Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Dutch tool chest build 1, ageing hardware using an onion

I regularly participate in a panel for market research by answering a questionnaire online.
Often one of the questions is something like this:
Do you try new things or discover new trends sooner than your friends?
To which I always answer: "absolutely not"
This hasn't got a lot to do with woodworking, but it will mean that I can safely start building a Dutch tool chest now. A lot of the blogs that I read have already featured a DTC build, so I can in no way claim that I am a vanguard in this type of build which just suits me fine.

One of my favourite daydreams is to teach a small DTC class at home, it will probably be the boys who will have to attend it, but nevertheless I need to build one of those chests first to get the feel of it. It might also be that there is a little more interest in a build where you can see and touch an example of the end product.

There isn't a lot of hardware needed for a DTC. Technically you could get away with a couple of hinges and that is it.
Other pieces regularly involve a set of lifts and a hasp for a padlock.
I have a lot of chest lifts at home, and I was too cheap to purchase some locally here in Norway. So for this build I have settled for a set of strap hinges and a small hasp. Depending on the time frame and my mood, I might try to make a set of lifts myself, steel or perhaps some beckets.

The hinges and the hasp were zinc plated with a thin layer (electroplated). I decided that they looked a bit too shiny for my taste, and I decided to give them a bit of artificial age.

First the zinc was removed by immersing the pieces in a mixture of water and sulphuric acid.
Chemistry did its thing and in a short time the pieces were down to the bare metal.

My next plan was to give the  pieces a brown colour. So I experimented by using chlorine on the hardware. A thin layer of rust appeared almost instantly. The problem was that every time I removed the pieces and rinsed them the rust disappeared too. I guess I should have been a bit more patient, but after a couple of hours I grew tired of that experiment and decided to think of another interesting way of adding age to the hardware.

I have used a propane torch earlier, with very fine results, but I wanted to see if there was a way that someone who didn't have access to such a tool could also do a satisfying job of adding a bit of age to some hardware.
During my time as an engineer on a high speed ferry, I did a lot of cooking during the winter months when the ship was laid up. A colleague of mine once wanted to show me how soup was coloured traditionally, namely by burning an onion either directly on the hot plate or in the pot that you would later use for the soup. The result was impressive, the stainless steel pot turned as black as coal, and the fire alarm went off. I think we ditched the soup, but the experiment had been fun.

On this ship we have an excellent extraction fan for the galley, so I turned it to maximum and placed the hardware directly on the stove.
After some time it started turning blue, and I then rubbed the surface with an onion. The steel immediately turned darker. About three sessions of rubbing gave me the colour that I was looking for. After the hardware had cooled down I rinsed it with some water to remove a few fine particles of burnt onion.
To avoid the pieces sliding around during the rubbing, I used a regular fork to hold them and also to turn and remove them from the heat when I was done.

It looks as there s a bit of blotching for a lack of a better word, but that is due to my first experiment with the chlorine, which left some parts of the metal very lightly pitted after the rust attacks. I guess that after giving the hardware a light coat of oil it will be much less visible.

Onion coloured hardware.

After the first dip in the chlorine solution.

hardware in a chlorine solution.

Heating on the stove.

Blue colour means it is getting pretty warm.

First onion rubbing.


28 comments:

  1. Haha! I'm glad the fire alarm didn't go off this time. But that is an intriguing trick. Who would have thought of an onion?

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    Replies
    1. I can only say that it is easier than staining wood using another mammal and the byproducts from it..
      And it is also cheaper too.
      Cheers
      Jonas

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    2. Well, if you are not using horse paint, what kind of paint will you come up with?

      Delete
    3. I read that someone made a yellow milk paint using food colouring.
      That might be something to try :-D

      Delete
    4. Du kan lave mælkemaling (limfarve) af kærnemælk og hjortetaksalt. Kærnemælken skal være uhomogeniseret - det betyder som regel at det er den økologiske du skal have fat på.

      25 gram hjortetakssalt pr liter kærnemælk.

      Rør ingridienserne sammen og lad det stå og skumme et par timer ved stuetemperatur.

      Farvestoffet i frugtfarve er nok ikke så lysægte, så du skal ikke regne med at farven holder særligt længe.

      Men hvis det er vigtigt at det ikke koster noget, så kan du jo knuse noget moler og bruge det som pigment. Så får du også et lokalt præg :-)

      Delete
    5. Hej Mikkel.
      Jeg har en gang tidligere forsøgt at lave mælkemaling. Det var ud fra en opskrift hvor der skulle bruges kalk some tilsætning. Det blev en katastrofe..
      Jeg synes din opskift lyder noget nemmere.
      Brian Eve lavede mælkemaling til hans DTC, og brugte gul madfarve til det. Måske er det bare gurkemeje, men jeg tror nok at man kan købe madsminke i Spanien. De bruger det vist i stor stil til deres Paella.

      Det var en fin idé med noget knust moler som tilsætning.
      Men jeg tror måske jeg bruger noget oliemaling denne her gang. Det kommer lidt an på dagsformen når værktøjskassen engang bliver færdig.

      God Påske
      Mvh
      Jonas

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    6. Prøv at kigge på denne her pdf: http://www.bygningsbevaring.dk/uploads/files/anvisninger/14-ANVISN_Kaseinfarve.pdf

      Der står en masse godt om limfarve. Det kan måske hjælpe dig når du får mod på at prøve igen 😊

      Delete
    7. Hej Mikkel

      Tak for linket.
      Det virker meget mere overskueligt end de tidligere anvisninger jeg er stødt på.

