Hello all--

Does anyone have advice for darkening hilt furniture (mild steel, in my case) to a smoky or 'stained/tarnished' luster, while still keeping some sheen (i.e. not some oxide coating)? I have tried a bit of vinegar and salt, and yellow mustard, but the components look somewhat brownish, and using fire to 'smoke' the metal made it look dull. Any suggestions or products to help achieve this goal?

Thanks!
--Kai

Kai, I've used cold blueing solutions or creams. They are not permanent and as they wear off, especially when assisted by fine steel wool and oil, thy leave behind a nice aged but polished patina. And if you don't like the look you can always polish it completely out.
Just cold blue your hilt components and then regularly but lightly polish with 000 steel wool with sewing machine oil in the wool. Eventually you should get a good patina that is darker than the steel but not really blued. It will continue to rust, let it build up a little bit of rust, and keep lightly using the steel wool and oil and you'll get something that almost looks like it's been browned but still has the sheen you are looking for. You can reapply the blueing solution as necessary.
It doesn't always work but if it fails there's no damage to your hilt and you are only out the cost of the blueing solution.
Good luck

I darkened the furniture of my hanwei tinker longsword with linseed oil. It is dismountable though.

I made hooks for the cross and pommel from a wire hanger and wiped boiled linseed oil on. Then I baked at 500F for an hour. I did this maybe five times, to get an almost solid black. Three times gets a nice turtle shell effect.

If this process falls under blueing then I apologize, I just knew it made my cast iron black, and I figured it should work with mild steel. I don't know what you would call it.

perma blue polished back to whatever shade of gray you want (with fine steel wool) is the best gray i've achieved. it's a beautiful finish. no waiting. you'll have your finish in a few minutes.

You can also russet or brown the steel using chemicals found in most places that supply muzzleloading supplies.

Don't expect to get the result you want in one coating. Whatever you use, put it on, polish it off. Repeat 5 times or so. Somewhere along the way you'll end up with the tone you want.

Don't think coating think changing the metal. If you want to give it an aged look... dissmount the hilt... wrap it tight in an old 100% cotton rag and douse with white cider vinegar. Leave it for a few days in a nice warm place. Should come out with a splotchy black crust that you will card off using steel wool. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES. rinse with lots of water. What you have done is create weak aqua fortis and this stuff will turn your hands black as well and do weird stuff to your finger nails. It is also used for blackening wood thourgh a heat treating process.

try getting a coupy of this book if your interested in this type of stuff. http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/Part...1/BOOK-FBB