While I'm waiting for the truss rod plate and headstock plate to be engraved, I'm still trying to find a way how to make them look more like the aged pickguard and control board, i.e. to darken them a bit.
The laser will oxidize the metal, which means that - as it is aluminum - it will become even lighter.
Over the weekend, I have therefore run some further tests with some spare pieces of the same sheet aluminum I used for making the plates.
I tested with oven cleaner, drain cleaner, my self-made oxidizing liquid made from vinegar and steel wool, as well as with salt.
The drain cleaner reacted quite visciously and turned the aluminum a very nice dark color with some uneven stains, but it turned out that this layer would wash off immediately once I rinsed the piece - so this didn't really help.
The oven cleaner left some nice stains, but it didn't really turn the aluminum any darker.
The steel wool vinegar mix left some very dark rusty stains, but most of it got wiped off very easily, and it didn't really yield the result I was looking for.
The salt actually left a nice dull surface, with a slightly darker color. I accentuated this further by rubbing in some of the charcoal color wax that I had used for the guitar body earlier.
Whereas it doesn't show well on the picture (it is actually not quite as dark), this is pretty much what I'm looking for.
I will run some further test to get the best result, but I'll probably go for this approach.
For those of you who want to try the same, this is what I did:
- took a deep dish
- put about a tablespoon of salt into the dish, forming a small pile
- placed the piece of sheet metal on top of that pile
- carefully added water to the level that the piece of metal was well covered
- added another tablespoon of salt on top of the metal, so that it would be covered completely with a layer of moist salt
- I let it sit for about ten hours
The laser will oxidize the metal, which means that - as it is aluminum - it will become even lighter.
Over the weekend, I have therefore run some further tests with some spare pieces of the same sheet aluminum I used for making the plates.
I tested with oven cleaner, drain cleaner, my self-made oxidizing liquid made from vinegar and steel wool, as well as with salt.
The drain cleaner reacted quite visciously and turned the aluminum a very nice dark color with some uneven stains, but it turned out that this layer would wash off immediately once I rinsed the piece - so this didn't really help.
The oven cleaner left some nice stains, but it didn't really turn the aluminum any darker.
The steel wool vinegar mix left some very dark rusty stains, but most of it got wiped off very easily, and it didn't really yield the result I was looking for.
The salt actually left a nice dull surface, with a slightly darker color. I accentuated this further by rubbing in some of the charcoal color wax that I had used for the guitar body earlier.
Whereas it doesn't show well on the picture (it is actually not quite as dark), this is pretty much what I'm looking for.
I will run some further test to get the best result, but I'll probably go for this approach.
For those of you who want to try the same, this is what I did:
- took a deep dish
- put about a tablespoon of salt into the dish, forming a small pile
- placed the piece of sheet metal on top of that pile
- carefully added water to the level that the piece of metal was well covered
- added another tablespoon of salt on top of the metal, so that it would be covered completely with a layer of moist salt
- I let it sit for about ten hours
No comments:
Post a Comment