Brass darkening Agents

[avbill]

Good Afternoon,

i went to a local hardware store to buy some brass darkening agent solution. Sanded by tubes. Placed the tubes into the solution. The brass solution darkened the tubes. Left the tubes in the solution for 30 minutes. Took the tubes out of the solution and dry them. The darken surface rubbed off from the tube leaving it still shiney brass.

Am I missing a step. Any help would be helpful!

Bill Daniels

 

[Woodlvr]

PM Mike of MLKwoodworking and he will be able to help you for sure. I have not tried to use mine as of yet so I want to learn what you find out.

 

[Texatdurango]

Using the solution that Mike, mentioned above, sells here will rub off after letting it sit in the solution for a few minutes but still is plenty dark enough to work. Letting it sit for ten or minutes and you are assured a solid black color with no brass showing through. I found that it helped to lightly sand the tubes with 400 grit or finer paper instead of just darkening the shiny tubes.

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Hey folks when you age your tubes let them aid dry before you wipe them down. That should solve any problems you have.

Mike

 

[Rifleman1776]

Some quick Googling brought up the following, which (supposedly) darken brass:
Liver of Sulpher (seems like the most popular)[I know it works on silver]
Ammonia
Hydrogen Peroxide (this would be easy and inexpensive if it works)
Sodium Thiosulphate
Iodine
Potassium Iodide

I'll add from personal experience: wiping with the dirty cloth patches that are used for cleaning a muzzle loading rifle barrel when shooting real black powder.

 

[BigShed]

My preferred method for blackening brass tubes is Black Patina

http://www.delphiglass.com/index.cfm?page=itemView&itemSysid=126782

http://www.inlandcraft.com/msds/msds60027.htm

I came across this because my wife is a leadlight worker using the copper foil method and uses this lack Patina to blacken the solder. It is based on Selenium salts. I just dip the tubes in to this solution for about a minutes, rinse and let dry. It gives a beautiful hard matt black finish which takes glue, either CA or my preferred epoxy, very well.

 

[Rifleman1776]

As a test, I made a thin paste of black powder and put a pen tube in it for a couple hours. Nothing happened. I didn't expect any reaction. Unburned black powder is a chemical mixture and is pretty inert. It can stay in a gun for centuries without any reaction to the metal. Burned residue is something else entirely, very corrosive.

 

[avbill]

thank you every one for your replies! bill Daniels

 

[JohnU]

I know this post is a little late, but years back I used some liquid drano to try and clean out a brass pipe and it turned the brass dark. Not sure if it will work on these tubes but might be worth a try.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Below is from a discussion forum I belong to for traditional style muzzle loading firearms.

"What color do ya want Al? ) Liver of Sulfur will turn it black, Barium suphide will turn it bluish black, copper nitrate will turn it green, lead acetate- blue etc etc. There are a bunch of different formulas. Easiest is just pick up a bottle of Birchwood Casey "brass black" & polish it back out to the darkness you want. More than you wanted to know )."