The Armour Archive

I recently got a zweihammer helm kit and was told it needed an acid bath before blueing. My question is what kind of acid and where to get it?

Holy

Who told you that?

The metal needs to be cleaned, but etching the surface will dull or even pit the metal. You will NOT get a cool shiny "black" finish. Unless you are going for the Wolfwood "weathered" look.

What did zwei hammer say?

Thomas

It needs to be clean as hell.... and not have a speck of grease or oil on it.

I've had pretty good luck recently using brake cleaner. Toxic, dangerous, and bad for you. Kills wasps dead (faster and better than wasp killer). But it cleans the metal good for blue prep.

Handle the piece wearing rubber gloves after that. A finger print is enough to mess up the blue. Also... you should be wearing gloves anyway, because the chem blue is toxic in it's own right.

If you are using the Caldwell blackening solution and only the Caldwell product for stainless you need to wash the parts in diluted muriatic acid. The oxidation on the stainless will prevent an even finish. I don't know about other products.

A lot of the comercial products will have instrucitons.

Usualy cleaning with a good grease cutting solvent like denatured alcohol, turpintine, or acatone works.


It's advisable to do the same cleaning before paint.
Usualy a scuffed finsih or wire brush for primer coat but removing all greese and shop grime helps significatly with how the top coat preforms.

losthelm wrote:
It's advisable to do the same cleaning before paint.
Usualy a scuffed finsih or wire brush for primer coat but removing all greese and shop grime helps significatly with how the top coat preforms.

I use windex, or other alcohol based cleaner.

Usually etching is recommended for painting, not bluing (I'm not familiar with Caldwell blackening solution). For bluing you want it clean like the others said, you also want it to be at the level of shininess that you want the finished product to be. If you want it to be a bit duller without a satin scratch finish you can etch it, plain old white vinegar will work fine for mild.

If you got the mild steal helm(s), they have a residue on them from the cutting process. You can attempt to remove it by hand, but you will have to put a lot of elbow grease in it. I am not sure what to use to get the residue off - I left it as is since I was making it for my kid and it kinda gives it an aged look. I would talk to Zweihammer on what to use.