Damascus hilt effect on pvc

[Defcon4]

Hello, guys

I tried my hand at a Damascus steel effect on a pvc hilt. Way back when I use to do a similar effect on pistol grips and various other items.
I used black enamel over a metallic silver base coat. I guess if you wanted the effect to be lighter you could also use a charcoal grey enamel over the metallic base coat.

Anyhoo, just wanted to share and see what you guys thought of the over all effect.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Nice work. It captures the Damascus Steel effect very well.

[Defcon4]

Nice work. It captures the Damascus Steel effect very well.

Thanks, Jedi

This starts with a 5 gallon bucket, like the kind that home depot or Lowe's sells. I fill it to the top with cold water. This is just deep enough and wide enough to fully submerge a 12 inch hilt.

Spray your paint on the top of the water for a 2 second burst. Take a toothpick and swirl the paint around until you get a pattern ..and it is covering the surface evenly. Then dip your hilt straight down and submerge it.

Wipe any paint off the surface of the water that may stick back on the hilt when pulling it out. In other words wipe out a clear surface and pull the hilt up and out. You will notice that the paint seems to dry and bond almost immediately.

It occurs to me that you guys a very smart and may already know how to do this, if so ..my apologies for rambling. lol

[Ty_Bomber]

VERY cool. I have never seen a Damascus style saber before. It is a very cool effect. Since you say you have applied it to gun parts before, would you assume it shhould bond just as well to aluminum? That would look killer on a shroud.

[Defcon4]

VERY cool. I have never seen a Damascus style saber before. It is a very cool effect. Since you say you have applied it to gun parts before, would you assume it shhould bond just as well to aluminum? That would look killer on a shroud.

Yes.. its works great on metals. I use Rust-oleum Painter touch X2 ..its a paint and primer( in one) enamel. Once I have the effect, I cover that with a few coats of Clear Rust-oleum automotive enamel. Just to give a little extra protection .You can get it in gloss or flat finish. The strange thing is when you spray this paint on the waters surface and then dip, it dries to the touch almost immediately. You can actually pull it from the water and wipe it with a paper towel to remove the water without smearing or anything.

Experiment before dipping your final piece. Obviously the longer you spray paint on the water the darker and more dense your pattern. Also when you spray in the center of the bucket your paint will have a tendency to spread to the outer edge. When pulling your toothpick and creating a pattern in the paint be sure and pull it back toward the direction of the center ...filling the whole surface evenly with a pattern. The paint wants to glob together(think of mercury) So, if you stir through and make a nice random pattern where you have nice swirls or long thin lines ... these will eventually turn into thicker lines and blobs instead of swirls if you wait too long to dip after you've made your pattern .

[Ty_Bomber]

I will certainly practice on some PVC first. Thanks for the tip. There should be a video tutorial on this. I am so impressed by the results.

[cannibal869]

Neat effect - and thanks for the "how to"

[Ty_Bomber]

Yes, it is very much appreciated. I will do a test of this on bare aluminum and an automotive "black chrome" wheel paint and see how it goes.

[Defcon4]

Your welcome. Cannibal ..glad to be able to contribute.

Bomber, please post some pics when finished.

I'm going to try a mahogany(reddish brown) base coat, with a darker color for the swirl. I want to see how it may work for a wood effect. I'll try an shoot video of it.

[Crystal Chambers]

I did this last year but didn't post it here. First on a stunt saber then on a guitar. It's a dip swirl technique popularized amoung guitarists by Steve Vai's guitar on the Passion and Warfare album. I never intended it to be damascus at the time, more of a dark smokey look, but it kinda reminded me of it.

There are several methods. People have had various results with different products but the most popular methods are using Borax to help keep your paint a float. Often humbrol paint is used for this. Room temp or 20C is recommended. With some paints or colours you may need to use some thinners or they'll just sink to the bottom. Or you can use magic marble paints which doesn't reguire borax but works well with it. Unfortunately oil paint is the best for this and is being slowly removed from the shelves,

there is more info and demo available on youtube under guitar swirl, or see the swirling.com for more info.



My Jackson/Ibanez custom build