Can you stain aluminum trim?

Hey, I have an aluminum windshield frame I want black but don't want to paint it.Isn't there a way to stain aluminum with something so that the color soaks in?It is not anodized,just plain aluminum.

 

No, don't want to have it anodized.I wanted to do it myself at home.There are no commercial anodizers around here that will do small projects.I thought you might be able to use some kind of stain on it since aluminum is kind of a porous metal.

 

You can anodize at home, check out caswellsplating.com (no affiliation, just one of their customers)

 

Aluminum windshield trim is probably already clear anodized. Bare aluminum left out in the weather gets a hazy white coating on it that looks ugly, so they usually clear anodize aluminum that will be outdoors to keep it looking nice. You can sometimes see sort of faint rainbow reflections in older aluminum that's been clear anodized when the anodizing starts to weather. It eventually gets little cracks in the anodizing and white fluffy stuff starts growing on it.

 

doesnt oven cleaner turn aluminum black? or maybe it just destroys it... i cant remember

 

There is a product called "Blacken-It" which when brushed on, dipped, soaked, or sprayed/mist on, will chemically blacken metal. Not sure if it works on aluminum, because I know it doesnt work on Stainless. But because it chemically alters the finish, it cant be rubbed off.

 

I've thought about doing this same thing to an aluminum radiator because painting it defeats the purpose of it being aluminum. I'm wondering if you can use "Gun Blue" on it, it penatrates steel.

 

Oven cleaner will remove the anodizing from aluminum. Then it can be polished or reanodized.

 

Can you stain aluminum trim ?
No

 

sure you can..but it will look like ****..like said before anodizing would be the way to go to change its color

 

Fluffy white stuff?

 

Yeah, I know about removing the anodizing.It has never been anodized.Its already polished.I was thinking about the gun blue also.I have also seen brown parkerizing on guns and some kind of black on guns.I will check out the caswell site if I can do it at home.Thanks for the tips.

 

You can alodine it brown or yellow like they do in aircraft.

 

parkerizing and blueing is a controled oxidation method..those dont work on aluminum..carbon steel only as far as I am aware.

 

Being smart***ed aside, i've had good ludk using 3M #94 primer on bare aluminum and then painting satin black. I've done a couple dragster dash & a funnycar dash with it instead of anodize and it works great.

 

There is also a 'tool-black' that is made for aluminum, one other poster mentioned it, i have that and while it works for small pieces it isn't consistant enough for a window frame. I also have the stuff to anodize with, problem with that is it is UV sensitive although you can minimize the reaction with certain chemicles it will still react badly woth sunlight and won't all fade at the same rate. Satin black paint works, fiind the primer that is the key and it is intended for aircraft use. Good stuff.

 

Corrosion. I live close to the bay, and I had a bunch of old clear anodized aluminum trim parts sitting outdoors and the aluminum wound up growing splotches of white fluffy corrosion all over it and got deep pits in it. A lot of it wound up in the trash.

 

You might want to take a look at the link below. Brownell's is a gunsmithing supply outfit.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=4941&***le=ALUMINUM%20BLACK

Roger

 

Hey, Birchwood makes good wood finishes - didn't know they made metal finishes as well.

 

Yeah, thanks.That is the kind of product I was thinking of.It is a large 34 windshield frame and too big for me to try a home made anodizing tank.