Excercise in Patination

[mbaber]

A couple of tsuba's I've been working on . Rusted slowly in rainwater , then bolied and oiled. Sometime I'd like to try Brian Van Speybroeck's method with hydrogen peroxide and salt









Here's my surname in Urdu script , carved into a mild steel blank with a cold chisel and hammer .

[mojofilter]

I like these, and I will be looking to make my own soon, are they just mild steel?

[mbaber]

Hi Mojo, yes they are from mild steel disc .

I've got loads of discs outside just rusting away. I like the finish you can get from this process. Some interesting colours can be had in the patina too.

[jabussard]

Nice! just out of curiosity, have you tried lightly sanding one, whats the finish like?

[mbaber]

Done a bit of light sanding. The finish is pretty durable but can be sanded off with a bit of determination. Also, the finish feels textured

[Winter]

Thats cool.

[Dave Budd]

how long do you leave them in the water? they look great though

[mbaber]

Cheers fellers.

These 2 were outside for months, rusting away. Basically I let a good layer of rust build up, then scrub off the loose red rust. There should be some rust which stays on the piece, dont remove that.
Then build up another layer of rust, then scrub off the loose stuff.

Keep repeating until you've got a good coat of durable rust and a texture that you like . Then boil in water till the piece turns black or dark brown, then and oil /wax .

Different oils or waxes can give different shades of dark brown or black, dark blue and even purple