Following the iron brush

Mmmmmmm McVitie's chocolate digestive droool

Ha ha ha, I think my "biscuit" is not very digestive, but effectively there is a great similarity!!!

Thank you Mark and Patrick.

Effectively at the first day I see only a copper deposit on the metal.
This is what I do:

I wash on fresh wather and soap the tsuba, after the sand paper (5000).
I place on a bath of NaClO (sodium ipoclorite) to open little bit the surface.
After I wash on wather and make the biscuit

Like you say, I think the acid is make a reaction with the cupric sulfate on the solution???!!!
Now I will continue on the patination to see what arrive.
thank you!

I am starting to think that this patina recipe is best for pieces that do not have so many "hard to reach" areas. Either that or i am still missing a piece of the puzzle.

Over the past 6 days i have developed a good even patina but i still am having trouble cleaning the dried paste from the pierced areas and corners. I have tried dipping in hydrochloric acid, scrubbing with steel wool, and scrubbing with a toothbrush and scouring powder. None of these methods completely removes all of the dried remnants. Today i broke down and decided to scrape these areas carefully with a fine file. This removed the majority of the paste and the rest could probably be removed by a quick dip in acid. The problem there is that when i do this the patina i have built up will also dissolve.

If i have to remove the patina to clean the tsuba, how will i be able to finish this piece?

Here is the tsuba before i scrapped the pierced areas with a fine file.

Here you can see the dried paste i along the inside edges that i am referring to.

This is after i have scrapped off the majority of it.


Any further assistance will be Greatly appreciated. I finally have time to be in the work shop and feel that i should have finished this project months ago.

Firstly, Donovan, let me compliment you on your workmanship . Your piercing and filing up has been carried very nicely indeed. I particularly enjoyed the shaping of the kogai and kozuka hitsu (ryo-hitsu).

If you've not got any loose bits of rust coming off any more, and there's no bare steel showing, you could now proceed to boiling in a strong tea solution for 30 or 40 min. The tannins work to alter the composition of the rust and render it less active.

After that, a little more scrubbing with a toothbrush and soap to get rid of surface dirt. Dry with a gentle flame to drive off any moisture, warm the piece until just too hot to handle with bare hands and then wipe very lightly with a suitable wax. Renaissance wax is probably the best.. As the steel cools wipe of any excess was using clean paper tissue and finally, when cool, buff up with a soft, clean cloth.

regards,
ford

Hi D,
Great Job on your tsuba!

I was having the same problem with the clay base mix, on sukashi.
So, I developed, basicly the saame mix without the clay. It is Ford's formula from the period mix.
It has worked the same or better for me, and saves on those clay cleaning problems.
The final steps are always the same as Ford sensei has posted above.


Post subject: Re: New patinaPosted: Thu May 20, 2010 3:51 pm



Hi gang,
So I don't have to send a bunch of emails. Here is the mix.

3 gms Iron oxide
1 grm copper sulfate
3 gms Saltpetre
3 gms liver of sulpher ( I used the xl-gel from otto Frei)
1 cup distiled water
1/2 cup red plum vinegar (just to see)

I ground everything very small, as I wanted to use a spray bottle for this. Mixed it all together, put it in my sprayer that could handle it, and got ready. DO THIS OUTSIDE! or somewhere well ventilated, or like me, use a full face resperator. Your wife/other will kill you if you do it to close to the house. It's very stinky.
As usual, patina is all about your tsuba being as clean as can be. That, above all else, is the key.
This one I put through a good acitone scrubbing, then did two passes with the heat to red hot, let the acid eat the firescale, then back to a acitone scrub. Then on the the hook for patina spray.


I used a fluffy torch flame to heat to 'hot'. Just a few passes. Then sprayed on the mix. It will smoke some as it dries. Keep out of this steam. poison!
I ended up using a brush to move the big drops around, and even the coverage. It dried pretty fast. I let it sit for a 1/2 hr or so, and did the same steps. I did this about 6 times. I rinsed, and scrubbed it off. A fair patina had already started to form. I shot it one more time, and let it sit overnight.
The next day, I shot it about 5 more times. It looked pretty good, so, I rinsed it off, put it in a black tea bath for 1/2 hr to even up the color. Rinsed, and scrubbed/rubbed until no futher color would come off, put it in the baking soda bath for 15 min, let it sit overnight, dried in the oven, and waxed while warm.
Done.

In all my patina mixes so far, I like this one the best. I feel a lot has to do with the prep. It was quick, and a lot less mess then the clay. Although, I like the clay. I think the heat did the trick to make it a bit faster. The heat works with the clay too.
I plan to try it without the vinegar soon. I want to try it on a few other steel/iron pieces as well. And maybe going a few more days.
Like always, It could have just been luck. The right piece of steel for the mix?
It didn't work quite as well on the piece of iron I used it on. But I feel a dozen more passes may have helped that.

Try it, you may like

Thanks a lot guys. Your positive comments definitely helped ease my apprehension.

I believe i should have waited one or two more days before moving to the tea bath. The patina came out a bit uneven in color. I posted some pics in the "show and listen" forum under my original thread.

Thanks,