Thread: Bluing/blackening steel - rust

I’ve been trying to use Jax iron, steel, and nickel blackener on some steel door pulls I made. I cut grooves into the metal with a 1/4” thick cutoff wheel and brushed Jax into the grooves them sanded the surface so just the grooves would be black. Problem is the blackener just rusts in the grooves instead of turning them black. I wiped everything down with mineral spirits prior and used gloves to avoid skin oils but it doesn’t make a difference. Does anyone know why this is happening?

Maybe the steel dust from the sanding is affecting the process? Let it all blacken and then polish the high spots.