There's a little bit of a "debate" on the Captain's knife build between having a stainless blade and a "pickled" carbon blade. Although I have taken the stainless side, I do like the look of the pickled blades that I have seen -- looks a lot like blueing (sp.?) to me. I have tried pickling a couple of my Case folders using a 50/50 vinegar/water solution and leaving the blade in the solution overnight. When I removed the blade, much of the blue or dark coloration wiped off with a paper towel but a light coating remained and it does seem to help against rust and I also just like the look of it. But, I don't think I did a particularly good job of pickling.

Based on some of the posts from the build topic, it looks like there might be several ways to pickle a blade. I have searched the forum for a thread about pickling and didn't find one -- just references to pickling here and there on various threads. Sooooo, I thought I would start this one to get some input especially about how to go about pickling a blade. Anyone willing to share some wisdom on this? Thanks.