I've made a few damascus steel blade using high carbon steel with manganese which is a dark greyish colour and silver steel.

They look awsome but they are quite common designs. I was wondrin if there were any colored metals that i could use.

i was thinkin red gord but with such a low meltin point it would be difficult to weld the layersin a billet

Yeh i used some in one of my blade but its still a silver metalic color i was hopin to find a more distinct red, blue or green

I've seen some coloured damascus blades (reds and blues), anodising comes to mind, but I'm not sure to be honest. Bluing and browning solutions will effect the different steels to a lesser or greater degree too

Etch deeply, put the color on (chemical patina or whatever works), then sand it off of the high bits.

ill definately try the etch and color method.

 

i was considring another method,  if i got a strip of steel about  1 meter long 3cm wide and 2mm thick and anodised then cut the strip into about 5 pieces. I would the stack em into a billet draw it out to the intial dimension and repeat.

will i be able to forge weld them (they have an aluminium coat from the anodizing so i'm not sure?

will they keep the color?

 

just wanna know the chances of that working before i try it out

the aluminium will have melted away long before you get it to welding temperatures :D

IF you want good steel and good color there is always the lazer marking.  Last I checked you can get Silver, Gold, Black, Dark Blue, Green, Yellow, Light Blue, Violet, Red, Magenta, Gray, Olive.  I hope you  have plenty of money for that look up thier info if you want to buy the machine, they are out of Meadville, PA

take a look at this.

http://knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48537&highlight=COLORING+DAMASCUS

 

and

 

http://www.caffreyknives.net/bsteel.htm

I've heard that if you scrub yellow hot steel with a brass brush it turns it a mild gold color.

Think I remember reading in a Blacksmithing book from highschool bout 2-3 years ago that Indonesia or somewhere they used citric acid on their patterned steel blades and it made it an orangy colour. I think the book was Alex W. Bealers second edition.

I've heard that if you scrub yellow hot steel with a brass brush it turns it a mild gold color.

This does, indeed work... doesn't need to be that hot tho... I've rubbed dull red to black heat display horseshoes with a brass brush, and it definitely deposits plenty of color.  You don't get a complete coating, but it looks pretty wicked. :)

I have a book on knife making that says you can rub mustard on the blade after it is well degreased. The acid on the mustard bonds with the iron and creates a discolored protective coating. Doesn't say what the color is though.

search for mustard etch here and elsewhere to find pics, doesn't turn the blade yellow, it just removes some of the existing patina thickness making it lighter colored where the mustard was.  the viscosity of the mustard lets you get some neat splatter effects on the blade.

A picture if a knife treated with mustard