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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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31st Oct 2019, 8:11 pm | #21 |
Dekatron
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws
Hang the screws from wires in a jar/bottle of white vinegar above the level of the liquid. The top of the container needs to be closed to concentrate the gases. I use this process to authentically age the look of nickel plated guitar parts as is the way in the world of vintage guitars and copies of the same. Just keep your eye on the screws and remove them when the desired degree of 'dulling' is achieved. Rinse them thoroughly in cold water and you're done.
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31st Oct 2019, 8:36 pm | #22 | |
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws
Quote:
If anyone Googles "pickling of stainless steel", which is the technical method of taking off the surface layer, the widely used technique calls for a mixture of hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid, just to put things in perspective. It's not a combination well-suited to domestic use. B
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1st Nov 2019, 2:25 pm | #23 |
Hexode
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Location: Ireleth-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK.
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
This is more difficult than I thought.
I've had them in Vinegar for 24 hours with no signs of aging. I've also had them on the radiator for 24 hours in Ferric Chloride and Sodium Hydroxide, with no effect. I've now got them in Alloy wheel cleaner, but it does say it contains no acids, so I Dont think it will work either. That just about all I've got around here except the salt, which I'll also try. Next time I got to town, I'll purchase some of the other products. These stainless steel screws are the real deal, when you want cheap and nasty screws, I seem to get the best Nick |
1st Nov 2019, 3:11 pm | #24 |
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Ah, you've not got the aggressive alloy wheel cleaner. The serious stuff is quite nasty, they sell wimpy detergent-only stuff if they ask you 'Do you have any marks or chips on you wheels, sir' The aggressive stuff attacks aluminium quite readily.
David
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1st Nov 2019, 3:42 pm | #25 | |
Dekatron
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Quote:
Of all the agents that you have, I really would have thought that the FeCl3 would do it; I'd stick with that for a while longer. It may well be that nothing appears to happen for a while, as it slowly eats off the protective oxide layer, and once that is gone, things do happen!!! B
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Saturn V had 6 million pounds of fuel. It would take thirty thousand strong men to lift it an inch. |
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1st Nov 2019, 6:14 pm | #26 |
Nonode
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Location: Spalding, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK.
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Have a rum and coke and keep a little bit of coke back for them. Something might happen. If not, at least the coke wasn't wasted.
Rob
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1st Nov 2019, 8:30 pm | #27 |
Nonode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
I wonder if some kind of oven cleaner would do it? omething fairly potent like that Oven Pride stuff that you have to use in a plastic bag? It seems to take off thechrome plate on the grill if I use it too often.
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1st Nov 2019, 9:20 pm | #28 |
Nonode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Try household bleach. It stains so called stainless steel sinks quite happily.
Alan |
1st Nov 2019, 9:24 pm | #29 |
Dekatron
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
The barbecue/oven-cleaner/non-acidic alloy-wheel-cleaner solutions are almost always based largely around Sodium Hydroxide or a similar strong alkali.
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2nd Nov 2019, 9:11 am | #30 |
Pentode
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK.
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Not sure if this will work on stainless, but vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt solution is quite effective on normal steel.
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2nd Nov 2019, 11:09 am | #31 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK.
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Hi pm me your add. will send you a little of the degreaser? that rusts things overnight Mick
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2nd Nov 2019, 11:28 am | #32 |
Heptode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
How about pushing them in a piece of card and giving a light spray coating of your desired paint colour?
Alan |
2nd Nov 2019, 4:17 pm | #33 | |
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Quote:
Nick, does your supplier indicate what grade of steel the screws are? If you have 3 or 4 spares, and would like to send them to me, I'll happily see if I can get a result from them. This is very much the world of my old "day job", but I no longer have easy access to a complete chem lab. B
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Saturn V had 6 million pounds of fuel. It would take thirty thousand strong men to lift it an inch. |
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2nd Nov 2019, 5:04 pm | #34 |
Hexode
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Location: Ireleth-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK.
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
This is not going well.
I had a screw in neat Ferric Chloride for two days, I thought I was getting there, the surface of the screw got a bit dull and there was a build up of crystals on the head. But a quick clean and it was as new again. So this morning I bought a bottle of Rust converter. (Cost £9 for 150ml !) I downloaded the datasheet and it mentions that it will not touch stainless steel. I've had it on the head of a screw for an hour, while the vice shows evidence of staining, the screw is still as new. Nick G0HIK |
2nd Nov 2019, 5:08 pm | #35 |
Hexode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
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2nd Nov 2019, 5:09 pm | #36 |
Heptode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Etch primer first, then your chosen colour?
Alan |
2nd Nov 2019, 5:22 pm | #37 |
Nonode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
I think this is all demonstrating that stainless steel is, err…..., stainless!!!
Andy |
2nd Nov 2019, 7:24 pm | #38 |
Octode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
I appreciate this might sound a bit iconoclastic, but why not just use the screws and let nature take its course? I admit that I rather like nice, new, shiny things.
You could otherwise buy some nickel-plated screws, which I am sure will "age" more readily. Colin. |
3rd Nov 2019, 12:32 am | #39 |
Nonode
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
Some time back & due to a lengthy stay in hospital (6 weeks), I found that, on returning home, I had left my stainless knives, forks & spoons in my washing-up bowl in water.
They now have various patches of colour stains ranging from black, blue-ish, yellow to light brown. My problem is the reverse of the OP's !!
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3rd Nov 2019, 7:10 am | #40 |
Dekatron
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Re: How do I age stainless steel screws?
I think that stainless steels can contain anything between 8-25% chromium, the element which confers corrosion resistance, but that's expensive and a lot of cutlery has a composition at the bottom end of the range, and is "just about adequate" most of the time. You quite often see corrosion occurring along the line where there's been a meniscus.
In trying to age stainless as in this post, it really needs be done in such a way that you get uniformity across the screw-head and from one screw to the next and complete immersion is probably the way to go. I'm guessing that the screws could be a 300 series steel, with 18% Cr, and really quite resistant to attack. B
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