Aluminum Black questions

So I've decided to use aluminum black for some weathering and "blacking out" parts of my soon to be saber (ordering parts next week!!!) However, the only place I seem to be able to find Aluminum black is online. Would normal hardware stores like Home Depot, Lowe's, etc carry it? I'd kind of like to try and avoid shipping costs for something that small. Also, a few questions about aluminum black itself. How well does it actually stay on a hilt? One part that I plan on mostly blacking out and then scraping it to look weathered is an area that would be handled a lot. Will it rub off on my hands easily? And would the "weathering" also rub off from being handled?

Check your local gun shop. I've never seen it at home depot, lowe's, mall-wart... Also, the stuff doesn't exactly come off. It's not a paint or a powder. It actually oxidizes the metal. It CAN darken your hands a bit, and it smells like sulfur until you handle it for a while, but that's pretty much all you need to worry about.

Yep, any sporting goods store that carries guns should have it.

I may have even seen it in the sporting goods section of Walmart, but I'm not sure.

Just looked at Wal-Mart the other day, and they didn't have any at the Super Wal-Mart in town.

WMs do stock differently depending on location in the country (you're more likely to find hunting and fishing equipment in rural WMs)

I would just look up your local gun store in the yellow pages and go buy some. I don't know if you're 18+, CGompertz09, but it's not a controlled substance, so your only problem might be getting into the store to buy it, in which case have your parent/guardian go with you :)

Thanks guys. I'll look into it. And I'm 22, so I shouldn't have a problem. haha. Although I do look a bit younger than that.

I found it at a sporting good store. Small blue bottle with a white label on teh rack with the gun blueing chemicals.

I did find that it comes off of the aluminum parts very easily, however. I ended up having to spray Krylon over the top of it to keep it in place. If someone knows a better way, I'd love to hear it.

That's odd. When you say it comes off, do you mean it darkens your hands, or do you mean the part loses it's dark color? I've experienced the former, but never the latter.

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Originally Posted by TimeRender

That's odd. When you say it comes off, do you mean it darkens your hands, or do you mean the part loses it's dark color? I've experienced the former, but never the latter.

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I mean it loses 90% of it's color. 2 days of handling working on the saber and almost all of the color was gone. This was on the switch box and blade holder front, too. Not on a part that was handled heavily. Clear Krylon seems to have solved the problem, though.