Stripped vokey jet black finish - anyone able to get it to rust?

[gentles]

I stripped an sm7 black wedge using clr scotch brite etc, but the finish still looks different to my rtx4 raw wedges, it’s darker and doesn’t seem to be rusting at all

 

ive traveled through the searches here and it seems a real mixed bag in terms of what you’re actually left with after the finish is stripped off. From what I can gather the qpq finish is more than just a surface plating) so it seems nigh on impossible to fully get rid of it

 

Like most of us I am ocd about my gear and would love for all the wedges to look and patina at the same rate - part of the reason I love raw wedges is you can keep them uniform across brands

 

its a D grind which is hard to come by in other brands

 

ive got a few options

- go harder with the clr and abrasive to try remove even more of the black finish and just hope it does rust over time like my others 

- try the peroxide rust mix to accelerate the rusting process

- fork out for an sm8 raw (I live outside the states so this would cost an arm and a leg and take ages)

- pay someone to try chemically strip out whatever is left? Not sure what the plating is so this would be tough

- try find another brand that is raw and in a similar grind to the d grind, or just get over it and use the pseudo-raw vokey wedge 

 

anyone out there managed to get a stripped black vokey to rust up?

[jll62]

The short answer is that you're never going to get the wedge to patina like a true raw wedge. I have some SM6 wedges that I stripped a few years ago and they look nearly the same as they did after I removed the black finish. They aren't going to patina much.

 

The QPQ process isn't just a surface plating, as you correctly pointed out. The first part of the process diffuses nitrogen into the metal, so it's actually changing the composition of the metal on the outer surface. This gives the steel more corrosion resistance than if it was simple raw carbon steel, so it won't patina the same. The last part of the process, the black iron oxide finish, is what you're removing when you hit it with CLR, naval jelly, etc, but that doesn't do anything to the actual metal itself.

 

There's nothing left to chemically strip once you've removed the black finish. The raw carbon steel wedge is literally encased by the outer surface now, which has a different composition. You'd have to physically remove some amount of metal from the surface in order to get down to raw carbon steel again. This seems doable (I imagine the case is fairly shallow), but I wouldn't want to grind down the grooves/face of my wedge, even if it's only removing a tiny amount of material. The downside is that you're not going to be able to give it the same look as they do to the "real" raw wedge, so it still won't patina the same.

 

If you want your wedges to patina at the same rate, you're going to have to buy a new wedge. Personally, I'd stick with your pseudo-raw wedge for now and try to focus on performance to see if you can get past the aesthetic aspect.

[gentles]

26 minutes ago, jll62 said:

The short answer is that you're never going to get the wedge to patina like a true raw wedge. I have some SM6 wedges that I stripped a few years ago and they look nearly the same as they did after I removed the black finish. They aren't going to patina much.

 

The QPQ process isn't just a surface plating, as you correctly pointed out. The first part of the process diffuses nitrogen into the metal, so it's actually changing the composition of the metal on the outer surface. This gives the steel more corrosion resistance than if it was simple raw carbon steel, so it won't patina the same. The last part of the process, the black iron oxide finish, is what you're removing when you hit it with CLR, naval jelly, etc, but that doesn't do anything to the actual metal itself.

 

There's nothing left to chemically strip once you've removed the black finish. The raw carbon steel wedge is literally encased by the outer surface now, which has a different composition. You'd have to physically remove some amount of metal from the surface in order to get down to raw carbon steel again. This seems doable (I imagine the case is fairly shallow), but I wouldn't want to grind down the grooves/face of my wedge, even if it's only removing a tiny amount of material. The downside is that you're not going to be able to give it the same look as they do to the "real" raw wedge, so it still won't patina the same.

 

If you want your wedges to patina at the same rate, you're going to have to buy a new wedge. Personally, I'd stick with your pseudo-raw wedge for now and try to focus on performance to see if you can get past the aesthetic aspect.

Yup exactly what I thought, perfect explanation thanks. In hindsight im probably better off finding a chrome head and having in deplated rather than this approach! 

[llaw999]

I actually like the striped metal look more than raw. It has that industrial look without the possibility of over rusting. 

[gentles]

10 minutes ago, llaw999 said:

I actually like the striped metal look more than raw. It has that industrial look without the possibility of over rusting. 

I like it too - but my other wedges have a different finish and would love them to be the same