On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 15:46:23 GMT, "Norm Dresner"
wrote:

"Norm Dresner" wrote in message
...
Both of these are/were chemical solutions for creating a black finish on a
variety of metals, most commonly Brass.

Apparently Blacken-It has a finite shelf-life: A not-that-old bottle of
it is about as powerful as pure water at changing the color of a piece of
cleaned brass but the last few drops of the 30+ year-old bottle of Hobby
Black are still quite active and produce exactly the desired effect.

SO ...

I've found several sources for Blacken-It but a Google search turned up
only a few older references to Hobby Black. Is it really no longer made?
[I'm sure we'd have the CPSC and the EPA to thank for that]?

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

TIA
Norm


Back in January, I was looking for an alternative to Blacken-It and several
people suggested Gun Bluing. I finally managed to find a gun shop that had
some in stock and discovered that at least the brand they carry only works
on ferrous metals (steel) and not on Brass, Copper, Silver, etc.
Unfortunately my main working metals are those so (at least that brand of)
Gun Bluing is useless to me. Any other suggestions?

TIA
Norm

If you had been in a good gun shop..they would have had this on the
shelf

http://www.knifekits.com/store/s-pag...main.htm~smain

Ive used it many times when building black powder firearms

Works pretty good.

Gunner




"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."
- Proverbs 22:3