Surface texture on steel

[Mark Gibney]

I'm having a table base welded up from 1x2 steel tubing and pre-made tapered steel legs.

The legs have a surface texture, and of course the tubing is smooth.

I need them to have the same surface texture. Do anyone know how to do that? - sandblasting?

Ideally I would like the whole piece to have a texture (sorry if this is not the correct term), the more pronounced the better.

thank you, Mark

[Bruce Page]

Mark, it’s hard to visualize matching textures without a reference picture to go by. Unless you are a blacksmith texturing metal can be challenging. You might look into some kind of textured paint to spray the base with.

[michael langman]

Sandblasting everything would produce the same texture.
You could try taking a wire wheel on a hand held grinder to the legs, or a flap wheel to smooth and polish them to match the top.

[Scott T Smith]

You can also see if there is a local machine shop that can shot peen them for you. It is similar to sand blasting except that it uses hardened steel shot, and leaves a more consistent and nicer texture on the surface than sandblasting.

[William M Johnson]

Another option would be to "rust finish" them. Spray everything with muriatic acid and allow to sit overnight. Repeat until you get a uniform rust over everything. This will take several applications. Then take a wire wheel on a grinder and blend it all together. When you get a look you like, spray with a clear finish.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks everyone, good ideas. Think I'll first look into that shot peen idea.

[Wayne Lomman]

If you are using light weight tubing, shot peening can be too aggressive. It generates heat in the object being blasted and the machines don't necessarily blast a complex object evenly. If you go down this road, get them to blast for short times and turn the object frequently and keep it cool. I have seen guys turn perfectly good jobs into mangled wrecks through over peening. Cheers