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Ted Cash boxes
- Thread starter Tobie
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Cold gun blue, steel wool it back to the patina you would like, may take several applications
Get a pair of metal tongs. The kind cooks use to get things out of hot oil while they are cooking.
Put your metal box on a stove burner and turn the heat on to the lowest setting and carefully watch it for color changes.
As it heats up it will change from bright steel to a yellow color followed by brown, purple, blue and gray. When it gets to the blue color, remove it and dunk it into some water to cool it. Dry it off and apply some thin oil and your done.
If your significant other complains about you using the stove and you have a propane torch, that will work too.
Put your metal box on a stove burner and turn the heat on to the lowest setting and carefully watch it for color changes.
As it heats up it will change from bright steel to a yellow color followed by brown, purple, blue and gray. When it gets to the blue color, remove it and dunk it into some water to cool it. Dry it off and apply some thin oil and your done.
If your significant other complains about you using the stove and you have a propane torch, that will work too.
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Tobie, you might be interested in Smokey Plainsman's thread "My New Little Tin" started here last Thursday.
Tobie
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Thank you!
Dillon W.
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A few minutes in a pot of boiling white vinegar works great.
Dillon W.
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Instant coffee I’m told will work also
Tobie
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It worked on one of them but the really shiny one with the lens didn't change at all. I guess the stove eye will be next. Please send your address- just in case my wife wants to hurt somebody.........
Trappers have been known to soak their steel traps in a bucket of water with oak leaves in it.
Tobie
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I did the dull steel in boiling vinegar, turned it medium gray. Applied Brownells blue to it and it turned a dark gray/blue. The box with the lens was a surprise, on the stove- electric- it varied from straw to blue. I turned it until the whole bottom was blue and then quenched it. I didn't dare try that method on the top due to the lens. I then applied the blueing solution and at first glance, it just kinda beaded up. I missed wiping a small place and after a minute or so- it turned a gray color so I applied it all over that piece and let it sit for about ten minutes. Wiped it and applied a bit of oil. It looks like it went through a bad fire but it isn't shiny any more. I'm doing this exercise just for my satisfaction. I don't intend to be in any re-enactments, although Stones River Battlefield is right down the road.
Please explain what it is to a person what doan know. Thanks
My idea is the same with horns. Just use them. With use and handling they will soon take on a natural patina. I have a sterling silver Ted Cash tobacco box with a magnifier in the lid. Personally, I would never risk putting it to high heat. Use and enjoy.
I have a couple of the Ted Cash "iron" tinder or tobacco boxes. I would be wary of subjecting these thin, sheet metal containers to intense heat. I have not tried it with the Ted Cash products, but I have had other "tin" containers warp. You can sometimes manhandle them back into a semblance of straightness, but the lid-to-body fit of these is critical to their function. I would agree with Rifleman1776... Handle, use, and enjoy them. They will darken eventually.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
I have two Tedd Cash brass cappers, one snail shape and one oval. They WILL get darker over time with use. How long it takes is up to how much you use them and how often you wash your hands between shots 
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Tobie
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One of them is an oval shaped metal box about three by two. The other is an iron box about two inches by two and a half inches. The oval one has a magnifying glass and slip-fits to the other half. The smaller one is hinged on one end.
The oak leaves release tanic acid. Will age steel really nice.
Oldbear63 Has a method of aging in another thread. Called it fuming with vinegar. I used it on a steel tin and a brass tin and it worked great.
Place parts in a plastic ziplock bag with crushed up news paper and white vinegar. Took the steel tin about 4 hours to look a 100 years old, and 24 hours for the brass tin to look that same 100 years old. After taking out of bag washed with soap an warm water, then oiled with linseed oil.
MO_E
Place parts in a plastic ziplock bag with crushed up news paper and white vinegar. Took the steel tin about 4 hours to look a 100 years old, and 24 hours for the brass tin to look that same 100 years old. After taking out of bag washed with soap an warm water, then oiled with linseed oil.
MO_E
