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Need info on coloring mild steel with chemicals and or heat

2003

At this time I am doing a lot of coloring of mild steel with a torch / heat. I understand there are chemicals that I can use to have other color options, I would be coloring things with very fine detail. Can any one tell me about them or put me onto a person or publication on this subject...

Thanks,

Bill M [last name deleted for privacy by Editor] - Hermiston, Oregon, USA

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I am looking for the same information as what chemicals or heat produce coloring of steel.

Thanks

Henry Vandyke
- Inverness, Florida, USA
March 23, 2008

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I could be wrong, but I believe that, with steel's great propensity towards rapidly rusting and the limited compounds that it can form, the steel itself is limited to the traditional brown and bluish black oxide coatings associated with firearms.

To get additional colors, I think you need to apply a copper-based patina solution. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 25, 2008