I heat treated a piece of carbon steel to make it less likely to wear (using its edge as a cutting surface in a wood turning application). Cold blueing is OK for touchups, at best. Last Updated: May 13, 2022 "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dwEQfHK1tk_ZeaA4PniOA/", I can then get the temp to be 600F spot-on in a lead melting pot. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience :) ). These work by depositing a coating of copper selenide on the surface. These include hot bluing, cold bluing, niter bluing, and so on. "mainEntityOfPage": "https://shootingmystery.com/blue-stainless-steel-beginners/", Wear thick gloves and a face mask before you quench your steel so the water or oil doesnt splash onto your hands. These minerals (often calcium and magnesium compounds) tend to result in blotchy and uneven results. How to colour steel with heat (hot oil finish) is a simple but effective way of achieving a desired colour of choice.The colours are fantastic and often come out in a beautiful two-tone shine. Ill detail why. This is often achieved without chemicals by simply heating the steel until a blue oxide film appears. Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. After spending most of his career as a firearms expert and enthusiast, he retreated to the great outdoors to raise his family in peace and quiet. They have their place, but doing a whole gun with them isnt that place. My apologies for the background noise in the first half of the video We had compressors running where I If youre using acetone to de-oil, dont be afraid to do it more than once. Spilling salts at this temperature will instantly result in fire, because the KNO3 is a powerful oxidizer all on its own, and the added thermal energy will light anything on fire all alone. Then wipe off all excess oil and look at your beautiful finished object! Alternitavely you can leave it in the oil bath to stabilize. Historically, razor blades were often blued steel. Dont touch the metal with your bare hands since it could cause severe burns. Rust bluing is also used on shotgun barrels that are soldered to the rib between the barrels, as hot bluing solutions melt the solder during the bluing process. Theres nothing I see as super-dangerous about blueing other than trying to do hot salt blueing without all the correct safety equipment and precautions. Glad that there are folks like you around. This item: Special Blue Full Metal Butane Torch (Gold) - Refillable Flame Lighter- Culinary Torch - Welding Torch - Adjustable Dual Flame for Desserts, Creme Brulee, BBQ and Baking. Its a good process, but it isnt a 1:1 replacement for blueing. Dont. If you havent done it before, wait until I mention some items about it. WebThe gun bluing process Start with 1 gallon of water and add it to a deep fryer that has been thoroughly cleaned. Add the two together and you have what is akin to rocket fuel in your face a way of oxidizing almost any organic material with insufficient water for cooling into a furious flame. Premium fencing blades are often offered with a blued finish. 99. Submerge in water and scrape edge. Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full pricewine, food delivery, clothing and more. Cooking off the more volatile hydrocarbons leaving the heavier ones produces a different effect yet again. If the sights need to be stripped & blued, follow the same procedure, but dont polish on them. Heat the Steel. Dont scrub the solution onto the gun, just run a patch that is not dripping wet down one complete run on the barrel/action in one smooth stroke. It is generally employed on smaller parts such as pins, screws, sights, etc. One of the reasons I hand-polish up to 600 and buff only above that is that when you see one of my barrels (by holding it up to a light source, and sighting down the barrel from the muzzle at your eye to the breech out at arms length), you see no dips, waves, ripples, etc. This process leaves a deep blue-black finish. You can experiment ultimately what oils to use. Also buffing wheels pre blue. Contemporary heat-treatable steels did not exist or were in their infancy. I wouldnt use this bluing method for these items. Either that or the steel wool. For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! I can't stress how important the degreasing step is! You can improve your results by doing two things: 1. You work on nice guns! You can use a heat gun, a blow dryer, or a torch for this. it washes off with water. journeyman. ", https://mgs.edu/making-chisels-skips-newsletter/, http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/heat1.htm. RF: Expect a write-up from me on Rust blueing and parkerizing in the next couple of weeks. 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. 