Letter 1039

Blackening Stainless Steel Chain Mail

---

I'm in the process of making a "Chain mail" (that's a type of medieval armor) shirt using spring tempered 302 stainless steel. What I want to do is turn the whole thing BLACK! (or as black as I possibly can...deep deep blue is acceptable).

Now here's my problem:

I don't know ANYTHING about how to do Blackening, not to mention how to do it to stainless steel without weakening the steel!!

What I'm looking for a simple way of blackening it, or someone who can blacken it for me at a low cost, without degrading the steel's strength, temper, or corrosion resistance!!!

!!!PLEASE HELP!!!

My thanks in advance for your assistance with my project problem,

Sincerely,

Andrew

Our company manufactures the water features and fountains that you see at places like Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc. To blacken SSTL hardware, we use a special matte black patina process from a company in Glendale, CA called Tri-Ess Science. You may want to give them a call for advice.

Bill Newton

Ed. note: Tr-Ess is no longer in business. Sorry.

Andrew, look into gun bluing. You can buy it relatively cheap and it works great. I suggest soaking the mail in the stuff for at least an hour, while stirring the mail around so that everything gets covered. You can buy the stuff in the little bottles and try it out, and if you like, then just search online and get a bigger bottle. Best of luck. Hunter

Hunter Jones
Dragon's Guard - Nashville, TN, USA

You will find that gun bluing does not work on stainless steel although gun smithing suppliers offer some options. Personally I would suggest unless you have experience with these coatings that you have it professionally done or do lots of practice on scraps.

Sean Duval
- Yuma, AZ, USA

I do not know if this is an effective way to do this, but it worked for me: cook it over the stove. It actually blues the steel and if you do it long enough, it will turn black. I did this to numerous stainless steel objects and I haven't noticed any decrease in the quality of the steel.

Aaron Svirbly
- Brookfield, Ohio, United States of America

Ed. note: Aaron advises us below that it was someone else who offered this advise.

Yes, I would like to make my shiny stainless black. Why would I want to do that you may ask? Well, I'm an amateur chainmailer, yes like medieval chainmail. I'm going to be making a bracelet and I want shiny and blackened rings, because it looks better. I've found 2 different ways to do this, heat the stainless to 1200 Fahrenheit or use a bluing agent, something like they use to color gun barrels. The heating up part I can probably do, if a propane torch can reach that high. the bluing agent, well, I wouldn't need that much, or I think I wouldn't. any help would be appreciated.

Nicholas Fuller
Student - Bullhead City, AZ, USA

Hi,
I am a medieval reinactor. I recently removed the galvanization from my chainmail, leaving mild steel. I am currently researching the best way to blacken it to prevent rusting. I have heard that broiling it with Pam olive oil spray can work, but seems time (and oven) intensive. The other method I have heard of is tannic acid, which from what I have heard, leaves a very dark grey rather than black coat, which is fine by me. How would I go about this? Boil my chainmail with acorns or teabags for a few hours? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ben Mudd

Benjamin Mudd
Washington University Student - Saint Louis, MO, USA

I was informed by my information being falsely used.
The previous response was not by me; however, it was received from a computer that I had used. The cookies were enabled, and automatically filled in my information.

As far as blackening the steel, a propane flame such as that from a stove will only distort the color and put a film of soot over the metal. A special type of flux or acidic compound is needed to obtain the desired coloration.

Aaron Svirbly
- Masury Ohio USA

I want to post a question or inquiry of my own.

 

I want to answer or follow-up on this question publicly

 

This letter is within a monitored forum, very much "alive" here in 2008. If you spot any broken links or obsolete info, please advise!