Easy Brass & Black Finishes for Steel

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One of my supporters on Patreon told me about this brass finishing technique for steel. I'd never seen it before and thought I'd make a video to share it, along with some blackening (blueing) methods. It's a bit different to my usual videos but hopefully you enjoy it.
As always I'm happy to answer any questions.
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[@PaskMakes]

One of my supporters on Patreon told me about this brass finishing technique for steel. I'd never seen it before and thought I'd make a video to share it, along with some blackening (blueing) methods. It's a bit different to my usual videos but hopefully you enjoy it.:)

[@nullsnaggle5198]

Question:you know where to get a cheap ring mandrel?(also I did enjoy😛)

[@jebowlin3879]

I have seen the brass brush/wheel technique before very cool, also I do believe that cold blue will darken over time, I blued the metal part of a scratch awl a few years ago to experiment with the blueing product I had, it looked meh at first but after losing it and finding it again, its much better looking now, cant wait to see the new mallet

[@Nono-hk3is]

Check iut Laura Kampf's latest video for a similar result. She acheived what looks like electroplated copper finish but using onky a wipe-on chemical preparation. I'm unsure about how tough it is, but it looks nice.

[@Sahtzor]

Its worth to mention that bluing result may vary depending on steel type.

[@BKincaid]

For more even results on small parts with the Black/Blue coating and possibly even with the brass you may have better luck heating with a Hot Plate. Either a cheapo one from a yard sale, thrift store or even a still super cheap one from online.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

That's a new one for me! Never seen that brass coating before. Great tip.

[@nullsnaggle5198]

Oh hey 😂

[@PaskMakes]

Gla you liked it! :)

[@malcolmchadwick4047]

I like the brass trick. When I was at school my metal work teacher had a bath of old car engine oil in a heated tub. Once it was hot he dipped tools we had made into it once cooled they were like jet black , black jappaned super cool trick that has never left me. Thank you MR Peel.

[@ericmorriscompany9648]

The brass on steel is mechanical plating. It actually is a bond at the molecular level. It’s also done with zinc on steel and then it’s mechanical galvanize. They add glass beads and a chemical to accelerate and improve the bonding. It’s done is a vibratory bowl. It can produce really thick zinc coatings.

[@DungeonBricks]

Foor whatever reasoon, even if I knoow the chemistry behind it, bluing always looks like magic for me

[@rjamsbury1]

When Clickspring does it the results are magical!

[@briankappel6131]

Your O key might be a bit sensitive 😁

[@allenwilson9656]

@@briankappel6131 yooou think 😂

[@jolllyroger1]

Straight to the point no bs no silly music Just good quality content

[@wiggle_duck9063]

I have seen all these (barring the rustbuster) used before, but it's nice to have them demonstrated clearly, coherently, and with good camera work. Cheers! For those wanting to see them on a larger scale, I encountered them in various videos on michaelcthulu's channel. He also has a trick for removing mill scale which, if I recall, is dunking the steel in vinegar for a day or so then rinsing/scrubbing it off. Works better if the vinegar is warm.

[@wiggle_duck9063]

@Timbo Dewabem depends on the project whether or not the mill scale is desirable. In Mike's case, it isn't - guy makes weird and wonderful giant swords. I can see it being handy for outdoor furniture and fixings, though

[@BrassLock]

I just love these sort of experiments. I especially like steel and timber projects, and to have the option of brass to add to the mix of visual effects is super exciting !

[@MetalFrenzy]

I've never seen that brass brushing technique before. Really nice! Long time huge fan of your work channel. Thanks for such a great video as always!

[@PaskMakes]

Thanks very much - glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@OzGecko]

As always some useful techniques, well presented. The brass brush one was definitely new to me. Not sure that I have a need for it right now but it'll certainly get tucked away in the memory bank :) Thanks Neil.

[@PaskMakes]

Thanks very much Dominic! Glad I'm not the only one who hadn't seen this before! :)

[@teresab.1448]

Thanks for all of your knowledge you share with us - sending love and prayers from eastern North Carolina.

