Darkening Stainless Steel

wmhammond

Well-Known Member
Anyone know of a process or product that will darken or blacken stainless steel? :les:

Thanks

Wallace
 
I don't know of anything Wallace, I once tried Duracoat, that was a good Idea but it doesn't wear, scratches easily.
Ferric chloride lays down a nice deep black but its about the thickness of anodized titanium and scratches if you look at it wrong.
I think my next step is Cerakote, I know people who use it on knives and it works, it's kind of expensive to have someone else do it, and kind of expensive to get into it to do it yourself, but I think I'm about to pull the trigger and try applying it myself.

My blades are mostly all stainless so I've been looking for something like you for years and I always end up looking at Cerakote.
 
I have a friend that does cerakote and I'm planning on him doing a "thin blue line" themed scheme on the blade. I'll let you know how it turns out and post some pictures when it's done. Should have it ready to be cerakoted this weekend.

Sent from my SM-N915V using Tapatalk
 
Coatings are about the only option you have with stainless steels. Of course the downside is durability. D2, being on the "borderline" of being a full stainless will blacken with certain chemicals, but it's all about the chromium content....once that hits 14% in an alloy, blackening the material becomes problematic, and the higher the chromium content, the less likely the chances of successfully "staining" the steel.
 
Interesting. I tried 44/40 today on a sample and it worked! go figger. Doubt if it's very deep but I don't think it will matter. All I needed it for was to fill the low spots on some hammer marks that I made along the top of a blade (Forge marks, lol). Thanks for all the thoughts.

Wallace
 
Back
Top