Turning nickel black

[DuWhat]

Is there a chemical or something that will turn nickel black? I have a nickel cylinder on a SAA commerative that is a shooter that I would like to turn black to match the rest of the gun.

[dfariswheel]

I know of no process that can turn bright nickel black.
The correct process is to have the nickel stripped and the cylinder blued.

The better gun re-finisher companies can reverse the plating process so that instead of depositing nickel on the metal, it removes it.
Then the metal can be polished and blued to whatever level of polished blue you want.

Companies to talk to are APW/Cogan, Fords, and Elite Custom.

As a do it yourself job, Brownell's sell a special nickel stripping chemical that is reported to work well. This will leave you with a bare steel cylinder that you can do whatever you want as a finish. Cold blue isn't very good looking or at all durable, the various paint type gun coatings may work well.

[DuWhat]

Thankyou Sir. I think I look into the Brownells first and see how that goes.

[rhmc24]

I have used Brownell's nickel stripper and it worked for me. Took most of it out in a few hours but had to leave it in the solution over night to get into close areas. I did a cold blue job afterward with Brownell's Oxpho Blue which is the best cold blue I have used - out of maybe 8 kinds. A cold blue can look good but isn't very durable and some change color over time.

On a good gun a professional job is the way to go - as dfaris said.

[peacemaker]

After you have the nickel stripped off, you can have it replated in black nickel.

[broknaxl]

After you strip the nickel off it may not cost that much to have someone blue it.

[DuWhat]

What i'm doing is i have a colt comm that has a nickel cylinder and trigger guard and i just hate the nickle. It's been a shooter for many years and has no collector value as far as a comm is concerned. Had rather it be all one color. Ordered the brownell's and not sure whether to cold blue or have the local shop blue it. This gun has killed more cans, beer bottels, rocks, clods,rabbits and various other varmits than all my others combined. Ugly? Yes, but is a trusted old friend.