so, it appears that brass cannot be anodized so i'm looking for other methods of getting a thin, durable black coating on a series of brass items i'm making. i've heard that black oxide is one way of doing this.
so:
1) what is black oxide, how durable, how thin, etc. ? 2) what other options are there? 3) san francisco bay area, east bay in particular any GOOD places that can do this?thanks,
--joel
Um... heard of powdercoating? Or just plain ol' black paint?
Tim
-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,
I repaired an antique easel used to display a painting. After silver soldering the broken parts, I searched for a way of restoring the patina. I ended up with an airbrush and layered wood stain on and finished with a mat clear. It turned out so perfect that the antique auction guy, after being told of the repair, demanded information from me to refer jobs.
gun blueing. Clean well (ajax etc., water rinse). Barely dampen a cotton rag with the solution, rub hard thru the irridescent blue stage to the shade of black you want. You'll get too much on and find a matte black sooty material is rewarding your labors - start over. Clear lacquer over top for durability. Coating stays black fairly well if no abrasions. Blackened cribbage pegs in my pocket are still dark after 6 months or more, but brownish, not black. / mark (cribbagepeg.com)
joel wrote:
You can't black oxide non-ferrous materials. Western Electric treated all of their phone parts with a process known as "Japanning" to produce a durable black finish.
Perhaps somebody here knows how that is/was done. It works great.
Jim
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Birchwood Casey makes a product called "brass black" that works OK for touch up. Never tried to do a large area with it. Greg Sefton
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