Blueing & other metal patinas

[rmwarren]

Looking to start a thread to share info on metal patinas.

Latest project is another live edge table from the trove of slabs I hauled home from Amish country a while back. Not much new on this table but I used raw steel hairpin legs and finished them with cold blue, turned out great with a nice deep blue/black color. Finished them with a light coat of Camellia oil.

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Top is finished with heavy Surfix.

After that I started bluing everything in my upstairs workroom while listening to audiobooks at night.  [big grin]

I am aiming to replace some metalworking equipment that I lost in Sandy and start doing some mixed medium projects. YouTube is loaded with makers doing really fun stuff with wood & metals.

Anyway, looking for input from anyone with experience with patina's for steel, AL, stainless, etc. I have been looking at the offerings on sculpt nouveau, they are interesting but expensive to do trial & error with when I am not sure what I am looking for.

Input is appreciated. 

RMW

 

[Cheese]

I've used vinegar & salt on copper to get a blue-green color. The only problem is that the patina coat is very fragile and tends to flake off. A driving rain & hail will peel the coating off.

Here's a picture of what's left after 8-10 years.

 

[rylim]

Nice job. Is the blue color made of resin?

 

[rvieceli]

Richard. I like Birchwood Casey Presto Black. It's a room temp agent.

Sculptnuveau is not a bad place to go to. Most of the manufacturers only sell in one gallon minimums. Sculpt repackages down to 8 ounces on most stuff.

Ron

Nice job on the table.

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

You might want to check your local library or local universities to see if they have a copy of the below book you can view or check out. The book is only for copper, bronze, and silver alloys, but it's 370 pages.
https://www.amazon.com/Colouring-Bronzing-Patination-Metals/dp/0823007626

ASME handbook 5, covers surface finishing for metals including plating and phosphate finishing etc.