Finishing question

dbeck · Aug 31, 2018

Is there a way to finish steel that does not darken as much as bluing? Other than obvious constant care and rubbing with gun oil or something is there a way to protect bright 'raw' looking steel without getting to dark or using stainless?

SamW · Aug 31, 2018

Renaissance Wax does a good job, easy to apply and refresh when you think needed. A touch of lamp black added will highlight engraving quite well.

John B. · Aug 31, 2018

There is French Gray, Parkerizing, various plating and also coin finish.
Coin Finish can be achieved by first color case hardening and then removing the color.
Many English shotguns are coin finished and appear to have been left in the white.
As Sam W. says Renaissance wax does a good job.
I use it on unfinished works-in-progress at shows to protect from rusty fingers.

dbeck · Aug 31, 2018

I will look into this coin finishing process. Thank you. I also read the finishing posts. great info.

SamW · Aug 31, 2018

Is this the kind of look you are after?

dbeck · Aug 31, 2018

Exactly!!! That is beautiful. How is this done?

SamW · Aug 31, 2018

This is electroless nickel plating. Once the engraving was done I blasted the parts with 320 grit aluminum oxide at 20 lbs pressure, then ran through the plating process. The blasting knocks off the high shine so it does not look like chrome. The blasting and plating did not really reduce detail a noticeable amount, as can be seen from the cloud background that was lightly stipple/bulino done. One must be very careful not to mar the blasted metal because the surface that goes into the solution is what comes out.

This is a very hard surface that is mar/scratch and corrosion resistant, which I think is perfect for a working piece.

This was done 20 plus years ago.

PS...the negative or un-engraved areas were stippled then burnished back to give a sort of leather look.

dbeck · Aug 31, 2018

This is just beautiful Sam. I have been staring at this picture all day! Im sure it takes the right plater to do something this fine. So any inlay would have to be done afterwards. Cut through the nickle? For me just at the very beginning of all of this, the best part is thinking about the steps for each piece. Even just a simple drawing or design has an order that you dont really think about until you try it.

Thank you for your time.

SamW · Aug 31, 2018

Combining inlay and nickel plate is tricky to be sure. Raised inlay can be protected by stop off varnish. I have at one time prepared the metal for a raised inlay, done the plating, and then added the gold but it was not something I wanted to repeat. Tried this with flush line inlay also with only moderate success. It was hard to clean the line down flush without leaving very fine gaps along the edge of the gold. Gold can be worked with spring brass or bronze flats without marring the plating. The tools require very frequent sharpening. I decided early on to limit the plating to steel work such as this floor plate/trigger guard and matching action.

Using stop off varnish was the most successful but still tricky...and I never tried it on flush inlay as it seemed to be too difficult to be worthwhile.

zzcutter · Sep 1, 2018

So sam once all the engraving is done then you sand blasted it? did you use a air brush type blaster and what type of both did you use . thanks

SamW · Sep 1, 2018

ZZ I did blast it after final engraving and just before plating. I have an old canister blaster, small and hand held, and used a wood box with sealed lid and a glass window let into the lid. A robber glove at one end allows entry of my holding hand, a small hole in the side for the blaster nozzle, and a hole in the other end stuffed with nylon stockings to filter the exhaust and save oxide. The box is probably about a foot by a foot by two feet long.

I would assume an air brush type would be much easier.

jerrywh · Sep 2, 2018

Another good way is Cerakote matte clear. The scene within the gold frame is coated with Matte clear Cerakote. I masked it off with scotch tape. No chemical will remove it. I even tried aircraft paint stripper on it to no avail.

JMiller · Sep 2, 2018

jerrywh said:
Another good way is Cerakote matte clear. The scene within the gold frame is coated with Matte clear Cerakote. I masked it off with scotch tape. No chemical will remove it. I even tried aircraft paint stripper on it to no avail.

Do you spray it or brush it on?

papart1 · Sep 2, 2018

I was kinda hoping for a brush senerio myself until I looked up the web site................then bang! nothing about brushing the coating just spraying. It would be nice to see if someone has tried to brush and see the resulting product tho.

jerrywh · Sep 2, 2018

I sprayed it on with an airbrush one coat. Has to age at k least 4 days. The second photo is an accident. I tried to delete it but no success. This is the photo I meant to put on.

JMiller · Sep 3, 2018

jerrywh said:
I sprayed it on with an airbrush one coat. Has to age at k least 4 days.

Thank you jerrwh...

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