Japanese Patinas

[Brian]

Milt's post got me researching a bit on the net, and I came up with some interesting info on Japanese patinas and alloys.

Just thought I would share. For those of us who don't have the Japanese Patinas book..these provide some interesting background to the various processes and metals that were used.

Of course I do NOT recommend trying any of these to re-patina any original fittings, as you will likely just screw them up, and maybe even dissolve the solder, but they are none the less very interesting.

 

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/directo ... bject/86/1

Some very interesting exerpts from the book, with pics. There are a few pages of info including on all the metals and solutions. Fascinating stuff!

 

http://www.hooverandstrong.com/articles/?id=36

Has this fascinating info: "In her work with shibuichi, Haga often uses a variation of the Japanese copper-sulfate mixture rokusho. Haga actually has a recipe to make it at home-but doesn't, since some of the ingredients aren't easy to come by. They include urine from a copper-reactive person, distilled pure water, grated daikon (a Japanese radish), plum vinegar, and cupric sulfate....." So who here has copper-reactive urine? :D

And on Shakudo: "First they immersed the object in boiling lye prepared by smoldering wood ashes. Then they polished it with a charcoal powder and immersed it in plum vinegar containing salt. They washed it with weak lye, placed it in a tub of water to remove any traces of alkali, and immersed it again in a boiled solution of cupric sulfate, water, and verdigris [a greenish crystalline substance that forms on copper-bearing metals] until the purple-black patina was achieved."

 

There are a number of variations of red in there..which relates to the original question.

 

Regards,

Brian

[b.hennick]

If you check the jSSUS Newsletters of last year you will find a review of the book Japanese Patinas.