[@thainarv]

Thank you for the technique!!! I was not aware of the brass method, it looks awesome!

[@jamesa7506]

Awesome trick with the brass! Thanks for sharing this.

[@JoeTheGons]

Happy to see you get into more and more metal work. Your vids are top notch and helped me up my woodworking. Thanks Pask.

[@Crewsy]

Very cool tip. Never heard of that Wizardry before but seems very simple in hindsight. Thanks for passing along the tip Neil.

[@Mpafanai46]

What a cool idea, ill try it. Thanks Paul

[@예쓰만]

Wow! That's very useful information. Thank you!

[@choloabenes9002]

It's perfect timing! I'm building a wooden chest, and I needed to black/blue the hardware to go with the old/antique look. thanks mate!

[@VORONM]

Thank you very much for this wonderful lesson! I will soon use one of these methods in my work.

[@dalejones9150]

Thanks for sharing this Neil. Love your work man.

[@kenshores9900]

Very interesting. Always enjoy your how to videos.

[@BruceAUlrich]

Great techniques! I think I like the blueing solution best also. Thanks for sharing!

[@mikeherbst1825]

Pretty nice finish. Gotta try it.

[@Craftlngo]

you can also wipe linseed oil on steel parts and bake them in an oven at 250°C for an hour. This process can get repeated mutiple times to get a thicker coating. The result is an even, black surface which is rustproof and abrasion-proof

[@Kineth1]

Sounds just like seasoning a cast-iron skillet.

[@rjtumble]

Excellent! I hadn't seen those methods before, they look quite easy, especially the brash brush and cold blueing.

[@jerryjohnsonii4181]

Thanks for the knowledge, Pask Makes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MarkMcCluney]

That 'brassing' method is terrific, completely new to me! Thanks Neil, that was very interesting. Cheers mate and stay healthy.

[@jimmytvfclassic]

Nice trick! Didn't knew this one! thanks for sharing it!

[@andrewgalbreath2101]

I had never heard about these techniques before! You are always great with these interesting processes

[@brucewilliams6292]

That was pretty neat. Thank you for sharing!

[@atomicsmith]

Great tip and a great video!

[@gabyroy6973]

Very interesting...thank you for those technique!

[@JimmyKorn39]

These videos are the only thing that can help me sleep at night and I’ve tried almost everything. They just knock me out so quick

[@DaddysWorkshopoftheCarolinas]

Great technique. Thanks for sharing.

[@ofcourseitsme5023]

Thank you as I had not seen this technique and am quite impressed. Well done.

[@ifiwooddesigns]

Wow! Sometimes silly little tips can be so useful and helpful to others. Really enjoyed the brass coating method and plan to use it.

[@jblewis1975]

Great video! I'm going to try those techniques. Thanks for sharing!

[@TheVectorious]

So awesome. I’ve never heard of this. Looks great!

[@frattman]

"Hopefully that was useful to someone" - man, your videos are always useful to everyone. Even if I already knew all of the stuff you share I'd still watch and listen for lessons in patience and ingenuity!

[@zniloserkrf5790]

Another very informative video, one should be open to learning from others, and this video served as an example of what can be accomplished with relatively simple equipment. Thank you.

[@vaxjoaberg9452]

This is wonderfully coincidental. My partner and I were just discussing steel finishing processes yesterday, so to have your latest video be about exactly that is perfect timing! Thanks, Pask!

[@markmossinghoff8185]

Maybe KZbin is watching YOU!

[@vaxjoaberg9452]

Seeing as it's owned by Google I really have no doubt about that.

[@andresilva8444]

Really nice. Brass is such a cool finish.

[@richarddefour5220]

Very interesting tricks, thanks for sharing.

[@crystalnijland140]

Thank you for showing it i will use this technic in the future

[@NivekSnow]

I was realy waiting for this! I have seen you was doing this on your instagram! Thnx for sharing!

[@CodeFoxAus]

That's an awesome tip, thanks!

