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Question for chemistry types

G

Guy Thomas

Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Messages
1,370
I need powdered sulphur for a metal finishing formulae. I found sulphur at the pharmacy, the label calls it 'flowers of sulphur'. Think it would fit my needs? I can also get powdered sulphur at the garden center also but it has 10% inert ingredients which I'm afraid might impact the finish. If the 'flowers of sulphur' is just pure powdered sulphur I'd rather use it? (I'm also searching online about this.)
 
The flowers of sulphur should be what you need. If not let me know and I can send you some powdered sulphur, I have quites abit and couls afford to send you a few ounces. Are you going to try the sulphur and turpentine mix? I tried it and I couldnt get it to work.

Let me know if you need some and what your results are.
 
Thanks Laredo, that is a kind offer. I bought the 'flowers of sulphur' so I'll give it a try first. Yes, it's the sulphur and turpentine (or as this formula calls it 'oil of turpentine')mixture. This formula calls for heating in the flame of an alcohol lamp and I was wondering if the piece actually needs to be "in" a flame or if just the heat accomplishes the reaction.

I'm curious what your results were?
 
What I tried was heating the turp and sulpur over a water bath with the piece of steel in it. It did nothing but make my house stink like turp.:barf:

It did nothing to color the steel, maybe heating with a flame will get it hotter and have a positive effect on the steel. :confused:
 
The directions I have call for dissolving the sulphur in boiling turpentine and then lightly painting the hot mixture onto the steel surface and then passing the surface through the flame of an alcohol lamp until it turns black.

Maybe you can try it also and we can compare notes. It's supposed to be one part sulphur to 10 parts oil of turpentine. Oil of turpentine is the ultra pure artists grade of turpentine. I have some regular hardware store variety that I'm going to try first to see if it works. If it works I'm taking this artists grade stuff back to the store because it's expensive! (If the flowers of sulphur works then the garden grade sulphur goes back to the Nusery too!)

By the way where did you get your sulphur from?

(This sounds like something that should only be done outdoors with LOTS of ventilation!)
 
Yeh, me too.

The last time I did anything with sulpher was when I was a kid trying to make something explosive. I made the mistake of bragging to my Dad about how close I was coming along with it. That was the end of my career in chemistry and my lab (the coal storage room) was pad locked.

RL
 
Sounds intriguing doesn't it? It's an old formula for blacking steel. It's supposed to make a brilliant black finish. We'll see!
 
Hey Guy good to see you are having a go at this formula.

We used to make a small lamp buy soldering a piece of metal tube a bout 3/16 or 1/4 thick into the top of a veremite jar. nice tight conton cord as a wick and a bit of metelated spirets.

Don't set yourself on fire.
 
Are you sure its for steel? The chemistry invloved sounds like it would blacken silver or related metals. Patina's are oxide films and as such I don't see how sulfur in that form will oxide on steel.
 
Good question! Actually the formulas are 'blacking' formulas under the section for iron and steel. I don't know enough about chemistry to comment on it and I haven't tried it yet either. I was under the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that sulphur was highly reactive with iron when an external heat source is applied. (iron sulphide??)
 
Sounds to me that the turpentine either will emulsify the sufur or it will dissolve in it. Sulfur has a pretty low melting point. As far as the sulfide goes thats is a possibility. I dont know what your book says but thinking about it I think painting the solution on and putting it in the oven at about 150 to 200 would have a better effect and even heat distribution. It sounds to me more of a coating (parkerize) than a patina. I found a web site that has dozens of patina solutions for sale. I cant remember the name of it but I found searching under "patinas" on the web.
 
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