A lot of Brit hardware is black-oxide coated. It is not a paint, it
is a controlled oxidation process. It can be very robust and
effective or very troublesome. There are two ways of getting black
oxide, hot and cold. The hot process is extremely difficult and
dangerous (uses supersaturated salt solutions heated to about 240
degs) but is by far the most effective. It goes on deeper and cures
sooner, and is generally tougher. The cold process uses selenium
compounds. While it works, it must be done with great care, and
requires much longer to cure. If you black-oxide cold, leave your
material sitting for a few days before using it for the finish to
penetrate, else it will rub off.
By far the better approach is to have your hardware treated via the
hot process. For either process to work, the material must be
_thoroughly_ cleaned to the grey metal and degreased. Bead blasting
is not inappropriate for preparation. Through the yellow pages I
found a local shop that will black oxide a 25 lb bucket of stuff for
$25. The Eastwood kit uses the cold process, which has all of the
caveats mentioned above. Note well that selenium is toxic, so care is
required in its handling.
Note that black oxiding is the same process used for gun bluing (which
looks shiny only because the metal is first highly polished). A small
amount of hardware can be done with a gun blue kit, which costs about
$10.
A. B. Bonds
|