Thanks, 8 years ago It is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. Apply heat to your object and heat up gently and equally. fascinated with blacksmithing, but have not had an income to even get it started. 2mm wire has a circumference of ~0.25in. Safety is the number one priority so protect your body as much as possible. The salts here will be slightly less corrosive (ie, just the pure KNO3, no lye), but at 600F, you have a big physical risk right in front of you. The de-greasing you do directly affects the uniformity of the browning or blueing. When Im polishing on barrels, I polish lengthwise. This answer was tested with a utility knife blade and it drilled through with ease. Blow torches only heat a small concentrated area. the cost of the burners or heaters to heat up all these tanks really only practical if you have natural gas available 'Browning' is controlled red rust Fe2O3, and is also known as 'pluming' or 'plum brown'. Alternatively, you can press the pad of steel wool between your hands over the container of acetone, and then put it on some paper towels to dry. You turn up your nose at crap guns? As I'm bluing round pieces I slowly and evenly rotate the piece over the flame to equally disburse the heat. When you add water to a hot salt tank, you get an explosion of steam, and you need to develop some skill in adding the water with a very fine copper pipe on your water hose to prevent steam blow-outs spattering salts all over you. Its durable and wears well. I like parkerization on some of my milsurps. All About Bluing Steel Stainless Steel Necessary Gears and Tools Procedure Step 1: Ready the bluing tank Step 2: Process the components of the gun Step 3: Suspend It's easy to get it too hot, too quickly - especially with an O/A or oxy-propane torch. Bluing is also used for providing coloring for steel parts of fine clocks and other fine metalwork. For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! I think DGs method is a lot safer than mine. }. Sometimes at this point, I come just a fraction away from the heat to go through colours a bit slower. Heat the gun parts. If youre interested, just ask and I can provide more details. 6 years ago. Just take them from the comments he posts. When youre using polishing paper, you think that 600 grit is very fine, and it is taking you hours to polish out something to 600. on Introduction, Hello my name is Joe and Im doing a project where Im trying to achieve the same outcome. To harden steel, start by heating the metal directly with a blow torch until it turns a cherry red color. The torch comes in when you first apply the Express Blue. I tried heating the barrel in sections (as Brownells says is ok) but did not get a very good result, being unable to get a uniform heat in any =thing approaching more than a few inches at a time. Cold blues will react with steel at room temperature, but you get more aggressive reactions when you heat the gun to, oh, 150 to 200F. Blue or Black rust is complete passivation of the steel surface Fe3O4. Its for mild steel, which must be greased, oiled or otherwise coated with something to stop it from rusting almost immediately. In the hot salt process, you will need, oh, four to six tanks, only one of which will be the heated blueing salts. Bluing involves an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface selectively forming magnetite (Fe3O4), the black oxide of iron. In my case I drilled/threaded the metal piece and made a holder with a threaded end. Friction, as from holster wear, quickly removes cold bluing, and also removes hot bluing, rust, or fume bluing over long periods of use. I am simply trying to learn anything and everything that there is to know about it. You should put the brass drift (which you can make out of a piece of brass rod about 1/4 in diameter) on the sight base, and then start tapping the end of the drift with a small hammer. However, the chemicals from the bluing process can accomplish uneven staining on aluminium and polymer parts. Any more advice is welcome SteelJunkee Joined May 6, 2018 Messages 891 2. "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dwEQfHK1tk_ZeaA4PniOA/", Because so many people are trying to do this sort of thing on the cheap, thats when I start thundering in my warnings about safety. Dont drop or try to bend the steel once its removed. Brand: Logix. Heating will make the metal better in absorbing the bluing liquid. Hunter Rising is a wikiHow Staff Writer based in Los Angeles. [4], Bluing can also be done in a furnace, for example for a sword or other item traditionally made by a blacksmith or specialist such as a weapon-smith. This will remove all the traces of the bluing solution and other chemicals. That way, you can still use your oven for the rest of the evening. It is slightly caustic, so be careful you dont leave it on the gun for long. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. "https://twitter.com/Shoot1ngMystery", The melting point for KNO3 is 633F. Excessive buffing on stainless steel could result in a grainy appearance so do it with care. 3.3k. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Craig, torch bluing is a real thing that has been use a lot in the custom gun world, mostly for screw heads but even for complete muzzle loader creations ( the vendor will be quite proud of his work it seems as cost increases considerably to a finished item). The steel will pull some of the carbon out of the oil while quenching and harden the outer portion of the metal. on Introduction. Just let any residual matter evaporate/dry. I can see my wife walking in and shaking her headabout as vigorously as when I asked if I could use the dishwasher to clean some tools. Oil-free steel wool is also sold by woodworking shops. For hazzalandy: carbon content has nothing to do with the color process, it is only the temperature you heat to, and to a lesser extent, the time spent hot. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Your container should be relatively larger than your object. just fyi, the old school method of case hardening steel is to get the piece so hot that a magnet will no longet stick to it and quickly quench it in used motor oil. You want 0000 steel wool for carding between coats. You might need two applications to clean up more deeply rusted spots. Before operating your torch, read all instructions so you know how to handle it safely. I'm trying to be positive and constructive, and think this is: for an amateur to stick a very hot torch-heated metal object into a plastic container filled with oil is simply dumb (ok, more polite: "irresponsible") at best, highly dangerous at worst. The downsides are: the safety issue, which I laid out above, and which youve made clear. A Pocket Sundial From a Broken Pocket Watch! Depending on the manufacturers manual, youll have to prepare roughly 6 to 8 tanks to perform the bluing effectively and efficiently. Different colors can be achieved through variations of this method including quenching in oil instead of water. Depending on what solution you use, the tank temperature must be maintained somewhere between 240 and 310 degrees Fahrenheit. Modern home hobbyist versions of this process typically use a hydrogen peroxide and salt solution, sometimes with vinegar, for the rusting step to avoid the need for more dangerous acids.[7]. I didnt drop outta my mommas womb being able to do this stuff. I had to sand and restain the stock, and sanded the barrel from 120 down to 400 grit the pitting was so bad. Hot NaOH is so alkaline it is great as dissolving organic materials. You can use a heat gun, a blow dryer, or a torch for this. The steel is also used for producing great police flashlights with awesome durability. I now want to reverse the process so I can drill and tap the metal tip. You can also heat the oil to create different effects. After Copyright 2023 Flixsterz. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. A few safety items: Youll want to clamp on the barrel directly under the sight youre about to drift out. Also buffing wheels pre blue. Keep posting like this. It is always essential to remove all oils from metals you want to blue, even if the cold blueing solution claims you dont need to do so. kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). Though it may seem tricky at first, youll be glad to have figured it out because knowing how to blue stainless steel will come in handy from time to time. Heat the gun parts. Christopher Graham writes all the content and reviews on this site with the help of his team of hunters and shooters. 84 or Du-Lite 3-0. If there is any finish left on the metal, it will interfere with the bluing pr Safety is the number one priority so protect your body as much as possible. However, due to the unique qualities of stainless steel, you cant simply blue the material however way you like. The higher temperatures of the other processes as well as their caustic nature could weaken the soldered joints and make the gun hazardous to use. And I work alone in my shop, and lack the required (IMO) safety facilities that are needed. If I remember right they then heated them up a bit and applied fish oil orignal and I think latter switching to linseed oil to protect the finish and give it that wet look. As a small thank you, wed like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Larger flames produce less heat while smaller flames produce a higher heat. When polishing something like the above rifle/shotgun, youve got a pretty light coat of rust, without severe pitting. Glad that there are folks like you around. Still, you will find that cold blues dont last. What I forgot to mention in all of this is a detail that seems mundane, but it critically important: Wear cotton gloves. it takes a long time to heat up a long (ie barreled action length) tank that is, oh, three barrels wide. occasionally I'll buff it afterwards. Add in the 250F+ temperatures of the salts when they hit your skin, and youre both burned thermally and chemically in seconds. All blued parts still require oiling to prevent rust. This signifies that the steel is tempered. That surface rust on the barrel could be polished off easily. Metal Finishing Guru. And for the next (after the next) installment, how to do hard case coloring. http://www.lowes.com/pd_188198-316-HG-66420_0__?productId=4764059 If you have a wood or phenolic handle, use a propane torch to heat the blade only for about two minutes. It turns out I have. "I have very limited knowledge as to how metal can be manipulated for different applications. Your tanks better be tight, your stands for the tanks better be rigid, youd better have top-of-the-line fire extinguishers (NB the plural) available to you. "https://www.facebook.com/Shooting-Mystery-110244180901951", Process that partially protects steel against rust, This article is about the historical uses of black oxide. You can experiment ultimately what oils to use. Hot blueing is a good process, especially if you have a lot of iron to shove through the blueing process quickly. The part you want to place in the receiving part is cold often just placed in a freezer for a few hours. Bear in mind not to touch the walls of your container as you don't want to disturb the process of what's happening!