How do I age stainless steel screws?

[stevehertz]

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.

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

Hang the screws from wires in a jar/bottle of white vinegar above the level of the liquid.

It's worth pointing out here that stainless steel cutlery is used repeatedly to consume hot fish and chips which have been liberally treated with both salt and vinegar, and generally remains unchanged.

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

[NickG0HIK]

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

[Radio Wrangler]

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

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by NickG0HIK

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.

Every wheel cleaner I have encountered has been a strong alkali, which is why they can proclaim them ACID-FREE.

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

[CambridgeWorks]

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

[Andrew2]

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.

[ajgriff]

Try household bleach. It stains so called stainless steel sinks quite happily.

Alan

[G6Tanuki]

The barbecue/oven-cleaner/non-acidic alloy-wheel-cleaner solutions are almost always based largely around Sodium Hydroxide or a similar strong alkali.

[Syrinx1]

Not sure if this will work on stainless, but vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt solution is quite effective on normal steel.

[mickm3for]

Hi pm me your add. will send you a little of the degreaser? that rusts things overnight Mick

[alanworland]

How about pushing them in a piece of card and giving a light spray coating of your desired paint colour?


Alan

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by alanworland

How about pushing them in a piece of card and giving a light spray coating of your desired paint colour?
Alan

Painting stainless is not straighfoward; I think it will need a special primer.

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

[NickG0HIK]

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

[NickG0HIK]

Thanks
PM sent
Nick

Originally Posted by mickm3for

Hi pm me your add. will send you a little of the degreaser? that rusts things overnight Mick

[alanworland]

Etch primer first, then your chosen colour?

Alan

[M0FYA Andy]

I think this is all demonstrating that stainless steel is, err…..., stainless!!!

Andy

[ColinTheAmpMan1]

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.

[camtechman]

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 !!

[Bazz4CQJ]

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