PURPOSE: To produce a sintered member at a low cost without carrying out a sintering stage by forming a green compact in a forming stage and passing it through a steam blackening stage to form an oxide film on the green compact optionally after dewaxing and to carry out bonding and solidification.

CONSTITUTION: When an iron-base sintered member is produced, iron powder 1 is mixed with a lubricant 2 in a mixing stage I and a green compact 3 of the mixture is formed in a forming stage II. The green compact 3 is then passed through a steam blackening stage III, where it is dewaxed by preheating in a preheating part (a) and treated at a low temp. in a treating part (b) by feeding steam to form an oxide film 5 on the green compact 3. The green compact 3 having the oxide film 5 is cooled in a cooling part (c) to produce a sintered member 4'. The whole surface of the green compact 3 is coated with the oxide film 5 and the particles in the surface layer are bonded together and solidified, so a sintering stage is made unnecessary to shorten producing stages. A low-cost member can be provided to a field where very high strength is not required.