[TheForge] pitted rust

Wed Oct 1 20:06:00 2003

I too have to do this to some pieces for a customer, parts of a canon, I
havent tried it yet but I am thinking of using the oxy/propane torch and
"burning" the metal, this gives a very pitted , marred surface when I have
accidentally done it before. The slag would need to be cleaned up then just
rust it in your normal way...

----- Original Message -----
From: "northwoods" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] pitted rust

> To achieve deep pitting simply boil the piece in a 50/50 water bleach
> mixture.
> I do this outside, it doesn't take long at all for the surface to begin to
> etch and
> then finally pit. When doing restoration work I often use the boiling
bleach
> treatment first, and then build a patina over that using layers of rust
> which are
> repeatedly partially removed and then built upon over and over again until
> the
> desired look is achieved. When making things look old the trick is to
> achieve
> the black/brown layers which are often present on an old piece of ironwork
> and
> have taken many years to accumulate, but to do it in a reasonable amount
of
> time.
> T. Clark
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cameron Stoker" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: October 01, 2003 9:48 AM
> Subject: [TheForge] pitted rust
>
>
> > Hello all,
> > I have a bit if a problem on a project and thought I should see what
> > the collective wisdom of the forge might have to offer.
> >
> > I have a client who would like me to duplicate the rust finish found on
> > an old piece of ~ 2" pipe.
> > This guy is very picky and I've tried several textures which have been
> > rejected.
> > The difficulty is that this is some serious rust. I think this sample
> > of pipe was buried in  the ground for many years. Its surface is
> > covered with small pits maybe 3/23" average diameter and about 1/32
> > deep. i.e. it's a fairly heavily pitted rusty surface. I am imagining
> > the corrosion process could develop this way when grains of varying
> > composition and size sand/minerals of the ground being pressed against
> > the pipe.
> >
> > Typically when I do a rust finish, I treat the item with muriatic acid
> > to remove any black forging oxide and to chemically clean the surface
> > of oils/junk/etc. I then warm the metal with a small torch and sprits
> > it with bleach solution. This gets a powdery red oxide almost
> > instantly. I do several treatments with bleach solution, then switch to
> > a saline solution and heat for several days. I've found using only the
> > bleach solution will develop streaks in the patina and it can for white
> > residues. The salt water keeps the patina even, and has some nice
> > subtle color variations such as brown and black spots speckling the
> > surface.
> >
> > The main fault with my 'artificial' rusting, is that it would take me
> > years to develop any kind of deep pits on a surface. Someone suggested
> > packing the pipe in a box of sawdust permeated with muriatic acid, but
> > this seems like a fire hazard to me, and I bet it would still take
> > years.
> >
> > My current best idea is to braze a lot of small diameter ball bearing
> > balls to a set of die plates and texture the pipe in the hammer before
> > the rusting.
> >
> > Anyone have any clever tricks for getting deep rust?
> >
> > Seems like there should be a way to do this electrochemically, perhaps
> > using a plastic sponge/foam as an irregular electrode against the pipe.
> >
> > Thanks for any advice.
> >
> > Cameron Stoker
> > [email protected]
> > "May you run like a vicu�a!"
> > pgp key @ http://keys.stoker.net
> >
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