      Mit problem første gang jeg eksperimenterede var, at jeg benyttede en engelsk/amerikansk opskrift, og de benyttede "milk" og "lime". Mælken er ikke noget problem, men der er godt nok mange muligheder for kalk, når det ikke er bedre beskrevet. Jeg valgte tilsyneladende den forkerte type kalk dengang. Jeg kan ikke lige huske om det var jura kalk, men det tror jeg nok. Ihvertfald fungerede det overhovedet ikke som beskrevet.
      Mvh
      Jonas

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks. The only real danger is to burn your fingers while doing it.
      Thanks for commenting
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  3. I laugh and learn every time you have a project.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jeff.
      Glad to be able to publish something novel once in a while :-)
      A good thing is that the chemistry involved in this experiment is not dangerous. You can actually eat it.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  4. Hi Jonas,
    that's a great trick. Now I have to wait for the moment when the chairwoman will be out and I can take over the kitchen for a while. :-)

    Cheers,
    Stefan

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stefan.
      Technically it isn't much different from accidentally overheating a pan and burning the onions on that.
      But it might still be a good idea to do it while the chairwoman is not around :-)

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  5. Hey Jonas,

    the traditional Japanese bluing uses vegetable and animal by-products.

    You clean/degrease the metal using grated radish (daikon), then you warm it up and let it rust in urine. Once there's a good coat of rust, you boil it in strong green tea. The rust will turn a nice black in the tea.

    Regards,
    Michael

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    Replies
    1. Hi Michael.
      This sounds like an experiment that is worth testing.
      My onion method could be difficult to do on a handle or some other hardware that is not flat.
      A good thing is that it is fast.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  6. Jonas,

    I do the onion "thing" for my bone stock all the time. It adds to the flavor and color of the stock. I would have never thought to use it on hardware :-).

    ken

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ken.
      Stock. That was the word I should have used instead of soup..
      I think that we might overheated the pot back when we tried it the first time. Cause we were never able to get the black spot removed again.
      I don't know what the chemistry of the onion is/does, but I guess it is some sulphuric reaction.
      Bone stock has got the advantage that there is a bone or two that you can feed to Maggie and Sam when you are done cooking.
      Bertha loves it when there is something like that for her.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  7. In a hundred years I don't think I would have considered using an onion!
    Birchwood Casey Super Blue works well, though I've never used it for woodworking hardware. I'm
    not sure if you have access to it in Europe, but it comes from a line of products for gun maintenance. I use the Tru-oil to finish all of my tool handles and it does a nice job. (I tried to add a link but it would not allow me)

    But I will have to give your onion a try, if for no other reason than to make my wife question my own sanity :)

    Bill

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    Replies
    1. Hi Bill
      A great thing is that onions are pretty easy to come by, and you can just cut off the dark coloured part and use the rest for cooking when you are done.

      I have never used gun bluing chemicals, so I don't know if you can get them over here. But I suppose you can.
      I have blued stuff simply by heating, like in the fifth picture. That works well, but it can be difficult to get a uniform colour of the entire piece if it is a large and complex piece like a handle.

      Good luck in testing the onion trick :-)

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  8. Hi Jonas,

    I'm a shipwright (Hull Tech) in the Canadian Navy. Love your blog! It's great to find other people who manage to woodwork in ship environment, making it work. Not many people know the joy of planing on a welding bench in heavy seas!!

    Cheers mate,

    James

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi James

      Thanks for dropping by. I almost feel like I am cheating at the moment since our ship is laid up. Planing is a lot easier when you are in port compared to being out at sea.

      I think that you are the first seaman that has commented on my blog. So I guess that we are not that many people doing seagoing woodworking.

      Best Regards
      Jonas

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  9. My guess, putting my chemistry degree to use, is that heating the onion helps increase the sulfur volatile compounds in the onion. Rubbing the onion onto the steel is likely making some iron sulfide compounds on the metal surface. Clever trick.

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    Replies
    1. Hi
      Thanks for commenting.
      I believe you on that explanation. I was a bit uncertain at first if the black was just carbon deposits on the surface that could be washed off, but it doesn't seem that way.
      A great thing about this type of experimenting is that it changes colour instantaneously. That is a huge plus in my book since I haven't always got a lot of patience.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  10. Great experiment and I may replicate on hardware for the DTC that's started, but stalled. I'm wondering if mincing the onion might provide a way to reduce splotching.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jeremy.
      Thanks, I hope you do replicate it.
      I don't know if mincing the onion would help, I guess there is only one way to find out.
      I am pretty sure that my mistake was to try to rust the pieces first.
      Looking closely I can see that it is the surface of the iron that has got the small differences. The colouring is even all the way.
      Maybe mincing would make it possible to colour complex shapes such as handles, You could heat them in an oven to say 150 dgC (just my guess), and then dip them into the minced onion. pull out the piece of hardware again and see if the colour has changed.

      I have started planing the stock for the DTC. That is actually a lot like work..

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  11. Too much trouble. I just soak the thinly plated hinges in a small plastic tub filled with regular household vinegar. The acetic acid (in vinegar) is much safer, too. Next day, there is a uniform, grey color and they don't rust.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi
      I agree that sulphuric acid is more dangerous than household vinegar, but it sure is fast.
      My hardware was stripped to the bare metal, but I didn't take any pictures of them as soon as I had them out of the acid pickle. I know that the hardware will rust fairly easily after being stripped to bare iron, but getting a black layer on them helps a lot to this.
      Plus I like the look of the darkened hardware.
      Thanks for commenting.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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