Stanley Covington
08-23-2010, 10:01 PM
Last night I finished working up a set of chisels I purchased here in Tokyo for my son. The kanmuri and kuchigane were originally bright steel with clear lacquer. Very unattractive. I refinished them with a very traditional but little-known treatment using silk that you may find interesting. This is not a smooth, uniform finish like hot blue or rust-blue or paint, but is much more interesting and attractive in my experience for this particular application. It is also easily accomplished. Warning: if you aren't careful, you can burn your fingeys, or even worse, if you do it in her kitchen and the range hood is not very powerful the odor may drive your wife temporarily insane possibly forcing her to use your money to buy an all-expenses paid vacation in Hawaii for some lucky attorney (may they burn in hell forever amen...).;)
1. Remove the kuchigane and kanmuri.
2. Heat them on a gas stove until just past the point where the metal turns blue. A camp stove outside is safest due to the smell. A propane torch will also work.
3. Holding the metal with pliers (I like needlenose), scrub the metal with a steel or stainless steel brush to remove oxidized particles of paint or oil.
4. Reheat. How hot? Idunno. If it isn't hot enough, the silk will not melt/scorch/stick properly. Too hot and the silk will bubble and crater. Somewhere past blue, the metal will turn greyish. That seems to be a good point.
5. Wad the silk into your off hand thick enough to protect it from the heat. Be careful.:eek:
6. Wrap/rotate/wipe the hot metal in the silk. The silk will smoke and scorch. If it doesn't, you don't have it hot enough. Remove the metal before it cools enough for the silk to build up too thick a layer or globs will adhere to it.
7. Quench the metal in water.
8. You can leave the metal as it is, or use a SOFT, FINE bristle steel or stainless steel brush to remove loose particles. A bit more polishing will burnish it. Too much and you will cut through to bare metal. If that happens, simply reheat and reapply.
9. Apply oil to the dry metal to prevent rust. The silk carbon will retain oil without softening, and is a very effective rust-preventative.
Warning: don't use this treatment on heat-treated metal unless you want it to go soft.
I love this finish. Some won't. Give it a try.:D
Stan
1. Remove the kuchigane and kanmuri.
2. Heat them on a gas stove until just past the point where the metal turns blue. A camp stove outside is safest due to the smell. A propane torch will also work.
3. Holding the metal with pliers (I like needlenose), scrub the metal with a steel or stainless steel brush to remove oxidized particles of paint or oil.
4. Reheat. How hot? Idunno. If it isn't hot enough, the silk will not melt/scorch/stick properly. Too hot and the silk will bubble and crater. Somewhere past blue, the metal will turn greyish. That seems to be a good point.
5. Wad the silk into your off hand thick enough to protect it from the heat. Be careful.:eek:
6. Wrap/rotate/wipe the hot metal in the silk. The silk will smoke and scorch. If it doesn't, you don't have it hot enough. Remove the metal before it cools enough for the silk to build up too thick a layer or globs will adhere to it.
7. Quench the metal in water.
8. You can leave the metal as it is, or use a SOFT, FINE bristle steel or stainless steel brush to remove loose particles. A bit more polishing will burnish it. Too much and you will cut through to bare metal. If that happens, simply reheat and reapply.
9. Apply oil to the dry metal to prevent rust. The silk carbon will retain oil without softening, and is a very effective rust-preventative.
Warning: don't use this treatment on heat-treated metal unless you want it to go soft.
I love this finish. Some won't. Give it a try.:D
Stan