2 years ago, For the record The gentleman said multiple times that the plastic container shown in the pictures was just for the instructional photos and to be sure that the container is made of metal for this process, (Homer Simpson smacking his forehead: "DOH! I have to finish my M76 and Galil first and buy the materials. Bluing may be applied by immersing steel parts in a solution of potassium nitrate, sodium hydroxide, and water heated to the boiling point, 275310F (135154C) depending on the recipe. The use of stainless steel alloy varies a lot from one manufacturer to the other and thats why the bluing effect wont always be consistent. This works well for me. Take them out after a couple of minutes and then wipe them clean to remove excess oil. 3 years ago 1. You will need:-2x containers (one of them preferably being metal for the oil)-oil -unleaded petrol/Acetone/Terpentine/Rubbing alcohol or any goo While I am certain that I could do it myself, you already have all the bits and parts and stuff so it is worth my dollars to buy a gunsmiths time to have this done for me. The mixture is heated to 310 to 321C (590 to 610F) and the parts are suspended in this solution with wire. Here is a simple way to get a blued finish on steel. 2. For the process your metal should be nicely polished for the best results.The more shinier the polish the more your end result will glow. I can' It is also used by machinists, to protect and beautify tools made for their own use. Its for mild steel, which must be greased, oiled or otherwise coated with something to stop it from rusting almost immediately. Youre a gunsmith who has a lot of nice guns! It does provide good rust resistance, which is improved with oil. Treating with an oiled coating enhances the protection offered by the bluing. You can get a IR non-contact thermometer for less than $20 at Harbor Freight. Free shipping. They should send you a stipend for your time. }. 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. "publisher": { WebBluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust using a black oxide coating. If cold bluing is the only practical option, the area should be kept oiled to extend the life of the coating as much as possible. The inside barrel was saved by the fact it was so full of lead fouling. Ferrari installs valve seats in their aluminum cylinder heads via robot. Any gun. Its oiled in production to keep it from rusting on store shelves. Once the steel is clean, you can begin heating it up. Then you pull it out and scrape off the oil along the blade edge. After that, slowly and steadily stir the solution in, Step 2: Process the components of the gun, Wait for 10 15 minutes and then take out the components. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Free shipping for many products! Pour in If you dont drain the barrel or action recesses properly before putting a barrel or action into a hot salt tank, then you will find out in a hell of a hurry as the water flashes to steam under the surface and again, splatters hot, highly caustic lye/nitrite salts all over you and your shop. Hot blueing is a good process, especially if you have a lot of iron to shove through the blueing process quickly. In the nitre bluing process, polished and cleaned steel parts are immersed in a bath of molten saltstypically potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate (sometimes with 9.4 grams (0.33oz) of manganese dioxide per pound of total nitrate). The robot gives the steel valve seat a quick blast with liquid nitrogen and drops the seat right in place. Salts. The hot washing soda tank typically used in gunsmith shops is caustic washing soda, and if you leave the gun in long enough, youll start to see corrosion on the gun before you get to the blueing step. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. The steel is also used for producing great police flashlights with awesome durability. "https://www.facebook.com/Shooting-Mystery-110244180901951", highfour, case hardening is a bit different from what you describe.. Usually, the steel needs some time in a medium that will allow carbon to penetrate the surface, and we are talking 15 minutes to several hours. Nowadays, even mild steel does have a certain amount of carbon in the alloy, which can explain your observations, if you google "super quench," you should find a waterbased quench that is rumoured to do the same, but in my humble opinion, water can do just that as well. Ok you gotta help me out herewhen I was studying mechanical engineering a good few years back a project I done involved using a compression fit of 1/4" thick plate steel into 1" thick steel rod, both mild steel. As I'm bluing round pieces I slowly and evenly rotate the piece over the flame to equally disburse the heat. That seems wasteful. The downsides are: the safety issue, which I laid out above, and which youve made clear. Itll evaporate rather rapidly, but still, dont whip it at cars or house finishes. Vegetable oil has a higher boiling point, so the hot steel will take longer to cool and reduce the chance of it cracking. it takes a long time to heat up a long (ie barreled action length) tank that is, oh, three barrels wide. It was left in a flannel gun case in the back of a moist closet for 25+ years. } The "hot" process is an alkali salt solution using potassium nitrite or sodium nitrate and sodium hydroxide, referred to as "traditional caustic black", that is typically done at an elevated temperature, 135 to 155C (275 to 311F). }, For larger pieces of