[TheForge] Neat finish for metal

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

A few months ago someone on the list was looking for suggestions on 
quick rusting metal.  They got a number of replies, but the question 
started me to thinking about the rusting process.   The brain fart I had 
was that I might accelerate the rusting process by putting the iron 
while red hot in an  pure oxygen environment.   In practice, what I did 
was put a quarter inch rod in my gas forge, pulled it out red hot and 
hit it with a blast of just O2 from my cutting torch.  I then wet it 
down and left it out on a table in the weather.  The end that I held in 
my hand is covered in rust now(never having been heated), but the end I 
heated to red and hit with the O2 is still the same soft grey color with 
no signs of rust at all.  I guess the O2 caused a very fine layer of 
scale to form, although it does not seem to come off easily at all.  I 
should have expected this, as I have noticed that the edges of material 
flame cut take on this same appearance.


Charles