Steel Blackener?

Question

A mention was made when I asked about coating metals , of a product that oxidized steel black . I forgot what it was, but the person said it was at Home Depot (I believe). I got some similar goop there many moons ago, it was by Rustoleum and was intended as a treatment to rusty steel prior to actual Rustoleum(ing). That product wasn't there when I looked recently so here I am......

Thanks , Dar

ps I ended up coating my metal rods with lacquer from G.J. Nikolas. I made a nifty applicator ; two wood blocks with 2" holes cut in them. A piece of foam rubber goes between them, and this sandwich gets clamped together. I spoon some lacquer into the foam, poke a hole in that with the rod and pull the rod through . A nice even layer of lacquer is deposited this way, and at $35 a quart I like not wasting it as would happen with a sprayer.

Here's what I'm making:

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They're based on the geometry of polyhedra

Larry Jaques · Accepted Answer

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 14:55:06 -0600, "Dar Shelton" calmly ranted:

I understand that those work much better for an entire structure than tinfoil hats do on individuals within an unprotected home.

Can you confirm this? ;)

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Wild Bill · Answer

Whoa.. when you get caught intercepting those transmissions you're gonna be in BIG trouble.

And it'll go on your permanent record.

WB ...............

One of those naval jelly/phosphoric products Permatex or Loctite/Duro rust-fighter named Extend

wasn't there when I looked recently

Richard J Kinch · Answer

Loc-Tite Extend in the paint dept.  Turns mill scale black, plain steel sort of a very dark purple.

Dar Shelton · Answer

Thank you.DS

Dar Shelton · Answer

I actually made a couple of scale models that resemble strange crowns. They are the right size and even have caplike bases (constructed of partial polyhedral shells instead of full polyhedral spheres). I'm definitely not showing pics of these to you jokers (^:#. The geometry of these is actually pretty interesting (at least to me) because I've found a way to treat familiar ,blocky figures like the cube and tetrahedron so that they have curved lines and become spherical in shape. Then I stellate the faces with more wires ; that's the general approach , and what the above pic of the Icosahedron shows.

DS

Dar Shelton · Answer

It's a bit late in the game to start worrying about that (^:#.DS

John Husvar · Answer

Ye gods, The old "permanent record" bit! Haven't heard _that_ in a couple decades or so.

The local school system overused that threat so badly that I finally took to telling the kids not to worry about it: Nobody would ever bother to look at their school "permanent record" and, in fact, would not be permitted to because of privacy laws.

Lots of relieved kids and pissed off teachers. (at me of course)

Larry Jaques · Answer

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 03:25:35 -0600, "Dar Shelton" calmly ranted:

the right size and even have caplike

spheres). I'm definitely not showing pics of these to

"No, I wouldn't expect so, but the mere fact that you -made- them says a lot." replied a joker.

tetrahedron so that they have curved lines and become

what the above pic of the Icosahedron shows.

Yes, but weren't you the chap looking for an oxidizer which turned the metal black, then turned around and lacquered them? Hmmm...

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Dar Shelton · Answer

are the right size and even have caplike

spheres). I'm definitely not showing pics of these to

Yeah, it says a lot , but mostly not what you're thinking it does, replied another joker.

tetrahedron so that they have curved lines and become

what the above pic of the Icosahedron shows.

I used lacquer on the rods I painted with lacquer based paint, and on the bare brass and copper ones.

I don't know why I bothered saying anything about geometric wire sculptures here anyway.

Back to working on metal stuff.......

DS

Richard J Kinch · Answer

Why do you say that?Various MSDS's give 1 to 3 percent of formic acid, tannic acid, or an unspecified organic acid, never phosphoric acid specifically.

Don Foreman · Answer

Mea culpa, Richard. . I said that because it seems to work like phosphoric acid, but I've not read the MSDS sheets and I may be way off base.

I never liked Extend. The stuff I liked when I was doing a lot of "rust work" on cars was Rust-Mort. It was watery liquid based on phosphoric acid. Slop it on however (I used disposable paintbrushes), wait a few minutes and hose it off. Residual rust (after knocking off the big chunks) turned black and was adherent. Two-part epoxy primer shot over that was good for a decade. That's off the point of course: the question was about blackening steel.

I've used the various cold-bluing compounds and Casewell's black dip juice on a number of shop-made projects. Didn't read the MSDS on those either, but I liked the results I got. You can see some photos on Caswell's website.

Steel Blackener?

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