Make it rusty? UNRESTORING

[beatamax]

I've never had good results with a salt water solution when i've tried it I get a lot of surface rust but it rubs off too easily. Muriatic Acid works you can buy it as brick cleaning acid from builders merchants in the uk. I haven't tried it but hydrogen peroxide is supposed to work.

[Overkill]

Cleaning the steel enough to allow flash rusting isn't too difficult. Mild acids. But I sense you want a bit more than that. Spraying with a salt water solution simply puts salt on the surface that attracts moisture and rusts in the spots where the salt accumulates.

Google the use of yogurt to age the Statue of Liberty torch copper, and you can get a sense of what it will do.

As rust will create slight pitting, I would suggest blasting with something like black grit - larger grit with sharp corners. This will leave an uneven surface. Then all you need to do is get a rust layer on that. Perhaps create humidity with a plastic covering and kiddie pool full of water below?

Google David Marks, a woodworker from Santa Rosa, CA. I think he has a site and I know that he did a lot of experiments with metals and chemicals to patina the metal accents on his woodworking items. He used to have a TV show, but I haven't seen it for a while.