[TheForge] JAX blackener

[ries]

I find it helps to rough up the surface.
Sandblasting is best, but if you cant do that, try sanding it with a random orbit sander or a DA sander.
The smoother the steel, the worse the finish looks.
Also, you need to have the whole piece at the same degree of finish-- you cant have some patches of mill scale, some parts shiny, and some parts matte, as it all will show thru.

Me, I dont rinse off blackeners. I use only a little of em, on a rag, and then I rub off excess with rags.
Then i wax or clearcoat over the top.

Be aware- blackening agents ARE rust. They are oxidizing the surface, which is chemically similar to rust. So the logical result of too much blackener, mixed with water, is rust.

ries



On Aug 8, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Lucky7Steel wrote:

I tried using JAX blackener for steel today on a test piece of cold rolled
steel tubing.
At first it seemed to work really well but after washing it off and hanging
to dry, it quickly got an orange coating on it (like rust but...not quite).
Clearly i did something wrong. Anyone have any advice? I wondered if i wax
over it if it would go away (wishful thinking i'm sure). i did clean the
piece quite well but i didnt use Muratic acid first or anything like that.
Just cleaned and dipped and washed.
stinky stinky! i worse gloves but somehow my hand still smells like sulfur.
:-(

~karen~
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Ries Niemi
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http://www.riesniemi.com/