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I have been fooling around with different ways to blacken metal and it was recently mentioned to me someone had reallt great success using used motor oil and heating the steel to about 500 degrees.
Could someone please elaborate this technique to me and or post a link to a site that would help explain it better?
Thank you.
Mitakuye Oyasin
Could someone please elaborate this technique to me and or post a link to a site that would help explain it better?
Thank you.
Mitakuye Oyasin
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Maryland
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I tried this once with a helm. My results were not great. It is more of a blueing instead of blackining. You also need an oven/kiln large enough to temper the piece after the dipping in the motor oil. You leave the oil on and bake it in the tempering oven.
I never heard of the 500 degrees. I heated the piece the same as I would for a quelch and then put it in the oil for a few seconds. Let it cool and then slowly heated it in the temper oven. My temper oven is a slightly modified gas grill. Bring it up to tempering temp for an hour then let it cool in the oven. The helm worked great under use but the blueing scrached easily. I do not know that I did it correctly it was all new to me and flying by the seat of my pants. Watch out as the surface of the oil will ignite for a few seconds as the hot metal is plunged into it.
I am sure someone on here has better luck. I do not plan to ever try it again since it did not prevent rusting as I had hoped it would on my armor.
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Check this link:
www.florilegium.org/files/CO...-msg.text
I like the idea of using linseed oil. That would be period. I might also try olive oil and animal fat and see what kind of results I get on some small test pieces. More projects for the spring since I do my metal work outside. -
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Hey Paceraines,
I specialize in making hand hammered serving dishes and I get my patinas using successive coats of vegetable oil to create a food safe / moisture resistant coating.
The secret here is to paint the piece with oil in thin coats - not dip it. This is especially important with thin sheet stock as immersing it cools the metal too quickly for the oil to penetrate and it leaves it with a translucent soft coating.
Heat your piece in the forge to between 500 - 800 degrees - Use a natural fibre cloth (don't use polyester blends) dipped lightly in oil.
Bring your piece out of the forge and begin painting it on the surface (it will smoke big time so you out so make sure you have lots o' ventilation) but continue to paint it on in light coats until the metal starts to cool and accept it - the cloth will carbonize and add to the black color of the patina. Continue this until you get the result you're looking for - If need be, reinsert the piece in the forge until the existing oil starts to smoke - remove it and continue.
This technique works equally well with any oil. For my purposes I hand sand and buff the piece to get the hammered texture to show back (check the pics in my profile to see the effect). I then wash it down with rubbing alcohol to remove any residue. If it's going to be a food contact piece, I rub on a thin coat of vegetable oil - If not, I use a satin coat spray lacquer.
You can also create a good scale-free/etched surface by letting your piece soak in an acid solution ( I use plain ol' muriatic) - This really helps create a consistent coat when you apply the oil.
If you have any questions about this method, IM me and I'll give you more o' the details. -
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Thank you very kindly. I iwll have to try this on a practice piece. From what I understand the basis for blackening using oil and heat is something to do with the carbon. I'm not sure. I will try it and let you know how it works out.
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Your welcome!
It takes a bit to get the right combo of heat and oil and it will vary with different types of oil so give it a number of tries. Used ( don't use new) motor oil and linseed oil will give you the black patina quickest but remember any treatment of theuis type is only going to be moisture "resistant" not water proof. Left to the elements the metal will rust over time. I instruct my clients to apply a light coating of cooking oil right before serving moist food to provide extra protection. If your helm does rust - a little bit of oil and some triple-aught steel wool will clean it right up. I've been selling pieces treated this way for the last seven or eight years and have not had any problems.
Good luck - let us know how it goes!
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I've gotten some great effects holding copper over burning green coal; the tar sticks to the copper well, and you can use steel wool to brighten the high spots. It remains hard and persistent.
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Well, I am not a blacksmith, I am a jeweller but I do work with iron. If I want a black surface I heat up the piece with the TIP of the flame of my torch. Somehow the point of the flame works better for tis. Also I don't give a very smooth finish to the piece and it turns better black or blueish. I don't use any oil usually.
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