Help!!! Brass caravela by hcigar will not patina!

[chrisbourg]

I have a hcigar brass caravela mod and I am trying to force patina the tube using ammonia and salt. I watched the YouTube video by find my vapes and followed his direction to the T. I watched the tube and sprayed it about every hour or 2 last night before going to bed. I let the tube sit overnight and checked it in the morning to find no patina. He had results after 2 hrs and I had no results after 14 hrs. maybe I am not using the right ammonia? I'm using LA's totally awesome ammonia cleaner from dollar tree. There's no ingredients list so maybe the ammonia content is super low, I'm not sure. Please help.

If anybody has an hcigar brass caravela kit with stainless accents and have a forced patina on it, then tell me your method. I'm willing to re-sand, clean my tube and start from scratch. Anything helps.

 

[State O' Flux]

Welcome to EFC, Chris... does the tube have a paint clear-coat on it? If it does, you'll need to strip that first.

 

[cinetrope]

Welcome to EFC, Chris... does the tube have a paint clear-coat on it? If it does, you'll need to strip that first.

There are also two types of brass used for mods, naval which is easy to patina, and phantom which is alloyed with aluminum to resist tarnishing.

 

[chrisbourg]

Yes, last night I sanded it down pretty good. This morning when I found no results I washed off the tube, put a cork in it and stuck it on a drill. I sanded it down a second time, enough that I had a hard time finding the cheap chinese engraving on the tube. I washed it off with soap and water, let it dry and started the process over. It's been about 3 hrs now and no results yet.

 

[Retro138]

Go to an art store not a craft store like Ac Moore or Michaels, and you'll find an array of different patina fluids that will produce Statue of Liberty to mid evil looking brass. I'll try to find a link.

Here you go:

Patina Finishes - BLICK art materials

i have a BFA and have a ton of patina and sign painting experience. This will do the job.

 

[stevegmu]

Maybe it is not really brass... Does a magnet stick to it?

 

[chrisbourg]

A switch magnet does not stick to the switch or the tube. Maybe it's phantom brass or something? It's definately not plated.

 

[Retro138]

Chris,

That gauge brass would cost a fortune. I'm wondering if it's stainless with Brass. Both are non magnetic. 100% brass will patina from the oils in your skin for gods sake. I really wish these vendors would be straight up with us. Your original formula from your first post would have made any metal patina. I just did it with a brass lamp I have here at home.

I'm looking on the intraweb to try and find out the truth about this material.

 

[stevegmu]

Chris,

That gauge brass would cost a fortune. I'm wondering if it's stainless with Brass. Both are non magnetic. 100% brass will patina from the oils in your skin for gods sake. I really wish these vendors would be straight up with us. Your original formula from your first post would have made any metal patina. I just did it with a brass lamp I have here at home.

I'm looking on the intraweb to try and find out the truth about this material.

The vendors don't know; the people who make them in the small shed shops probably don't, either...

 

[chrisbourg]

I think it could be a brass alloy or something. Ive seen others patina a brass caravela by hcigar, so if it is brass, maybe I'm not doing something right? This is my first time doing it snd also my first mod. If someone may be able to pick out what I did wrong I can list what I did step by step.

 

[Retro138]

I think it could be a brass alloy or something. Ive seen others patina a brass caravela by hcigar, so if it is brass, maybe I'm not doing something right? This is my first time doing it snd also my first mod. If someone may be able to pick out what I did wrong I can list what I did step by step.

I've seen a lot of patina caused by the natural oils on your hands and use of the device. Almost every YouTube review I've seen on Hcigar caravela they mention a natural patina. If it does have any stainless in it, a little bit of gun metal oil will give a little bit black/brown patina. You don't need much and very inexpensive.

 

[chrisbourg]

Yes it did have a little natural patina from my hand on it. It's only about 3 weeks old. But what I'm looking for is the blue and greenish patina from ammonia. I think it looks awesome and I want to learn how to do it properly for future mods. I'm trying to patina my 18350 battery tube before I try the 18650 tube (the one I use)

 

[Retro138]

http://youtu.be/uxZprSwtcho

 

[chrisbourg]

That's the video that I watched to learn the patina process. I followed his direction and have no results.

 

[chrisbourg]

Did this thread die?

 

[Retro138]

Chris did you ever sort this out?