[@gavinclayton9552]

Great informative video. I’ve used the rust converter method before but not the other two. I’ll be trying both them in the future for sure. Nice work.

[@domward8352]

I'd love to be able to do this, but thank you so much for letting us go on some of these journeys with you.

[@bleargh22]

That's super cool!

[@tube4waldek]

Absolutely worth sharing! Thank you!

[@BluegrassBushcraft]

Great video. Love the brass trick. Got to give this a try. Thanks for sharing and God bless.

[@jackleg693]

Superb video- I’ve added this to my saved videos because I know I’ll refer to this later in life.

[@joell439]

Thanks for the tips and tricks episode. Most importantly, the tip to get out there and experiment and practice on a scrap piece to see what it takes to get the look you want without ruining something you’ve invested quite a bit of time into making. 👍👍😎👍👍

[@n0z1t25]

looks great and im looking forward to the mallet

[@genericuserid7283391]

There's a KZbin crafter that is as skilled with metal as you are with wood that uses these methods, and honestly it has me really excited to see you delve deeper into metalwork and smithing!

[@markhedquist9597]

That's super cool! The brass coating, that is. Will try it!

[@brunoble]

This is great, thanks mate!

[@michaelsilva7085]

Definitely useful information. Thanks for putting that together.

[@CarlosFandango73]

The brass is definitely something I will try, thanks

[@denisdionne6143]

Thanks for sharing, learned lots.

[@gtr4Him]

Nice job! I watch your channel every day waiting for new stuff and new ideas. Well done sir! Best wishes!!

[@RonMack07]

Great tips considering different situations may warrant alternate techniques, I love the brass hack!

[@middleroad00]

I have *never* seen or heard of this method. It's going into my library. 👍

[@MrBee-lf4ym]

I learned a lot with this one Pask, thank you.

[@craigtate5930]

Love the brass trick. Never seen it before

[@benzmansl65amg]

Neat brass plating technique!

[@humblehombre9904]

That is new to me, so thank you brother. Nice tip.

[@domward8352]

I always love your videos

[@francisgomes5279]

Lucky us we got to know a new technique. Thanks man.

[@bradleytuckwell4854]

I didn’t know about the brass technique. So thanks I will be using that. Love your channel it’s never boring. It you do your own editing props to you.

[@zweg1321]

Cool way to get a brass look I have saw the black methods before Thanks for sharing

[@longshot5789]

I have a couple unused brass brushes and some steel scrap laying around, definitely gonna give this a try!

[@steven.abbott]

This is great, I especially liked learning how to blue without the cold bluing agent. Going to try this on a cobblers hammer I refurbished.

[@peirob]

Technique new to also. Amazing 👍🏻

[@lukearts2954]

Thanks so much for this! I'm going to experiment with this more, like trying copper or any other fine wired metal I can get my hands on. This is so simple that I'm almost beating myself up for not thinking of trying this.... As always, great videos! You're probably the most underappreciated channel on KZbin (even when approaching the 1M mark). A true gem in the rough...

[@BrassLock]

That's a good idea about the copper, although electroplating copper onto steel is very effective if you don't get the result you're looking for by using heat.

[@lukearts2954]

@@BrassLock that's right! But I have a larger supply of fire than I have of water... (I don't have running water in my tiny home, but I do have a couple hundred trees providing me with plenty of charcoal for forging and heat treating)

[@BrassLock]

@@lukearts2954 It's interesting to hear about your mix of available resources, and how they can influence your art. Some others in the Comments have expressed interest in experimenting with heat and copper too. Another has explained that the metals adhere to each other at a molecular level under the influence of abrasion and heat, and this has also been used very successfully with zinc, resulting in a galvanised steel process that is quite different from the usual "hot dipping" into a bath of molten zinc. From my High School days, I remember that silver, copper and zinc are usually found in similar geological formations, and that brass is an amalgam of copper and tin, so there's an apparent attraction of some sort among those metals. Good luck with your experiments. No doubt it will be a fun time in your art studio among the trees 😀

[@cent1llion]

Very beautiful !