steel, you need to use a. It would be a good idea to get some gloves on. I have done a cold blue on a very rusted .22 for a friend. This is as deadly as the lye-based hot salts, but more for the temperature of a large batch of salts. Battery acid is childs play compared to blueing salts. http://www.lowes.com/pd_188198-316-HG-66420_0__?productId=4764059 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. It had been thoroughly degreased before my first attempt, but in trying to repair a poor result, I apparently contaminated it a bit. Make sure to check every nook and cranny of the components so that you can find any discoloration or blemishes. Safety is the number one priority so protect your body as much as possible. There are many simple ways to achieve good bluing. The tank of distilled water you heat with a camp stove, the kitchen stove (Im not responsible for marital discord and disruptions of conjugal relations) or some other much larger heat source to a boil. I have in the past few years became more and more. Although the steel parts, such as anOrdains watch hands, are near enough miniscule, each Why do you bother with all this crap?. Woodworkers doing furniture finishing will use 000 and 0000 wool, and they hate oil on their wool for rubbing down oil finishes. I don't understand why you are submerging it in oil? 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. However, oil may spill and create a fire hazard if the steel is put into the oil too quickly. for 6-8 hours. This is all from memory so I might have left some stuff out. Todos los derechos reservados. Im asking because theres a guy on YouTube recommending Brown Express first, then several layers of Blue over that. The cotton gloves insulate your fingers from the heated barrel, and they prevent oils from your skin from getting on the raw steel. Interesting and informative as always. I wore latex gloves, as Brownells recommended, but used a pot holder to handle the hot barrel, and that may have been the source. Ill wait for and look forward to your article! However, the chemicals from the bluing process can accomplish uneven staining on aluminium and polymer parts. If there is any finish left on the metal, it will interfere with the bluing pr The hotter the steel, the further the oxygen can diffuse through the oxide coating, so the coating builds thicker before it protects the steel from further oxidation. Even a fingerprint will affect the consistency of the colour. After Also Dont get the 275-300F bath on you. With a simple heating and quenching process, you can make your steel last for much longer! Many older browning and bluing formulas are based on corrosive solutions (necessary to cause metal to rust), and often contain cyanide or mercury salts solutions that are especially toxic to humans. This step should be done before heating the steel, as the steel should be quenched immediately after removing from heat. A Garden Gun Cultivates a Newfound Fascination, AZ Judge Dan Slayton Refuses to Reduce $2m Bail in Flagstaff Campus Self Defense Case, State Judge Issues Order Blocking Enforcement of Illinois Firearms Ban Act Statewide, Protecting and Serving: Springfield, IL Police Seized Homeowners Gun After Investigating Her Report of a Prowler UPDATED, Chicagos Failed Mayor Lori Lightfoot Loses in Reelection EffortBadly, http://www.lowes.com/pd_188198-316-HG-66420_0__?productId=4764059, http://cdn.spectrumbrands.com/~/media/Spectracide/Files/MSDS/SpectracideStumpRemoverGranulesSDSApr15.ashx. Add 5 lbs of regular table salt to the water. "I have very limited knowledge as to how metal can be manipulated for different applications. You can make your own desiccant packs with kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). Thanks for always being so willing to share, Sir. Thank you, DG! Ill go into parkerization later this week. Its a pretty straightforward process. Hang the trigger group again, re-stock and you should be done. The ideal setup is a pair of long sleeve gloves along with splash goggles and a face mask. In literally 10 seconds on a buffing wheel incorrectly applied, I could screw that up to a point where it might take be eight+ hours of hand polishing to recover my prior results. You can also heat the oil to create different effects. The tempering reduces the amount of martensite and thus makes the steel softer. DG thank you. "url": "https://shootingmystery.