Bone Black

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Where can I get some?

[jrb]

Jim Kibler's online store

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Right!  Thanks.

[jerrywh]

 Places that sell concrete coloring products sell bone black for  coloring concrete.

[Dan Fruth]

Natural Pigments, a historic artist supplier, has bone black in oil paint...All their oils are from natural pigments, as well as real lead powder for making leaded linseed oil. They also sell the cold pressed oil for boiling "in" the lead....Dan

http://www.naturalpigments.com/

[sydney]

Hi Taylor---Brownell s has some
         Sydney

[Gaeckle]

I've often thought of trying my hand at making some....use a charring tin filled with chicken bones.....that means I need to order some wings, get some beer, put something interesting on the tube and start processing the bones.......

[Mad Monk]

Consider visiting a store that caters to gardeners.  They sell bags of bone meal to use with some bulb garden plants.  You can then use small salve tins to char what you need.
That way you know exactly what you are working with.  While charred bone meal is not fully carbon it gives one of the most intense blacks of the available non-organic blacks.

[bob in the woods]

I bought a small jar from an artist/paint/jewelry supply store some 40 years ago. I'm still using that same jar...got about 1/2 left
I mix it into epoxy for used when gluing inlays into ebony. Try an art supply store if you only need a small amount.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Great advice from you all.  Thanks much.

[JCKelly]

Whaddaya want it for?

Dunno nuthin'  about bone black in Ink, paint &c.

Bone charcoal for color casehardening may be had from www.ebonex.com, in Melvindale, Michigan.  I understand that it is the calcium phosphate in it that gives the case colors.
This from the 2-part Oscar Gaddy article in the Double Gun Journal 1996-97.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I am interested in using it per Jim Kibler's tutorial on blackening gun oil finishes.  The idea was brought to the surface again looking at Dave C's nice little rifle.

[bob in the woods]

A little goes a long way !

[sydney]

Hi--Taylor stop by and I will give you some--I won t ever use all mine
    Syddney

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Thanks Sydney.  I'll phone and make a date.

[Jim Kibler]

In my experience all bone black is not equal.  For darkening wood finish, I've found the particle size (how finely ground) to be very important.  So beware.  I've had success with material sold for finishing applications.  Even these can vary in how well they work, though.

[kutter]

I've used black photo copier 'toner' powder for many years. Extremely fine dust size particles, uniform,,nice to work with.
A small refill bottle would probably last me a couple lifetimes as a very little goes a long way.
Buy it on line or from an office supply like Office Max or Staples.

[Mad Monk]

In my experience all bone black is not equal.  For darkening wood finish, I've found the particle size (how finely ground) to be very important.  So beware.  I've had success with material sold for finishing applications.  Even these can vary in how well they work, though.

Jim,

This is true with any inorganic or organic pigment use to color goods.  At one time the iron oxide pigments were widely used in extruded and calandered PVC compounds.  But if you had to rework any of it the reworked material would be a good deal darker in color.
When I worked with the bone black as a final layer or two of finish I would add some of the finish to a mortar and use a pestle to grind the bone black into the oil until I got the desired color and depth of color.
When I ran the pigment dispersion roll mills we had a gauge that would give us the particle size of the grind to control the color in the finished batch of compound. So yes you re correct in that particle size is critical to the finished effect.