On Sun, 22 May 2005 06:22:53 -0400, JGS
wrote:

A client wants us to supply a black metal foot rail for a bar we
recently installed. Is there a method of darkening steel or iron or ...
. tubing? Painting is one answer but she prefers a "maintenance free"
finish. However, as the bar is in a home most people will be in their
stocking feet so maybe some type of paint or other coating may work.
Any ideas? Thanks, JG


Black oxide or powder coat are both pretty tough. Neither of them are
really do-it-yourself projects (Black oxide requires vats of toxic
chemicals with a heat source under a couple of them, and powder
coating requires a gun that will ionize the powder, and an oven that
is big enough to fit the piece in) If you look around a bit, there
are usually at least one or two shops devoted to this kind of work in
any given town, and I can't imagine it's too awfully expensive for one
piece. Black oxide looks the best, IMO.

If you decide to go the paint route, we use tractor enamel to repaint
steelworking machinery in the shop, and that holds up really well
also- and you can touch it up if it gets damaged. With powder coat,
you'd have to sandblast the entire thing to refinish it properly.