DIY black hardware?

mdsmith · #1

Hey guys. I have been carrying my ZDP delica everyday for a while now, and I absolutely love it. It's just perfect for me. The only thing I have never really cared for is the racing green handles. Well, I fixed that last night with a pack of black RIT dye. It came out jet black, and I'm VERY happy with it. Now I'm thinking that I would like black hardware for it. I have black grill paint that seems pretty durable, but I'm not sure. Have any of you tried painting the screw heads before, and if so, was it durable, or did it come off? Thanks.

BladePlay · #2

You don't like the contrast? :confused: The paint will wear off the hardware soon and will look ca-ca. :o The way it is now should look like a black car with chrome trim! No? :D

mdsmith · #3

It looks good now, but I also like the look of the blade bladed delica that has the black hardware. I just thought it would be cool to mod it a little more myself.

jwingfie · #4

Try the grill paint out. What's the worst that could happen?

BAL · #5

Go for it, how about before and after pictures.

Cuervo · #6

BAL wrote:Go for it, how about before and after pictures.

For sure! Be our guinea pig! :)

mdsmith · #7

Lol, I probably will. If I do, I'll definitely post pics.

eloreno · #8

If the black bladed delica has blacked out hardware, I'm sure Spyderco would send you them if you contacted them...

Evil D · #9

I can't help you with black, but if you acid etched them you can get them to a gray color, just another option. They'll still scratch, but not near as bad as paint will.

mattman · #10

Anybody try something like this?

http://www.eastwood.com/metal-blackenin ... m-set.html

Drkknight614 · #11

eloreno wrote:If the black bladed delica has blacked out hardware, I'm sure Spyderco would send you them if you contacted them...

I saw the black bladed delica today and it indeed does have black hardware. Yea its nice to do things yourself but Id just save myself all the trouble and worry about it fading and just contact spyderco to get some spare black hardware.

BAL · #12

mattman wrote:Anybody try something like this?

http://www.eastwood.com/metal-blackenin ... m-set.html

Thanks for posting the link Mattman, I saved the link out to my favorites. I might order one sometime. You could use that set for multiple things.

John Grimsmo · #13

My car buddies have used that Eastwood kit with great success, so that would be the proper way to do it and surprisingly not that expensive. I've used grill paint for other projects, but nothing so small and delicate as a screw. I'd clean them off really well with hot soapy water in a peanut butter jar, jab them into a piece of cardboard to hold them and protect the threads, then hit them with the bbq paint. Technically you're supposed to cure the paint at 500* (like a bbq running) for half an hour, that does make it stronger, but I dunno if it's necessary for these little screws.

Try it!

mattman · #14

I just followed the link further to the instructions pdf, and there seems to be a note that it may not work well on stainless and non ferrous metals...but the text is garbled slightly. It is on the second page... anybody with some Adobe-fu that can decipher it better than me??

http://www.eastwood.com/images/pdf/10238ZQ.pdf

(EDIT: Sent an clarification request to Eastwood tech support.)

mattman · #15

mattman wrote:Anybody try something like this?

http://www.eastwood.com/metal-blackenin ... m-set.html

mattman wrote:I just followed the link further to the instructions pdf, and there seems to be a note that it may not work well on stainless and non ferrous metals...but the text is garbled slightly. It is on the second page... anybody with some Adobe-fu that can decipher it better than me??

http://www.eastwood.com/images/pdf/10238ZQ.pdf

(EDIT: Sent an clarification request to Eastwood tech support.)

Here is the brief reply I got from Eastwood tech help:

"Matt,

Correct, it does NOT work on S/S or ALUMINUM."