metals in the knife.

So, it should be safe to fully submerge the knife in the boiling RIT (or a little under boiling as mentioned above). Just as a comparative piece of data, when making coffee, I often boil the water and then let it cool for a minute before brewing my coffee. That seems like it may work for RIT dying also.)

It's interesting that very low temperatures of cryogenic treatments can affect steel, but in a positive direction to improve wear resistance or reduce internal stresses. Those temperatures are typically around -300°F / -184°C, or as low as −190 °C (−310 °F) and not something we are likely to do at home.

This discussion is making me want to try an orange on my yellow Native 5 Salt. I like the 'tangerine' color above. Maybe I'll do that in a few weeks once my travels are over.

The ZDP-189 article mentions a tempering range of 100-150C https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/12/30/ ... overrated/

The ZDP-189 datasheet recommends a tempering range of 100-150°C (212-300°F) which are the lowest tempering temperatures I’ve ever seen recommended in a datasheet.

[vivi]

ZDP189 knives wouldn't be dyed with the blade still in the handles, and even if they were the blade would not get up to 100-150c by being dunked in water that's less than 100c for 10 second intervals.

That is an interesting fact about zdp189 though! it seems to be pretty unique compared to other super steels in more ways than one.

[JSumm]

That is odd about the dye only lasting a couple of weeks. Maybe the temp was not high enough. Or were the corners rubbing on something very abrasive? I have a Pac Salt (toxic green) that I went from a dark green dye to a black. It has been on the beach several times with sand all up in it, and I have yet to see anything at all wear off. I have a yellow Salt 2 that I recently got and due to its serrations I always use it in the yard. It has sat in the dirt next to me and back in my pocket, but has not shown a bit of wearing off. Both my Salts have also spent hours in the pool IWB. Before the Salt, I mainly used my Polestar in the yard and I dyed that a dark marroon. Nothing has worn off on any of them. I even stopped using the RIT color stay product because it didn't seem to make any difference.