"Graying" a helm?

[Otto]

Someone asked me about making a helm in the gunmetal gray area... instead of going all the way to black.

How would one go about doing that?

[accdntprone]

Heat and a little wd 40 seems to work

[Marco-borromei]

wd40 and a bench mounted wire wheel... and face protection, an apron, bag over your hair, etc. Its messy, but working an wd40 wet surface hard into a powered wire wheel has given a nice slightly dark finish for me.

[losthelm]

A local auto body shop may have a media blaster and some walnut or soda that will help.
Wd40 and steel wool or a scotch bright pad seams to work well.
A wire wheel can work but be careful not to catch the corners and thrown the piece across the shop or pull you into the equipment.

There are a varity of oils that can be used to create different finishes with heat and fire.
Test samples or small projects work well as test panels.

[Ernst]

Parkerize it.

[Vladimir]

Heat and WD40 has always given me a brown black. But then, it may depend on how much heat.

[accdntprone]

Yeah, more heat is the key. Eventually the brownish color will burn off leaving a kind of dull gray. First time I did it was by accident. I was blackening a helm and left it on the fire to long.