Blackening Armor

Blackened Sallet Rust is the enemy of all metallic body armor (chainmail, scale or plate) and constant vigilance is required to keep it in presentable shape. One anti-rust method adopted by the late Republican Romans for their chainmail and also by armourers of the medieval period was to "blacken" the armor. This involved coating the armor (or weapon) with "dirty" or used oil (e.g. linseed or olive oil) and burning it off, or boiling the armor in a pot of oil until the oil "cooks" into the steel and then burning off the excess. If brought to the right temperature (270-300C), the oil residue (including the burned carbon in the oil) bonds with the surface of the metal, giving the armor a dark, glossy finish. Another method, which produced a dark grey to light black finish, was to soak the metal in tannic acid extracted from tea, oak bark, peat bogs, etc.

The practice of blackening plate and mail armor was common up until the late 15th century, especially among German mercenary knights employed throughout Europe. The practice disappeared as the quality of the metal improved, as traditional blackening methods will not work on chromed or modern galvanized steel. A similar practice, however, continues in the modern day as "blueing" done with a chemical agent rather than with oil and heat. Modern day armourers have also found that traditional blackening can be done with used motor oil.

Blackened armor is not to be confused with armor that has been painted or lacquered black, which are primarily methods of decoration, although they do also provide some anti-rust protection.

The following is a collection of tips and techniques for painting "blackened armour" collected from the DBA Mail List and other sources:

Jay Woolrich: I've thought of dry-brushing silver paint over a black-primed figure and of using a black-tinted varnish over silver paint (although I seem to remember reading somewhere that varnish causes metallic coloured paints to run?).

Ian Thompson -- Assuming you are using Acrylics, visit the Dark Empire (TM) and pick up a bottle of armour wash. Then, just paint the metal area, let it dry, then whack on the wash straight from the bottle!

Bruce Bretthauer -- Another technique using acrylics - I paint the chainmail silver/steel, then do a wash with a gloss black. Regardless of what method you use, if you dull coat the figures, I would suggest you use a semi-gloss paint after dull coating, touching up just the area of the armor. It's just enough to catch the eye and give the impression of blackened armor.

Chris Brantley -- I've gotten what I consider to be a good blackening effect by painting the armor silver and then putting on a heavy coat of Tamiyka's Smoke, a special modeller's stain intended primarily for dirtying up aircraft and armor models.

Karl Heinz Ranitzsch -- I usually don't even paint the armour a metallic colour. I don't undercoat the figure's armour, and give it just a dark wash.

George D'Amato -- There are a couple of things that I do. The first one is to paint the armour using an acrylic based silver. Then I wash over it with Games Workshop armour wash. If you can't get hold of armour wash then use thinned down gloss black acrylic paint. Either one works equaly well. The trick is to get the wash at the right consistency. Too thin and you make a mess, and too thick and you can't see the silver. Just experiment with some toy figures or spare bits till you get the hang of it.

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Last Updated: Nov. 24, 2000

Comments, questions and additions welcome. Send them to Chris Brantley at brant@erols.com.