Patina advise

[snoopy418]

Hey guys, I want to do a patina on my mech mod, but it's a stainless steel mod. I've seen videos of people doing it but they use copper or brass mods, though they say ss will work too. I just wanna know if it will work like they say it will.

 

[Bunnykiller]

hmmm SS? petty much something that will be difficult ... its called stainless for a reason

there is a heat treating method that will give it a rainbow effect, but getting the patina effect like copper/brass will be at best difficult

 

[snoopy418]

What about a alcohol ink patina?

 

[glycerol]

You can blur/darken it with circuit board etchant aka ferric chloride. It will go black-ish. Other than that, only elecrolysis might help, but i doubt it since SS is not the easiest material to work on.. Depends on its purity, ofc.

 

[FallenRawToast]

It is called stainless for a reason.

"best" you can do is do a heat thing, BUT... you want to practice on some things first, because it can go from a cool color to a crappy color in the blink of an eye, and there is no going back.

watch this video to get some idea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1NS7xDfGY


p.s. technically this is not a patina.

 

[v1k1ng1001]

Buy a cheap brass mech for $15 and throw it in some ammonia/salt.

 

[shortdraw]

Yep, stainless steel doesn't patina but there are dozens of heat treatments, acid etches, and surface treatments that work well with stainless.

 

[snoopy418]

I'll have to see if my vape store have a decent brass mech on hand. I like the look if the ammonia and salt patina. And I haven't seen any here. I don't see them often even on the forum.

 

[Bunnykiller]

be sure to coat the threads with wax/parafin when doing a dip style patina.... you dont want the threads to be "patina ed"

 

[snoopy418]

I was going to Vaseline the threads. I'm only doing the tubes. Maybe the switch, but I doubt it.