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/How-to-Blue-Stainless-Steel-in-5-Easy-Steps.jpg" The name of the process actually comes from the blue-black appearance of the black iron oxide. Once you get the colour you want, go outside to your oil container and fully quench your object into the oil! Heat the area with a torch until it stops sweating. For this reason, it is considered not to add any appreciable thickness to precisely-machined gun parts. Not only does it give you an alchemical feeling of satisfactionbut it also gives the metal a finish to stop corrosion. "name": "Shooting Mystery", The "turning blue" process has nothing to do with hardening of the steel, or its compression. Have proper ventilation and use proper modern safety gear! I didnt drop outta my mommas womb being able to do this stuff. I have also had good results with 5w/30 motor oil, I've also used two-stroke oil with good results. For this Instructable I'm using thread cutting oil. Heat the area you'd like to drill just until it starts to glow red, then allow it to cool slowly. Go on and start bluing! Slow rust blueing can take a week or more to accomplish, but it is a durable blue job like no other. You want 0000 steel wool for carding between coats. Not blessed with a climate controlled safe. Reply Acetone is also useful for de-greasing the barreled action. Be patient in the first few minutes as the metal needs to reach the temperatures where it changes colour! FigureLLC. Brand: Logix. Bluing also helps to maintain the metal finish by resisting superficial scratching, and also helps to reduce glare to the eyes of the shooter when looking down the barrel of the gun. Dont pour water in to your bath! It is usually sold in a 1lb bottle for $3, you'll need 3 or 4 pounds probably. 2. I rarely use them. Shooting Mystery is reader-supported. Follow the instructions. on Introduction. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Use your torch to bring up Step 3: Suspend the components in the bluing solution tank, However, if the bluing effect isnt satisfactory, then you can try giving the components an acid bath (using, Step 4: Rinse the components in a cold water tank then transfer them to a hot one, Step 5: Submerge the components in a tank filled with water displacing oil, Address: 4455 Camp Bowie Blvd, Ste 114 #852, Fort Worth, TX 76107. (meaning oxygen atoms are able to attach themselves to the outer layer of the steel)We did this with an electromagnet! Usually they would pack the parts in crucibles and surround them with leather, wood, coal,bone etcThey would heat them up to 1200F to 1500F and hold them at this temp. They should start gassing up approximately 2 to 3 minutes after exposure. Cold bluing is not particularly resistant to holster wear, nor does it provide a large degree of rust resistance. It's worth noting that there can be some additives in motor oil that release hydrocarbons when burnt which is a known carcinogens to the body (in other words: Bad Stuff!). JUST DONT. Dont mess with hot salts. Wipe them down with WD-40 on a regular basis. 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. I have always wondered about storage in gun soft cases or the foamed Hard cases, and humid or dry, heat and cold. Any more advice is welcome SteelJunkee Joined May 6, 2018 Messages 891 Share it with us! Picture Information. As a small thank you, wed like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). SO, DG; unless I missed it, I am assuming the torch is used separate from heating the tank/ container with the boiling solution. That would be a hot salt blueing mix. Mea maxima culpa - and I left my comment up rather than delete the thread (for now) just so I could reply and admit the My Dumb, rather than skulk away cleanly >;-), Question A few safety items: WHERE or when would the torch get used? Now securely hold your piece with whatever you have chosen. It is slightly caustic, so be careful you dont leave it on the gun for long. WebStep 1: Preparing Your Materials You will need: -2x containers (one of them preferably being metal for the oil) -oil -unleaded petrol/Acetone/Terpentine/Rubbing alcohol or any good Do NOT wipe/touch your metal with anything after degreasing as the whole purpose of cleaning was then for nothing. Oil and grease really are the enemy because youre trying to (literally) corrode the metal. Oil binds with the metal and prevent it from getting air/chemicals to corrode. I plan on doing this on a couple of older beaters first. "author": "Christopher Graham", How do I harden a steel hammer so that is lasts longer and is more durable? Pull it out of the tank and place on a drain rack. it would appear these sights are drifted into dovetails. Can a softly tempered piece be re-tempered harder without going through the hardening procedure again? Bluing is a process usually used by gun owners and firearms manufacturers to improve the aesthetic value of their weapons. To remove them, you put the action/barrel into a sturdy vise (padded with soft jaws) and you use a piece of brass rod to drift the sights out. of the steel than do not even try this on something that is anything other than artistic in nature! on Introduction. There's also blued hardware available, like nuts, bolts, screws, and hinges. The cabinet is then sealed. "https://www.pinterest.com/theshootingmystery/", By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Dont want to get any of the liquid on you its 700F. Commercial products are widely sold in small bottles for cold bluing firearms, and these products are primarily used by individual gun owners for implementing small touch-ups to a gun's finish, to prevent a small scratch from becoming a major source of rust on a gun over time. Oxides come after its been heated to a red heat and cooled. Ill be saving this for the future. Heating up a tank on the kitchen stove. References You want to be in the range of 600 to 650F. These processes were later abandoned by major firearm manufacturers as it often took parts days to finish completely, and was very labor-intensive. You MUST plug your barrels, gas cylinders, remove your pistons, etc. Safety notes: Dont use an aluminum pan. 