Blacken-it is not as effective as ANY of the others commonly
available; I'm not sure if it's a shelf life or a chemistry
problem.

There are two types of Selenium compounds, one is an acid the other
a salt, I forget which. One could look up MSDS on all product names.

For brass, I prefer gun blueing, just the standard hardware store
variety. On brass, it quickly forms a nasty black, non-adherent smut.
Keep rubbing, without quite so much on the rag.

Large areas (like clock dials) - not so much good luck at all.
One could also Silver plate, then capture some Sulfur-bearing
gases from a macrobiotic source, which might quickly darken it.

/mark


Norm Dresner wrote:

Froggy @ thepond..com wrote in message
...

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:36:30 GMT, "Norm Dresner" wrote:


Are there any substitutes for Hobby Black that are more effective and
longer
lasting than Blacken-It?

TIA
Norm


Yes. All of these brass blackening products have a common ingredient:
selenium
dioxide.
Go to a gun shop and get some Birchwood Casey gun bluing, or any other
brand for that
matter. You may be able to get it at any good sporting goods shop
that have
firearms, or even a discount store such as K-Mart. Check local
hardware stores too.
you'll fid it somewhere. Gun bluing. That's what you want
Another source is flea markets that specialize in antiques and such.
There are a
number of brass blackeners sold under various names in those places as
well. Again,
the thing is the selenium dioxide, doesn't matter what brand it is.
Selenium dioxide is poisonous, so handle it carefully. The "shelf
life" is a function
of the amount of SeO2 in solution and the number of times you use the
product. I
never return the used portion to the bottle and only use what I need
to blacken a
piece. Never immerse the piece in the solution in the bottle, the
solution will
weaken quickly if you do.

Froggy,


The bottle of Blacken-It I just tossed is less than 5 years old and was
just about half-full. I'd most recently used it about a year ago,
pouring an ounce or two into a tray to treat some parts and tossed that
solution when I was finished with it. The stuff in the bottle is still
a nice blue-green color but it's got no activity.

I'll check out a gun shop over the weekend.

Thanks for the info

Norm