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-----304 Stainless Steel heat coloring inconsistencies
Q. I have a .4mm thick and 29mm diameter piece of 304 stainless steel. One side was polished to 8k and had a protective film on it. The other side did not.
I removed the protective film and cleaned with acetone and hot soapy water.
I place my steel on an electric burner. The coil on it was red hot indicating it was well beyond the 1,000 °F-ish temp needed to turn the steel blue.
I laid my steel on the coil and let it set. When I quenced it the polished side I had cleaned was kind of a chocolatey brown color. The unpolished side which I didn't really bother to clean became purple with splotches of blue.
Why would I get 2 different colors on the thin steel? 1 side is 1 color, 1 side is a different color?
I know since I didn't get blue it tells me I didn't get my disc hot enough.
hobbyist - Houston. Texas
September 29, 2025
Q. I should add too, is it possible to get an even consistent color on 304 stainless steel? I am wanting a dark blue. As I tinker more I get the colors but they are splotchy. I have used a kiln set to 1,100 °F, I tried a butane torch with the piece resting on a thin piece of steel with copper shavings, and the electric burner coil.
Thomas Erwin [returning]hobbyist - Houston TX
September 30, 2025
A. Heat tinting of stainless steel is very simple process but it is very hard to get consistent results. It is easy to do it on piece of small flat pieces of sheet but complex shapes are very problematic.Try electrochemical coloring -- you can use molybdate based solution; it is much less toxic than old INCO process (hex chromate based ). Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija- Cerovski vrh Croatia
October 1, 2025
Thanks so much for the tip. Is there a good resource to read up on to learn how to do this?
hobbyist - Houston
October 1, 2025
Ed. note: You can search the site for 'coloring of stainless steel' for a good start.
A. Try wikipedia articles on chemical ,electrochemical and heat coloring of metals.In my download free booklet is small chapter on coloring stainless steel too (finishing.com/library/budija/kembojen2025.pdf ). Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija- Cerovski vrh Croatia
October 1, 2025
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