Etching and Bluing my Steel Rapier

I wanted to put a blued finish on my rapier in order to give some rust protection along the center of the blade but not the edges. It is also decorative and turned out nicely.

It was very easy to do if you’re just willing to follow the ad hoc process. It’s down and dirty and it just takes time and love to get it finished. Well it’s easy, you have to keep at it until the whole surface is affected because until the surface really begins the process of color change, it will tend to repel the water because of the oil on steel. I didn’t remove the oil first, because I did not want to use harsh chemicals inside my house. But it turned out the same nonetheless with just more time and work rubbing it in.

The process is very easy and accomplished with household materials. It will place a patina (black rust) on your steel which will gradually improve with time and provide protection from red rust.

Rust is just God’s way of telling us that we over-prepared. It lightens our load.