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Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Blackening a steel drawer pull

I would like to make my own drawer hardware, and want to change a steel ring into a drawer pull, but I want it to be black. Does anyone know a chemical method for blackening steel? Thanks!

Gerard Nordick
consumer - VANCOUVER, Washington, USA
2003

Well, black paint is the easy way :-)

Black nickel, black chrome, or black zinc are some hard ways which you would have to contract to a plating shop. Black oxidizing is an extremely dangerous operation to try to conduct at home because of the possibility of the 290 °F solution "erupting", so I'd dismiss that. There are "cold blackening" solutions based on selenium compounds, but the results can be smutty and ill suited to a clothes drawer if you got hold of them. Conclusion: send them to a plating shop.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

Black for iron and steel(not for stainless!):
20 gm tannic acid ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links]
18 gm phosphoric acid
1 lit water
Cold imMersion! Must be lacquered or waxed!Good luck!

Goran Budija
- Zagreb,Croatia
2003

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