So a while back I got a bunch of tools from a farm auction - mostly striker tools from how they look (crazy mushroomed!). The other day I finally dug them out again and took the handles out of em all.
I was going to just throw them in the forge and reforge/anneal and grind but figured I better find out if this is some weird coating like a galvanized coating on it… which would be weird, but also just curious what the heck is on here.
What do you guys think?
To be honest, by the photos it looks like the stone look spray paint…does it have thickness?
Is it on the striking end where a hammer should have worn it off? AKA was it applied recently
Can it be scratched off?
You could make an acid bath to remove galvy, it should remove just about anything!
Asked some other folks, turned out it was bead blasted and that gives that look - never knew!
Anyway, I ground it down today (redressed) and rehandled. These are looking much better 
Good find. Looks like they cleaned up nicely!
