Dustin R. Reagan wrote: |
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One point of clarification, though, it seems as though you are speaking of patination that will naturally develop through the day-to-day use of non-stainless irons/steels? I am speaking purely in the sense of "forced", controlled, or purposeful patination. With the above caveats, I think it's reasonable to allow that this *might* have been done, both for aesthetic as well as practical reasons. Forced patinas actually help protect steel from "bad" rust, as the layer of passive oxides protect the blade from the elements. Additionally, high-phosphorous wrought irons (which have been archeologically shown to have been favored and selected for the production of weapons in some periods/locales) naturally resist rust by developing a passive patina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi#Scientific_analysis, for example). Dustin |
Yes I was thinking of natural patination being left to being accumulated on the surface naturally and this staining is not red rust and I think somewhat similar to cold bluing in growing some rust protection by building up a protective kind of oxidation or staining.
Nothing wrong to go directly to a protective finish using heat or chemical means i.e. browning or bluing. I just think that the idea of bluing may have originated from natural patination and if they in period realized that this patination was better rust protection than a high polish and continuous re-polishing it may have also ended up being done deliberately.
In any case might as well go for the aesthetics you prefer in the absence of evidence of what was the aesthetics of the period: A nice deep blue with the contrasting silver inlay would be very attractive.
( Oh, and blame any typos on a nice bottle of Chianti ........ ;) :p no fava beans or BBQ cannibalism " à la Hannibal Lector " to accompany the wine, but some nice left over spaghetti and BBQ chicken ..... never post and drink by the way as strange posts will be made. :p :lol: )