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Blackening a helmet

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Sir Ulrich:
Allright, I almost got my full kit, one thing thats missing is my maille is black but my helmet is extremely shiny, I kinda want to blacken the helmet so that it will match the maille. Any suggestions on how to blacken a helmet? Do I use oil for it? Or paint if so what kind of paint or oil, and keep in mind I cant just throw it on the fire, the liner is RIVETED to the helm, so I'm starting to believe I should use paint as thats a period way of doing it.

Sir Edward:

Yeah, there are a variety of heat+oil tricks to do it. But it's completely period to paint the helms as well. I think this was done quite a lot, actually.

To get a period look, it just needs to be a relatively flat (matte finish) paint. Acrylics have a great look, but they're water-based (and thus wash off too easily) and also scratch and scrape off very quickly. So you can get away with a spray-paint, enamel, or some sort of oil-based paint, but I would recommend going over it with a matte-finish clear coat if you do that. I'll help protect it against wear, and dull the shine too.

Sir Brian:
For a quick down and dirty job use some of that grill high heat enamel spray paint or you could go with an epoxy based paint for serious durability but it is a bit more money and labor intensive. ;)

Sir Wolf:
boiled linseed oil on an old grill. dont let the flames touch it, so put tin foil under it. i used a paint brush to put it on and then soaked the brush in water. un left linseed is extremely flamable

Sir Matthew:
I used a chemicle gun blueing agent to treat my peascod breast and back and two helmets. If you apply this very thickly and leave it on there wet for a minute or two you will get a very dark finish. The only real care you need to take is to make sure you are applying the same amount accross the helmet to get an even finish and allowing it to sit for for about the same time before wiping it off, again for an even finish. After doing this, wait about an hour or so, then treat with a 3 in 1 or gun oil, do not use WD40 as it is synthetic. This is to prevent rust and to seal the blueing process.

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