Restoring Black Widow tank

Jason_WI wrote:I have a few black widow tanks that have some pretty bad scratches. I was looking for a way to restore them without painting them or investing in an anodizing setup.

I was in the sporting goods store and in the gun refinishing section there is a product from Birchwood Casey called Aluminum Black. It was $10 for a small 3 oz bottle and I figured what the heck I will give this a try.

The part needs to be cleaned with denatured alcohol and then rinsed with water. It states to brighten with fine steel wool to remove oxides but I skipped this step.

It is applied with a swap and then let sit for one minute. Then rinse in water and wipe dry. I believe this is some sort of etching acid and there was a sulfur smell when it was applied to the aluminum.

The results were not what I had hoped for but it did help hide the ugly tank scratches from a distance.

Here is a before pic.



Here is the after pic.



The black is more of a dark grey. It states that certain alloys will have different results. Not sure if any of you have tried to restore scratched tanks. I have seen the sharpie fix on a couple that I have bought in the past and that will wipe off with fresh fuel.

SuperDave wrote:Phil:

What's your point?

andrew wrote:Jason -

I have not had good luck with applying cold bluing (steel) or cold black (aluminum) over a large surface. The coloration is not uniform and consequently makes the surface appear streaked. Admittedly, it could likely be my technique and not the fault of the product. Secondly, it is not nearly as durable as hot bluing or anodizing and will rub off over time.

For touchups, it is OK, at least to remove the white metal color --- the trick is to have the surface absolutely clean. I tend to rely more on acetone since it is not hydroscopic like the alcohols.

Maybe Kim will chime in since he has a lot of firearms experience and may have a better approach for cold touchups.