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Sealing Black Oxidized Steel

 

We are a design co in LA and are doing a project at the moment where the client needs items of furniture to incorporate blackened steel. All fine up to there... The problem is how to seal or coat this so it is durable and matte or near matte. Our first attempt was to use an oil and then wax coat them. Initially they looked great but after ocean freighting these items they arrived with rust residue and need to be cleaned. This makes me think long term it will not be resistant PLUS there will be over 2000 items so to clean off this is not practical. What would seal this? We could even do a different finish that had that "industrial" raw finish. Powder coating was rejected for this reason!

thanks

Laurence Garcia
designer - Los Angeles, California
September 11, 2009

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Black oxide varies from great to terrible in looks. It has very little corrosion protection, especially if it is the slightest bit damp or the packaging can absorb a bit of moisture.
Switch to paint.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
September 15, 2009

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I have created matte clear finishes using Endura and Imron [adv: Imron clearcoat on eBay] and I'm certain you could do the same with any clear two part epoxy paint that you can lay your hands on. Stop the volume of paint to the gun down to next to nothing, crank up the air pressure to something totally unreasonable and stand back about 20 inches and let fly. Makes a very fine stipple finish. Do it in light coats so the surface does not glass up. Those clear coats have a warranty similar to that of pelican cases. Will withstand everything but shark bite, bear attack and children under five!

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
September 17, 2009