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How can I color steel to look like this?

Q. Hello, My name is Dan and I build tattoo machines using 1018 steel frames and I've seen people get this amazing blue-purple'ish color on polished steel and I just can't figure out how to achieve the same look. I've tried a bunch of different patinas and heat treatments but nothing ever comes out the same way. Any info will be very much appreciated !
Thanks
Dan Mrusko
hobbyist / artist - Bridgeport Pennsylvania USA
October 29, 2009

Ed. update, Nov 2011: Sorry, Dan and/or Photobucket removed the previously available pic.

A. Possibly heat treating it in a dirty oven. Another possibility is zinc plated and blue dye. You have a choice of several dye colors. I will guess that it is a poor zinc job and that you have wildly different thicknesses of zinc.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
October 30, 2009

A. You can use heat tinting (heat your object to 300 °C), or you can use chemical process (so called luster colours process -most formulas are lead based but there are some lead free processes). Try to download free old book by Kaup or by Arthur Hiorns (from www.archive.org). Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
November 2, 2009

Q. I believe the guys who built this machine are just doing it in the garage and no special plating is being used. I've tried different methods of heat treating and nothing seems to get it as brilliant a color. I can only seem to get a mild blue/purple color out of it and definitely not even. When I asked the builder of this machine he said he used mapp gas. Could it be just gas and not an oxidized flame producing a different effect? I can't seem to figure it out. I've tried using a couple different patinas and dyes from sculptnouveau.com both cold and hot and still no great results. The piece is obviously polished but could it be possible that it was polished after coloring? I tried that and it just takes the color off. Thanks for your help guys I really appreciate it.

Also does anyone know if I can use regular old saltpeter as found in stump removers to blue steel? I know there are gun suppliers who sell "kits" for this but couldn't I just use the stuff from home depot heat it up in a pot and submerge the parts?

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