The totally cheesy way out: I think there are even plastic laminates that mimic rusted steel patina.

But I'm only posting that suggestion because I wanted to say something marginally helpful in addition to what I really wanted to post: that I read the thread title as "CorTen Flakes!" and was all excited about a breakfast cereal!

I've finally located a plastic laminate that mimics plastic laminate.

i'm the dude playing the dude disquised as another dude........

there are some tiles that look pretty decent too (not plastic)

yeah, CorTen Flakes are great and all, but I'm really more partial to In-Situ Concrete Jacks

Frosted Efflorescence Blocks are another favorite, when I want something sweet, but they usually give me a stomach ache.

Tasty blocks, yes, but I Baroque my tooth on one...

(Please accept my pre-apologies for that one.)

You can newer emagine, how strange this is for me, please tell me ; why fake rusty steel ?
I simply don't get it, it will be fake what it will make will be made with fake corton steel, why ?

Kurt, you only need to apologize to me if you fail to make more Baroque j(ar)okes.

wht dont you just rust some mill finish steel and call it good? there isn't any humidity in the interior conditioned environment anyway.

I am looking for fake CorTen steel as anybody that has used this before will know that it is completely impractical wihen dealing with this horrid stuff it is ok for exterior cladding but when it comes to interiors, people will touch it and it marks etc etc. so something that looks like it would be more practical.

Please can people post relevant disscussions? Thanks

I think le bossman has it. You are not going to find a fake corten product that looks close for interior use. The only fake products look terrible close up. If you use a mild steel sheet you could play with different agents to get the rusty look you are looking for, then hit it with a good sealer. It's probably not a permanent solution as rust doesn't always like to behave, but at least you would be using a real material not a poor fake.

It's like say you really like Pomeranians, but at the same time you realize their impracticality for your duck hunting trip. Your Pom might tolerate the Lab costume, but he won't retrieve ducks very well.

Now, have you realised real Corton Steel ,why shuldn't a surface treaded Steel plate system not be better than a fake of the same. Why this obsessed drive to realy make it fake, when atleast some things, would be handy in steel plate construction . As best honeycomb lattrice, but second to that.
Designers shuld not underestimate structures ,that with N.C. can cost as little as 7 usd. pr sq. feet. What's wrong with a Wigvam at 12 usd. pr. sq. feet Corton cut from the perspective of a rough exteriour weigh a Tonn. and I there agrea compleatly, that N.C. cutting is the only thing that make it work, makeing anything, every structure as such, -- things that will profit a strong lattrice. Car -- Plane -- house, most would profit gigantic by a calculated basic structure, but Corton qas allready fake paneling on heavy cocrete boxes.
An iinteresting issue, is the rare color, sidewalks attract after just a few years near to --- a over rusting thin paneling, of the vores ever steel plate display ; or what ?

I hear ya, Per, but Pomeranians are just not that practical.

Well I love itm this iron oxide is not poison, but I admire when people pay so much attension to architecture, and remember, I talk only of architecture as most, when Corton was used. Building an intire structure from steel plate seems reasoable, as you can patch together, from an overall full-scale drawing.
Extra overlaps has the holes cut while cutting turn out cheaper then drilling, and with a system like this on Mars, there would be housing at remote, even places you wouldn't want to live. I just love the rust impregnated concrete sidewalk I seen at one of these architectural Icons.

ktx41, you asked for a "relevant discussion"?

Here's one.

If you're looking for a material to mimic another material because the one you want isn't practical then you're not doing the real work of design - you're decorating.

i've found that the rust doesn't really come off on your clothes all that much unless it's been rusting for decades. and you can put lacquer on the steel to seal it...not sure why these aren't relevant posts.

i have only used corten on exterior applications. the panels were coated, but i am not sure how that held up. i guess if you wanted to use it you could detail whatever you are thinking of to recess the material a bit so it wouldn't be brushed up against too easily...?

as for fakeness, well thats just a matter of taste and ability. morality about materials is just too easy to be hypocritical about. once you have done a 2x4 (or 6) building its impossible to be anything other than the kettle calling the pot black (or vice versa) anyway, because that is ALL decorating. hence the term decorated shed.

so go for it. fake it up and fcuk the critics. but be good at it.

