realistic knife blade finish?

[auzorann]

would anyone happen to know a good method for painting a resin knife blade? i've been looking at different chrome paints but none of them seem to work as advertised. every time i attempt to clear coat the chrome it turns to a gray silver.

i've seen bity mold use metallic powder pigments in their mold and that seems to work well but i was hoping for something more reflective.

the kits like killer chrome are a bit expensive to just be experimenting with so if anyone has experience with products like that i would love to hear about it.

 

[MadMike]

every time i attempt to clear coat the chrome it turns to a gray silver.

maybe i oversee something, but...why do you clear coat it?

 

[clancampbell]

Yeah, clear coat can ruin your efforts....i take it you want a shiny polished looking finish? Why not try appling aluminum foil tape? It's self adhesive (strong at that!) and if carefully applied, can really give the impression of actual metal.....which it is. The rolls can be pretty wide too, meaning you could do one side of the blade in a single strip. If it goes wron, just pull it all off, use something like acetone to remove adhesive blobs and try again. Small creases can be rubbed out and the tape itself can be polished!

Give it a go.

Rich

 

[steveo3002]

yeah the chrome paints dont usualy need clear coat

alclad chrome is pretty good for paint , but it needs to go over a flawess gloss black base

 

[ChaoBreeder]

He needs a knife that isn't chrome, but isn't dull IIRC. The aluminum tape might not work with the shape of the blade. It is a Buck 120, ala Scream.

EDIT: You might want to check this thread out, same problem with resin.

http://www.therpf.com/f11/realistic-aluminum-paint-finish-options-81087/

 

[cayman shen]

Not to be obtuse, but isn't that a common and inexpensive knife? Why go through the bother of buying and painting a resin copy?

 

[auzorann]

if i don't clear coat the chrome it will rub off. so far, all the chrome i've tested rubs right off. you can't handle it at all.

i thought about chrome tape last night. i'll probably pick some up and give it a try. never know, it may work and look good lol.

i wanted a resin buck 120 because it's hard to take a real knife to a convention or during any type of costume event. getting a buck 120 outside the US is a problem. so for the international guys this is the perfect alternative. it seems the knife has been discontinued as well.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Does it have to be that exact design? What type of costume is this going with?

 

[auzorann]

Does it have to be that exact design? What type of costume is this going with?

yes, it can't be another design or model. they'll be used with scream costumes.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

I've never used it but what about Alcad II? I remember it being very popular years ago. Do people still use it? If I remember correctly, you could buff it with a cloth.

 

[ChaoBreeder]

Not to be obtuse, but isn't that a common and inexpensive knife? Why go through the bother of buying and painting a resin copy?

No, actually it's been discontinued because it was too big to gut stuff. And they usually go for $100+ on eBay.

 

[Interceptor6]

Could you grind the blade from aluminum? and just leave it extremely dull.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Here is the Alcad II website. This is the link to the high shine section. I guess you would want steel. You need to have an airbrush but that is one of the essential tools all prop builders should have.

 

[auzorann]

yeah i've been thinking about getting an airbrush anyway. so i may give this a try. it's much much cheaper than killer chrome anyway lol.

thanks guys. i'll post some pictures when i get this finished.

 

[robstyle]

There is another trick you can try but its going to take you awhile to master. Pop open a can of dull aluminum spray paint and a can of chrome spray paint, mix them together, thin with a mix of alcohol and acetone, stir well. Now, get a chip brush larger than the width of the blade and stir it around in the paint while at the same time running the blade with a dusting of alcohol (lint free rag, mist, whatever) then quickly run the chip brush lengthwise across the entire blade surface. Once youve mastered this, youll get a near dead ringer for a stainless blade. The nice part about it is the paint is so thin its easy to clean off if a mistake happens.

Your base material would need to be black so unless your knife is cast in a black color and as shiny as possible, the finish will vary. Of course with Alclad and all the "chrome" airbsuh paints the base will need to be as gloss black as possible.

 

[chuckyAPP]

I've used killer chrome and it works great.