Blackening steel - how to stop the rust afterwards?

Don't do what I did, when flicking a set of three-links off the tweezers, I lightly cooked my finger in the flame. Those little cook's blow lamps are fierce!

It only hurt for a few days...

But the dunking hot in oil does darken steel very nicely.

Best
Simon

I assumed that everyone knew about oil blackening on steel. But if not, it is very simple and quick provided you can heat the part. It is ideal for steel buffer heads but no use for plastic centred wheels. To get people started I took some photos while blackening a set of buffers.

The low tech tools and ingredients-

The sunflower oil is just the cheapest oil in the kitchen cupboard at the moment. An egg cup or other small container for the oil. A pair of long nose pliers, with insulated handles just in case. And the items to be blackened.

Heat in flame, as PakPaul explained the steel will go through a number of colour changes before becoming steel colour again. I like to get the steel beginning to glow without it being incandescent as this ensures an even colour to the blackening. A buffer will take less than a minute to heat.


Then dunk in oil while hot. It will blacken immediately.


Straight after coming out of the oil.


And six or seven minutes after the first photo we have four blackened buffer heads.


The fluorescent light didn't show the colour accurately so this is with the flash.


And that is it. No cleaning required before hand as the flame will burn most things off.

I have been known to get into trouble for leaving egg cups of oil in the kitchen for next time, so don't leave the evidence lying around.