Armor was tempered and treated in different ways, historically, and the bluing was a particular process of heat treatment and the oxidation created a layer that protected the steel. Steel tempering has different colors, and I wonder if armor could be tempered to more of a purple or other colors? If there are examples of say, more purplish armor? This is a question for aesthetics, not so much a question of integrity. If anyone has pictures, that would be cool. [/img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/ab/ed/08abed1a69570249870b30ed75761032.jpg[img]

Hi Derek,

I don't have any examples for you, but I can tell you that technically it could be done. The blue color is one of the last tempering colors before you get grey. The other colors like purple or gold represent a lower tempering temperature, but there's no reason you couldn't temper to blue, re-polish back to bare metal, and then reheat to whatever color you would like. This should leave you with a mechanically equivalent part.

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The armor of Sir George Clifford was originally a purplish color. Check it out here: http://myArmoury.com/feature_mow_clifford.html .