Blackening Steel - NO Dangerous Chemicals

They call this Rust Bluing but the actual color is a very Dark Gray to Black. My interest in this, was for the stop motion armature fabrication process in which some of the components are usually made of steel and can be subject to oxidizing or light rusting when immersed in rubber foam latex, or silicone might have some affect on the steel surface. Of course, this blackening does not 'completely' protect the steel parts from moisture, but can help in reducing rust. I would still wrap the armature with teflon tape before placing it in mold. The best protection for steel is chrome plating which can be expensive for small quantities of armature parts. An alternative is the lower cost, using nickel plating.

In the past, I have done a different type of steel blackening. Using a torch flame, you heat the metal  until it turns a straw color, then quickly plunge the highly heated metal parts into motor oil. This creates a dark micro protection layer on the steel parts.  I might later, do another post about this oil plunging metal darkening method.

The oil plunge technique is similar to seasoning cast iron cookware. I tested this method on the above dinosaur armature.  Everything that is of black color,  ... is Steel that has been Oil Blackened. All the other light colored metal parts in photo, is aluminum metal. Also, there is the Groovy - Coolness 😎 of  the 'Black' color 👍 If you go to my Stop Motion Works Facebook Album  you can see this clearer photo and this other photo.


BELOW, are a few videos that explains the basic steps of the Rust Bluing (blackening) technique of steel parts. I have not done this with armature parts ... but I did some tests on some small automotive parts. To my surprise, the rust blackening worked reasonably well.  NO harmful chemicals used!  Just Vinegar, Hydrogen Peroxide, and Salt.

Below is link to original article that inspired the above videos, to try Rust Blackening method

Quick Rust Bluing (blackening) of Steel

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