I met a decorator who says he treats steel with muriatic acid and Pam (yes, fry-pan coating) for a dark and irregular finish. Don't know where the recipe came from. . .

I think you should just spray the entire thing with orange granitex...

Remember Zolatone ?

There's a little townhouse here, South of Market, whose street front is entirely CorTen. After five years or so, the ground floor portion of the facade is now painted. Graffiti. . .

jump: Obviously my high-falutin' "material honesty" is pretty lofty unless one is building out of mud and sticks. Can you agree though that there's a difference between a fake usage of materials and a fake material? For example, brick veneer on a stud building vs. an asphalt sheathing material printed with a brick pattern?

Obviously the latter is a "real" material; it exists in space and time as an object etc., but it's one material masquerading as another. The brick veneer is a material used in a potentially-less-than-"honest" way, but it's not pretending to be another material, it's pretending to be another application of that material.

Honestly, I've used materials both ways, but I can't name a single material that mimics something else that I like.

LB,

you know i am a baaaaad architect because i am quite content with asphalt printed with brick pattern.

sad isn't it?

i agree that i probably wouldn't use it, but i expect that is my limitation not something intrinsic to the material. honesty of that sort just doesn't make any sense to me. i think it used to, but only because i was carefully indoctrinated by modernists. in the decades since i was taught that way, it has sort of fallen by the wayside. i could probably even be persuaded to like a lot of fake materials.

No stains on the sidewalk.

But jump you're an EXCELLENT architect! And you're right that "honesty" has to be pretty flexible in this field.

Per, you made me laugh. So cogent. Though staining can be desirable too.

As to original topic, I think bossman has hit the right answer. Mild steel is gorgeous and has that industrial/raw quality of Corten, but is frankly more interesting (especially in an interior application) as it's not as homogenous.

"...you know i am a baaaaad architect because i am quite content with asphalt printed with brick pattern..."

You might very well be bad -- it depends how thick the asphalt is...

:-)

not really a fake, but done on 14ga steel.
This is for an A class office lobby in Miami (Brickell)...project I am working on.

i LIKE THE REAL MCCOY!




Richard Serra, installation view of Torqued Ellipse II, Double Torqued Ellipse, and Torqued Ellipse I, 1996— and 2000, 2000.

DIA MUSEUM BEACON, NEW YORK

We did a large reception desk from rusted mild steel, lacquered as suggested earlier. Dozens of people lean on this thing every day and it's held up just fine for 2 years so far.

Automotive clear coats tend to be pretty stable and durable, as they're meant for outdoor use, but you might need a pro with the proper equipment to do it properly.

What's the quickest way to develop that coat of rust ?

i know a guy who makes his own concoction, mostly out of vinegar.

Is rust created through some type of catalyzed process (the vinegar concoction, for example) an "honest" form of rust? Or is it "fake" rust?

Further, why would there ever be big hunks of evenly rusted metal INSIDE a building? Is that an "honest" material use?

Just checking.

"honesty, is such a lonely word"
b.joel

who ever said "honesty" trumps quality of space in architecture?

Well there are in fact two types of rust, the outher rusty one, and a thin surface of black iron oxide ; it is that that later take in more oxide and become the rust we know. That mean rust frow in two stages, and the rust we know can not come, unless the so called black rust is first created. With the green on copper roofs it's much more complicated, as that is not just copper oxide as that is black and not green, so there the CO2 in the air is needed to create the green surface on copper roofs, and with red rust, well vinegar proberly start the process, but it's water and CO2. warious other oxygen that make it red.---- Gee that shuld be the whole essense about Corton steel, it simply rust in a different way than mild steel.

BUMP

I'm wondering how this project turned out.  Looking to use Corten as well on an interior focal wall but I am concerned with flaking.  Since it's been a few years are there any products out there now that will achieve the look without the flaking?

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.