Was considering darkening a 686 cylinder and came across this article discussing various methods to darken stainless gun parts.

They start with paint and fire (crazy)!! Not for me.

What caught my attention was the use of vinegar? Never heard of that method and a little concerned with the process.

Anyone have experience with the vinegar process?

How to Darken Stainless Steel: 3 Easy Methods for Beginners

My experience with vinegar and regular steel (cycle gas rank) is highly variable. In my case, it corroded the metal. Others I know have had it remove rust in varying time frames. Never heard of it darkening. Be careful, use something you don’t care if you wreck!

__________________
Uvidíme se později, aligátore.

I might be tempted to try the vinegar method, but it kind of made me wonder about the article when he said to put a rock on your gun to keep it from floating.

Maybe he was thinking about pickles.

I use vinegar to remove rust from car parts and tools..(works great). Very hesitant to use it on SS gun parts.

As I posted a while back, I did pickle a Knife.
Not sure I want to do that with a Revolver!

Attached Images

B4E5A5D9-96B2-431C-8BA2-498D61D9ED15.jpg (21.9 KB, 96 views)

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

It's acidic! It has a pH of 2 to 3.
4-7% Acetic acid. I wouldn't.

Paint and fire sounds safer!

I’ve used molasses, 9 parts water to 1 part molasses. Very gentle, takes like a month to work.

__________________
Uvidíme se později, aligátore.

Too much work for too little accomplishment..........Just go buy yourself a blue gun or cerekote the one you have.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

Forgot to mention...I put some rusty "blued" gun parts in my sonic cleaner with vinegar and it removed the rust and bluing!

(Yes ..bluing is actually a rusting process).

High radiant heat will color stainless. Different temperatures will give you different colors. 550 degrees will give you a nice dark blue.

Attached Images

HCS-Color-Chart.jpg (40.3 KB, 44 views)

What we common refer to as stainless steel, but the alloys may differ considerably in actual content. Chemical reactions are likely to be different with each.

Vinegar is acetic acid, but not all are the same. In my kitchen now are apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, and red wine vinegar. Another kitchen may have other varieties. Each will have a different chemical content.

Many potential combinations of stainless steel alloys and acetic acids, I doubt there is any predicting of results without dozens of comparative experiments.

__________________
Life of the party until 8:00PM

I use vinegar to sharpen files. It removes the rust and some steel from the teeth giving a slightly sharper edge. Results vary widely with the brand of vinegar and the quality of the steel.

On good files I send them off to Boggs Tooll and File Sharpening to get it done right.

Vinegar is a hack for rust removal, I would not use on a good file (any file made in the US or Europe). So I surely would not put a stainless pistol part in it.

__________________
Kind regards, Heinz

It is common to passivate stainless parts to help retard oxidation of the free iron on the surface but after passivation they look the same as when they went into the bath. The parts are put into an acid (I believe hydrofluoric acid) for a given length of time which removes free iron from the surface at a molecular level and possibly gives the nickel and Chromium a protective oxide layer. When I was a Quality Engineer I would catch the workers taking a file or abrasive to a passivated part which would then require re-passivation. They just couldn't seem to understand that they just undid the passivation by exposing fresh material.

__________________
Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA