Defarbing Armour -- myArmoury.com

Bruce Willis · Posted: Tue 11 Nov, 2008 7:57 am Post subject: Defarbing Armour

Hello My Friends,

My period is a 16ht Century re-enacting and I have a nice collection of good quality morions from 3 Bros. However, I recently picked up a conical Spanish-style morion on ebay for only 50$. It's not one of the combed ones, but it is Indian-made and has the cheap-steel look (which itselt might be more period than we realize).

Here is my question. Let me preface buy saying that I am a novice workshop guy. With instructions, I can usually figure things out. What is a good method for giving it a brown or patina look.

Thank you very much.

Rodrigo

Douglas S · Posted: Tue 11 Nov, 2008 10:05 am Post subject:

By "de-farbing" do you mean you want to make look old and rusty?

Bruce Willis · Posted: Tue 11 Nov, 2008 10:09 am Post subject:

Not rusty, that's easy to do, esp with the Indian crap, but more of a browned or patina look.

R D Moore · Posted: Tue 11 Nov, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject:

Some forumites have tried yellow mustard with good results, others have used vinegar and salt.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...+antiquing

I would think the techniques would work on a helmet similarly to a sword blade. I don't know though. Perhaps someone else can offer some hints.

Chad Arnow · myArmoury Team

Try this: The Instant Antique: A Practical Guide to Adding Antique Effects to Replica Arms

Bruce Willis · Posted: Tue 11 Nov, 2008 5:45 pm Post subject:

Chad and RD,

My friends, thank you for those postings. I will try one of these techniques this Saturday and attempt to post a pic (I think posting a pic will be a harder task for me).

Thank you again,

Rodrigo

Sean Flynt · Posted: Wed 12 Nov, 2008 10:24 am Post subject:

Get some engine degreaser from the local Mal-Wart and apply as directed. You'll save yourself some trouble that way, and if the treatments don't have the desired effect at least you'll know it wasn't because of residual oil or grease. You might also want to experiment with Birchwood-Casey Permablue, which you'll find among the guns and ammo in the same store. This can give a beautiful blue-black finish (assuming you're diligent about degreasing first). With a little thought you could make a nice "black and white" 16th century effect that would look right at home on a morion.

Bruce Willis · Posted: Sat 15 Nov, 2008 6:42 am Post subject:

Sean

I will try this. When I was a teen, I used to season my Civil War guns using a similiar technique with Bitchwood Casey. I would degrease the metal, blue it and bake it and got a great browned finish.
Here in CSSR (Calif), we longer have a Guns N Ammo section at our Wal Mart. The Govt does not trust us Wal Martians. We do have a little ammo, cleaning supplies, and airsoft thought.

Bruce