Replies

1. 
   joinerswork | Oct 19, 2009 02:57am | #1

   wot,

   Heat em up red hot, quench in used motor oil (large qty-2-3gals).

   Store boughten options include rattle-can black paint, or cold gun blue.

   Ray

1. 
   TheChiseler | Oct 20, 2009 01:35am | #2

   what has worked for me:  disolve tar (the kind of chunk stuff they melt in cookers for flat roofs) in mineral spirits, this takes a few days.  Make a nice slurry and paint it on, let dry and wipe away excess.

2. 
   old saw | Oct 25, 2009 03:30am | #3

   Most any kind of oil will burn on and make a decent black coating.  Heat them to black hot in an ordinary campfire or charcoal grill and paint them with a mixture of oil and beeswax.  Linseed oil works nicely.   Keep cooking them until the mixture turns black, but don't let it go too long or too hot or it will just burn off.  If they are rusty, it would probably be better to remove the rust first either by soaking in vinegar or heating to red hot and letting them cool down slowly in air. 

3. 
   roc | Oct 25, 2009 04:42am | #4

   >old steel goo-roo where are you?<

   Ooops. I didn't realize somebody actually wanted me to talk. You know me . . . the fit comes over me and I bleet on and on even if no one is listening.

   Let me say this about that. I have spent my metal time doing my best to keep the black stuff off so I can brass braze or silver braze my stuff together.

   OK. Around the edges just past the flux it tends to get good an black. Even with no oil on the steel. I clean the steel thoroughly with solvent to get all the oil off. Before I apply flux etc.

   If you heat red hot and expose to lots of oxygen ( air ) it will get black. You could experiment with brushing on some old oil with a wire brush or wad of steel wool gripped by some vise grips. Try at different temps to see what burns on the best.

   Then when you want to preserve the look that you like you can, while the steel is still "warm" ( how's that for vague ) wipe it down with some wax. Careful you don't light yourself on fire.

   I am not much of a black smith though I have done some coal forge work. About the only two things I know about it for sure is :

   1. it is a heck of a lot of hard work ( I can swing a hammer with either left or right hand now because one arm would give out before the task was completed ).
   2. If I need to know more this book is very good and is recommended by my acquaintances that are actual black smiths. In it should be the info you seek.

   Back then there was always a copy laying around. I didn't buy one. I don't remember much about it. That was fifteen years ago. Being allergic to dirty hard work I haven't taken up hammer and tongs since.

   : )

   http://www.amazon.com/New-Edge-Anvil-Resource-Blacksmith/dp/1879535092/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256434570&sr=1-3

   Good luck ! Let us know what you do that works.

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   
   

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   Edited 10/24/2009 10:03 pm by roc

1. 
   wotnow | Oct 26, 2009 09:31pm | #5

   rocThanks for the info, looks like I will have a few things to x-peri-mint with when I get back home. Don't know when that will be, stuck here in the big smoke at the mo, the boss broke her ankle and I'm reduced to perambulator duties and cooking. (hope we both survive that!...now...(thank you for this roc I have been waiting forever for this opening...re your reference to Amazon Book ShopI couldn't find the book because apparently I waslooking inthe I started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left!

   
1. 
   Shoemaker1 | Oct 27, 2009 12:01am | #6

   Took a minute. Gee's were is that? I would like to send that to a friend.Like the Blonde who thought Cooking, Cleaning and ###ing are 3 small Chinse cities.

2. 
   roc | Oct 27, 2009 04:17am | #7

   Ha, ha, ha, aaahhhh, Ha, ha, ha, harocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

1. 
   wotnow | Oct 27, 2009 04:44am | #8

   That's 1, I've 2 gotchas left.BruceI started out with nothing...and I still have most of it left!

4. 
   [email protected] | Oct 27, 2009 05:28am | #9

   In water with a pH above 11, iron oxidizes into a hard black form, instead of the red flakey rusty form. 

   Boiling in a sodium hydroxide (lye), solution will cause the passivated black coating to form in a short time.  But, be very careful, the stuff is very caustic.   

   The black coating will form in a longer time, at lower temperatures.  So I would recommend a lower temperature and longer soak, if you have the time to wait.  It will be considerably safer. 

   Also, check out the cold bluing and blacking methods available for use on firearms.  If you don't have a good gun shop locally, two good sites to check are Brownells, and Midway.

   (Edited, because after sleeping on it, I realized how unsafe boiling caustic could be in the hands of the inexperienced.)

   
   

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   Edited 10/27/2009 7:59 am ET by Jigs-n-fixtures