Birchwood Casey Fast-Drying Fast-Acting Aluminum Black Metal Finish for Restoring Scratched and Marred Areas, Gun Cleaning, 3 Ounce Bulk Each

Worked as described. It took a little longer than I expected to start working, but put a beautiful black patina on my shiny aluminum knife scales. Happy with the results. I wore gloves and tried to avoid touching the product, but I do wonder if it should come with more instructions than the generic safety warnings on the bottle. Take that advice as you choose. I found a Qtip to work better than a cotton swab since it gave me a handle where I didn't have to get the liquid on my gloves.

Works great. Easy to apply.

Worked good on the aluminum part of mt project and wiped off the stainless steel part nicely.

My issue is that I seem to have received a returned item when I paid for new. The seal on the bottle was compromised and there was hair under the cap. I suspect the first person used what he needed and returned the rest. I did peel off most of the Amazon label on the bottle since it was covering the instructions. Though it didn't work for my application, I tested it on a aluminum soda can and it does work. I can't fault the product for not working on something it wasn't designed for, so though I really couldn't give it five stars, less than four would be unfair. I was hoping it would work on the scratched lens cap shutter on a Sony RX100MIII. I took a chance, and it didn't work.

I’ll be honest. My expectations were extremely high on this product, and I somehow felt that was true when I hit purchase. I got it, slapped some on my gun with aluminum exposed, and felt a little let down from it not matching the surrounding blacks. So I kept using it a bit more and it definitely stacks the bluing affect if you don’t rub it off with abrasive cotton or paper towel. You have to dabble it and let it dry without blowing on it. If you’re looking to fill a precise gap made from a scratch, this stuff still can do it if you have the minimal patience it takes (~5 mins per 1/2”^2). For that reason, it blends well on other existing paint. Meaning no “ridges” are seen. Is the black not going to match? Probably. But you know what you probably aren’t going to do? Cerakote it again or even for the first time, following a low maintained finish. Just buy this stuff if you want a quick fix that seriously is “good enough” since it mutes the silvery tone made from exposed aluminum completely. If you want a brand new cerakote finish, maybe you should start with all of the other supplies to do the entire finish correctly, paired with the work and time to do it. But in my opinion? This stuff is magical. It doesn’t rub off when it’s done essentially corroding the surface layer of aluminum into black. Granted, it still can with abrasives; it most definitely is not as easy to rub off as when it was actively working. After that though, i would confidently state it’s about 80% as hard to scratch again as normal solid paint in a new spot. Highly, highly recommend.

Any bad reviews are because the user didn't sufficiently clean their aluminum. Unfortunately most things we are trying to blacken are often oily, so you need to be meticulous. Also it's really only best for making blemishes less visible, but depending on the tone of whatever you're trying to blend it can look near perfect for small areas. Absolutely foul vapors come off of this btw. Use in a ventilated area and don't huff it

This product was put to good use. Worked really well!

Even after following the instructions to the letter, the resulting finish can be easily scratched off by a fingernail. It looks good, but is unable to acheive a wear-resistant finish on 6061 or 7075 aluminum, even after thorough cleaning and deoxidation (for reference I have tried glass bead blasting, wire brushes, emery cloth, and scotchbrite). It also does not seem to be a great solution for blackening edges/corners, or a part with fine details or knurling. For purely decorative items or touching up scratches you don't mind reappearing, this is probably a fine product. For anything that is handled regularly or roughly, paying for anodizing is 100% worth the cost. Maybe I expect too much, but I feel this product overpromises and underdelivers.

Make aluminium go black. Good for dressing up some aluminium parts.

Excelente producto

Fast, but some previous work are needed. Not black and sturdy like anodizing, but to touch up some spots it's way good enough