Period blackening of plate: a test

RalphS · Post by **RalphS** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 9:25 am

Many years ago I read somewhere that plate armour was burnt black using feathers or horn. Also many years ago, I gave it a quick try with a piece of horn without spending much time on it, and it didn't work very well.

Last night, when I was plucking a couple of ducks our neighbour had shot and given to us, I decided to give the feather thingie a try.

I heated a scrap piece of plate with a propane torch from below, and brushed it with a bunch of feathers untill something started to happen. This was somewhere past the blue oxidation colours, a bit into the gray. The feathers kind of melted and rubbed off on the steel, turning black at the same time.

It was not easy to get a nice even black with the feathers, and would take a lot of feathers for a bigger area, so I decided to give it a try again with a horn.

The horn worked great! I used the tip of a cowhorn, but am sure any other piece would work as well. Once the temperature gets close to the right one, the horn will stick to the steel like an eraser does. A little hotter, it will behave a bit like the fatty crayons I used to play with as a kid. Too hot, and the horn will melt and bubble and give an uneven finish.

With just a tiny bit of practice, it's not too hard to get a nice even finish. I thought it was a bit too gray on the test piece I tried, so covered it with a bit of linseed oil when cool, which turned the somewhat dull grayish black into a nice half glossy black.

This little test definitely asks for a follow-up on some real armour. Up to now I've only used linseed oil blackening (and blueing, but that's something else), which is difficult to get nice and even on larger pieces. I'll give the horn blackening a try on the next appropriate project!

Just thought I wanted to share.

Steve S. · Post by **Steve S.** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:58 pm

Sounds very cool indeed. Bet it smelled like utter ass!

Steve

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Forth Armoury
Highly authentic, affordable riveted maille.

sedric · Post by **sedric** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 7:23 pm

How's the rust resistance?
I oil blackened a helm only to have it start rusting in tiny patches, now I'm torn between polishing it all off and starting over or trying to spot clean and re-blueing each spot and trying to blend colors back together again.

RalphS · Post by **RalphS** » Tue Oct 01, 2002 4:41 am

How's the rust resistance?

I haven't tried rusting it yet

In general I've had pretty good results with anything containing linseed oil. It bonds pretty well with the steel, especially if oxydised (heated to a dull red before burning in the oil). Linseed oil turns gummy rather quickly, and eventually oxidises and polymerises to a plastic-like consistency. But it doesn't have any intrinsic rust-inhibiting properties.

Steve, the smell of the feathers was actually not too bad, it reminded of grilled chicken

The horn wasn't that good though...

Krag · Post by **Krag** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 3:28 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Steve -SoFC-:
Sounds very cool indeed. Bet it smelled like utter ass!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Would the udders smell like udder ass?

I'll have to try the horn thing. I've been using carbon dust with linseed oil

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Krag von Berghen
KragAxe Armoury

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