I need something black. I mean very black. I’m looking for a substance that will, under normal/dim lighting situations:
a) Reflect as little light, uniformly accross the visible spectrum, as possible.
b) Allow itself to be fixed to a flat surface.
c) Not cost an arm and a leg.
Building my own private black hole is hence out of the question, though if anyone had anything less capricious than a black hole that would achieve the same visual effect, I’m curious to hear.
Because of it’s matt / dusty finish, a heavy coat of “coal soot” reflects fuck all light. Don’t know if you wanted something else entirely, but off-hand, that’s the blackest stuff I can think of.
Hope that helps
Saw this in a recent article… check it out…
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993356
D.
“Lamp Black”, the “carbon soot” referred to above, is about the best black you can get – and it’s dirt cheap. literally. There are a few innovations on applying something that has more “nooks and crannies” to trap light, but for most applications lamp black is as good as you’re gonna get. I’ve looked this up in various places (try an internet search on telescope making, for example). Fortuitously, it’s often used as the coloring material in “flat black” paint, so it’s very easy to find.
If you need a large amount, photocopier toner can usually be had. The waste toner bags from the plotters I use at work probably hold half a pound of the stuff. Don’t think I’d like to breathe a lot of it, though…
Also research “carbon black.” Some sources show it as a synonym for lampblack, others show them as slightly different, others show one as a type of the other.
No, I don’t need a very large amount. At the very most, I would need to cover a 1/2 metre square area. Carbon soot is certainly interesting, although Daylon’s link certainly piqued my interest. I wonder how difficult it would be to manufacture stuff like that at home.
I’m not sure about the quality of toner, especially compared to the rather cheap and abundent soot.
If convenience is more important than the last degree of “blackness”, go to a fabric store and get some black velvet.
Can you believe the timing here? Who said those geeky science magazines don’t have any practical use! 
That said, I vote for Bush’s heart.
Surprisingly, black electrical tape makes a pretty good “black body” due to it’s relatively high emissivity (.96) and low transmissivity and reflectivity. I attended a FLIR Thermography training course in Boston, and the instructors recommended using the black tape to calibrate our infrared cameras. Plus it’s cheap, and can definitely be fixed to a flat surface.
Oh, come on. You’ll never cover half a square meter with that. Isn’t it two sizes too small?
Doesn’t electrical tape have a slightly glossy surface? That’s very not good. And electrical tape don’t spread too nice. Sorry.
Velvet is also very not good. Sorry.
So far carbon black and “super black” seem to be the kind of stuff I’m looking for.
Spinal Tap’s “Smell the Glove” album. You ask yourself, how much more black could it be and the answer is none, none more black.
If your looking for cheap you may want to consider a combination of flat black paint “flocked” with black fabric. In theatre, to shield the front of a light from audience view we usually put a “hat” on the front of the instrument. In order to eliminate the glare that would otherwise be bouncing off of the metallic cylinder these hats are painted flat black and coated on the inside with a felt-like substance. The combination of both black paint and fabric nearly eliminates all reflection of light and the instrument practically “disappears” from view.
You may also want to try mixing some sand into some flat black paint and see if that texture also helps reduce glare.
What if you tossed in Dick Cheney’s heart as well?
Black velvet tends to reflect near UV/deep violet, so in black light conditions it shows up quite nicely.
I would second the matte black flat paint with soot mixed in idea. A couple of coats of that on a porous wood like pine would be very close to “Smell the Glove” black.
You may already know this (especially if you heeded CalMeacham’s post) but science hobby supply sources sell sheets of ultra-black liner material for use inside homemade telescopes. IIRC, the stuff is not ultra cheap though.
Years ago I discovered that Sparvar brand black spray paint was deliciously black, far blacker than any other brand I encountered on the market. It’s been a long while since I used it so I can’t swear that the formulation has not changed.
How about black velvet?
Oops. I see that my velvet idea is old news. Sorry.
Take a big, fat candle, preferably one with a long wick (don’t trim the wick!)…
Light the candle, and hold the object you desire to be as black as carbon just high enough over the flame as to not actually get scorched, but to allow the soot coming off the flame to collect. Keep the candle moving until you’ve coated the entire surface. I did this with my bedroom ceiling when I was still living in the States, and it was the most dense flat black you ever saw. If you do this with a china plate and an oil lamp, you get lamp black. If you do it with a china plate and a candle, you get lamp black, but it’s called carbon black because you didn’t use a lamp. Carbon black/lamp black is the blackest pigment you can get without going out and grinding up some anthracite.
Just don’t go spraying gloss polyurethane over it when you’re done.
I’d insert a smilie, but somehow white seems ever so inappropriate.
Ooooh, creativity! Good. As a matter of fact, I’m using flat black paint for my needs right now. My #1 problem is glare, and I am quite ashamed that I never tried adding stuff to the paint to work around the problem.