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. Once you strip the blue & rust, then you can see what youre dealing with. Being prepared is important if you can not measure the temp. I ended up with some spots where the browning did not take, and a few dull spots, most of which I was able to buff out with steel wool soaked with gun oil. occasionally I'll buff it afterwards. 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. WD-40, as mentioned earlier, is a water-displacing oil compound not a penetrating lube, and for preventing rust, WD-40 actually works pretty well, but it doesnt last like cosmoline or waxy oils used for long-term rust prevention. Keep heating the steel until you notice a blue color form on the metal. Great column, and thanks for all the responses to various questions and comments. The rod was heated and the plate 2" square was inserted and the rod shrunk onto it. Higher carbon contents will take longer to heat. Black iron wire You will need black iron wire to tie around any object you 1. polish it very well 2. clean very well 3. quick dip in dilute FeCl (4:1) is what I use 4. rinse in cold running water and pat It, too, must be oiled to provide any significant rust resistance. Make sure the piece is chemically clean, sandblasting followed by power wire brushing is good then stop heating when you hit purple because the heat will travel. Thanks a lot for sharing. I use it, oh so cautiously in making my biodiesel. fascinated with blacksmithing, but have not had an income to even get it started. Seriously, this is interesting and thank you for posting it, but I hope to never be in a position where I need to use either of these techniques! While still hot and while wearing rubber gloves rub the bluing compound Into the steel with the steel wool. The colours range through straw, gold, brown, purple, blue, teal, then black. Dont drop or try to bend the steel once its removed. Youll want to clamp on the barrel directly under the sight youre about to drift out. "Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colours steel black, or more often a very dark grey. Its a good process for processing lots of guns, but I simply cannot recommend it for people who just want to do a gun here or a gun there.. By using our site, you agree to our. I have cut and polished 4 pieces of mild steel to demonstrate different colour stages. The easier of the two methods, hot bluing only requires some degreasing agent, a heating apparatus (a blow torch is perfect for this), and any kind of oil. 4. Once you get the colour you want, go outside to your oil container and fully quench your object into the oil!Note: I know a plastic container is An iron wire, stainless dipper, and part basket are required to handle the guns components and adjust the bluing solution as well. Keep a fire extinguisher near your workstation in case of a fire. Thermometers and stirring tools are also needed, as well as something to heat up the tanks. Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. I really appreciate you taking the time to share it DG. Excessive buffing on stainless steel could result in a grainy appearance so do it with care. 2 years ago YouTube - Nitre bluing a few gun parts. This article received 28 testimonials and 92% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. Next, suspend the components in a cleaning solution tank to get rid of dirt, oil, grease, and crud. Youll get a dark spot right there. Steps to Hot Blue Steel with a Torch When youre done, attach the thermometer to the tank and fire up the burner. 5 years ago, I found that heating will turn steel silver ~> gold ~> violet ~> blue. . Are you sure you want to heat the steel to 700F in that early step? Many double-barreled shotguns are soft soldered (lead) or silver brazed together and many of the parts are attached by that method also. You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. Browning a gun gives you a nice, even brown patina finish of red rust on a gun. I have at least three cold blue solutions in my shop including Oxpho-blue, 44-40 and others. However, rust bluing small areas often match, blend, and wear better than any cold bluing process. 4.3 out of 5 stars 242 ratings-30% $12.99 $ 12. Keep them in that state while you heat them but be sure to not boil up the tank. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. $36.73. Pour in some acetone, and while wearing rubber gloves (dishwashing gloves are OK), put in a pad of 0000 steel wool, swish it around and pull it out. "headline": "How to Blue Stainless Steel in 5 Easy Steps: Complete Guide", Various processes are used for the oxidizing process. And then there is the difference between general care and storage vs available daily carried protection pistols living in a some sort of Holster (nylon or leather) , good, bad, take them out or leave them in?