Many times, we have been asked questions like “…are the fittings Black painted stainless steel or black anodized stainless steel?” And this is a very good question on many levels since colorizing Stainless Steel can be achieved in many ways. But in this case – the fittings are neither painted nor anodized.
- Painting stainless steel is not recommended as the inherent chemistry of stainless steel makes adhesion extremely unreliable, and
- Anodizing is an electrochemical process that can be applied to aluminium – but not stainless steel (more chemistry)
The two reliable ways to ‘blacken’ stainless steel are
- Blackening or ‘Bluing’ (as is done to rifle barrels) which is chemically managed corrosion (hot or cold acid induced) that is somewhat stabilized by applying water soluble oil (which must be renewed regularly) that results in a somewhat powdery Matt black surface that can be reduced by rubbing with a cloth, or
- Titanium Coating (as is done to end mills, drill bits, etc). Titanium Nitride (TiN) is applied at a molecular level using vapor deposition coating. The color of the coating is a result of additional elements incorporated in the TiN (thus you can have yellow, red, purple, etc – with Black being the most common with stainless steel). The result is a semi-gloss coating with excellent adhesion and fantastic durability (just like drill bits)…
Our preference is TiN coating – and while it is a bit pricier – it actually has excellent durability and longevity in the Australian Environment.