Subject: Re: blacken forged gate???

From: [email-masked] (John & Cynthia/ MidLife Crisis Ent.)
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 07:06:00 +0200

>To All,
>Does "the same color" mean texture? The parts will be the same color after
>Zinc electroplating. The piece must be scale and grease free so the plater
>will probably treat it anyway. You might want to sand blast the piece . That
>will provide a uniform texture to all surfaces. Try a test piece first to see
>how much detail is lost when all of the processes are combined.
>
>Hochewa

The texture at this juncture is not the problem.  The forged work is
naturally rougher than the mill stuff.  What is needed is a way to get the
gate "looking" presentable for a week or 2 for a major event at the winery
(Tim took this job with 6 weeks of work time, 6 months would have been MUCH
better) then it will be properly plated and coated.  Where the "pickets"
were welded in, the metal surface in some areas has been actually polished
in the cleanup.  The majority of the gate frame and pickets are mill
surface.  The forged work is along the top and is fire/jammer rough, very 3
D.  Tim does not waht the thing to rust (we are foggy nearly every night
and AM, so something is needed to "even out the color" and protect the
metal as well as be ok with the plater.  I still thing the phosphoric
treatment will do it, but I told Tim I would put this out to the group.

Thanks for the thoughts.

PS I am going to a week of classes in Santa Barbra, one on life
castings/molding and the other by Ron Young on metal patination.  Hope I
can duck into the mold demo too, but there is a time conflict.  Will report
on this later.

                                John

John Dach and Cynthia Thomas
Maiden Metals
a div. of
MidLife Crisis Enterprises             An element of uncertainty is inherent
PO BX 44                                  in any act of observation.
Philo, CA  95466
707-895-2635(phone/fax)

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From: Bill Roberts <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 17:29:00 -0400

John-
I think your on the right track with the phosphoric treatment. 
Considering it's temporary and there are future steps in mind.
You might want to talk to the guy doing the plating.

I'd be interested in the report on the classes. Ron Young is doing a 
class down here in FL, but it falls on the same weekend as the FABA 
annual conference, darn the luck.

One suggestion, if the gate is to be hot galvinized, request that they 
have a clean tank when they do it. I have seen railing come back with 
more detail than when it left. Not the kind of detail you'd want 
though, it looked like the rail was used as a strainer to skim all the 
floating crap out of the tank. Clean up turns into a nightmare, but 
that's another story.

Happy Hammering-
 Bill Roberts
Custom Design Metal Arts
3740 NE 40th Pl. Ste. C
Ocala, FL. 34479
[email-masked]
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/edu/arts/metal/incoming/portflio/broberts