If your first knife skin hunt skews vintage rather than neon fade hype, Stained (show name knife | Stained, code aq_forced) is one of those names you keep seeing on price lists for a reason. Uncommon tier, Patina finish, wear from Factory New through Battle-Scarred—nothing locked out, so you can shop by budget and by how much green oxidation you actually want on the blade.

What you’re buying

This isn’t a flat spray job. Valve’s own pitch is deliberately silly—lemon juice and mustard on the metal—but the read for buyers is serious: surface oxidation, uneven by design. Under normal lighting it can look messy; flavor text nudges you toward black light inspect, where blotches and color blocks often pop harder. Metal base and green rust bands weave together, and because the pattern follows the mesh, the same finish reads differently on different knife models—always inspect on the shape you plan to wear.

Drop history (for context, not flex)

August 14, 2013—Arms Deal—knives entered the tradable drop loop, and Stained was in that first wave of knife paints, with no public Workshop author credited. Case data points to the CS:GO Weapon Case as a familiar old source; longtime players still associate this skin with early case economy.

Wear: where the money goes

| Wear band | What to expect |
|-----------|----------------|
| Low (FN / low MW) | Oxidation layers feel more complete; patina reads cleaner in inspect |
| High (FT–BS) | More scrape, green pulls back, bare metal gets brighter |

Thumbnail shopping is how you regret a purchase. Spin the item in-game, note drip patterns and whether the green sits where you like it, then pick float.

Shopping verdict

Worth it if: you want an entry or nostalgia knife with identity (story + patina) instead of a gradient lottery; you’re fine spending time on inspect and wear tiers on C5GAME or the Steam Market.

Skip or pause if: you need instant “clean flex” at a glance—Stained rewards people who actually look at the blade.

Checkout habit: pull several listing inspect screenshots on C5GAME or Steam; compare patina density, not just float and price.

Expert ramble

Stained is the knife I send friends to when they ask “what did 2013 knife skins even look like?” No Workshop signature, just Arms Deal era DNA and a finish type that still teaches you why Patina ≠ paint. I’ve passed on “cheap” Battle-Scarred copies that looked like someone scrubbed the green off with steel wool, and I’ve kept mediocre floats because the black-light pattern was weird in the best way. Same skin name on a different knife silhouette can feel like a different item—budget for inspect time, not just the lowest listing. Pure color knives get boring; a Stained you picked on purpose stays in rotation longer than the hype chart says it should.