Thread: Darkening Stainless Wire

I have a roll of stainless 27# wire leader material. But its stainless, as in bright & shiny stainless.
Anyone know of a way to "stain" it brown??
Or is it useable as is?

Black magic marker.....won't last real long, but wouldn't anyway with the shark issues.......as in leader getting cut or broke off

I suggest immersion in Coke or Pepsi. No, I'm not kidding. The phosphoric acid MIGHT be enough to put an etch in it.

You may need to play with temperature (increase to about 140*) and certainly time (8-12 hours or more).

Having worked in the industry, pickling stainless was always a challenge and only truly manageable with hydroflouric acid. Thank God, you can't find any. Think: "Aliens" but worse.

Cut 30" or so; wrap it into small coil and place in plastic cup; add 1/2" Clorox. Unless it is 314 or greater, you should be able to discolor the finish, but watch it. Don't know the composition, so you should check it every hour or so. Tomato juice, fresh, or lemon juice may get the same results, depending on composition.

Originally Posted by bodebum

Cut 30" or so; wrap it into small coil and place in plastic cup; add 1/2" Clorox. Unless it is 314 or greater, you should be able to discolor the finish, but watch it. Don't know the composition, so you should check it every hour or so. Tomato juice, fresh, or lemon juice may get the same results, depending on composition.

PS: Not all Stainless is Stainless. Real stainless steel is expensive.

Originally Posted by bodebum

PS: Not all Stainless is Stainless. Real stainless steel is expensive.

Yep, the name is stain-less, not stain-proof.

Hey Carl: if you do make a coil wrapped around itself, you could end up with light and dark stripes spiraling along its length, because of the overlap of the wire. Could that be more attractive moving through the water than a solid shape? Curious minds want to know.

Carl about how thick is the 27 wire. I have a acid machine that we use to take the burn out of stainless after we weld it. If you don't wash the acid off it will ghost the stainless. If I have some wire close to that size I will play around with it and see what's the best way to make it change. On a side note chloroix will eat stainless up.

Thanks guys!
The wire is 0.011, from Cabela's:

Cabela's Single Strand Wire : Cabela's

I caught a 50 lb. cobia on live bait once, in really clear water, using a shiny metal guitar string as my wire leader(we were fishing for king mackerel) . If it's really shiny it may be so reflective as to be nearly invisible! We also caught small kings and many barracudas on that outing.