[@EthylAlcohol-C2H6O]

I've seen the method of coating with brass once somewhere. However, at that time, this method was not talked about, and I could only predict it. So it was great to know what I wanted to know in this video.

[@satriahadjobaru2718]

wow, never heard of it before. beautiful!

[@hassanal-mosawi4235]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@useitwice]

Very cool! I had no idea

[@spencerbass7142]

That is pretty neat.

[@user-ft2md2gd4s]

wow those methods were amazing. i didn’t knew any of them. thanks for sharing! 👏

[@garyfetrow8324]

This is fantastic! Saw you post about this on IG and commented with my SunSpot Forge account. This is exactly the research I was going to do this weekend! You rock man! Keep up the awesome content!!! Also, the WD-40 with the BLUE is awesome! I’ve got a gallon can of it, I’m going to test it with a brush and see where it goes.

[@Dadmadeit]

Great advice. Thanks!!!

[@Nissimus]

Thanks Pask ! You're awesome and coherent as always. I've learned a blackening trick from an old blacksmith - Black Tea ! If you use many (10 or more) tea bags in a medium glass with hot water, the solution will "attack" the steel and darken it. The steel does not need to be heated for this, and it may take some coats and some waiting for the effect to fully appear - try it :)

[@thomasbaker9787]

Thanks for posting

[@Brian-rv2rv]

Useful technique. Cheers from Melbourne.

[@jewdd1989]

Yes very useful and thank you! Recently Laura Kampf took on copper plating with the electric method or the only method known until her and a chemist came up with a recipe to cold plate it. I’d love to see you take on copper plating as copper seems to be one of the most difficult due to its properties! Love the black and brass plating though, what a neat method to use on furniture and even for metal accents in wood, etc.

[@Tensquaremetreworkshop]

Copper plating is very easy. Copper sulphate solution, old copper tube sacrificial anode, car battery charger and away you go.

[@KCreations4You]

Grass wool works really well if your doing it by hand almost looks polished. Great video.

[@ianvicedomini2648]

I'd say the technique worked really well Neil. Both looked cool. Great video mate 👍

[@Mrfreezeee1]

i did something like that in high school Neil,only i cut out a heart out of 1/2 steel plate then coated it with brass welding rods and polished it up

[@cyrild.3205]

Thanx a lot for the share !

[@5055hunter]

I had tried this in the past without success. Didn't realize that the brush needed to be solid brass, not coated. Thanks!

[@imbe.]

This reminds me of something back in the day i was 16 or 17. We had lots of different schools in our city and we had a changeover week amongst them. I was studying IT and did a swap to a school that teaches metal works such as smithing. At last year we were allowed to join two courses. But i remember on one of the years i did a ring as a quick side project as i finished my main one. I had observed a guy doing a ring using a long tapering pole and a forge + hammers. I basically copyed what he did and it in fact turned out in a ring. I was so proud of it so i put it on and went to wash my hands. For some weird reason there was bottle of cold blue solution next to the sink so i washed my hands in it (no much harm done as i washed my hands with tons of water). The ring had turned into black and that blew my mind. The (actual) students saw this, had a laugh and realized that the sink is not the correct place to store a bottle of cold blue. But accidental cold blue to the ring was what happened in the end. (Luckyly my hands are fine 10 years later).

[@patrickfahey7804]

You made a fantastic show of these methods.! Clear video of the pieces of interest. Clear and succinct descriptions of what you're doing over the videos. Good comparison later on at the end. Thanks! There's a plethora of awful how-to videos, and it occasionally makes me want to stop trying to find them on youtube. Your video is one of the types that keeps hope alive for youtube!

[@wolfman75]

That's Cool!!! I have never seen this before!!! Thank You!!!! 😎👍🤘

[@ah.l]

Simple and great

[@guye7763]

Yep new to me, well done .!

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Nice one!

[@houserovik3110]

Interested as always i use the technic on iron even sheep'wool works well thanks