fascinated with blacksmithing, but have not had an income to even get it started. Initially case hardening was used but did not offer any aesthetics. It was left in a flannel gun case in the back of a moist closet for 25+ years. How to Blue (Bluing) Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method OOMAN 2.28K subscribers Subscribe 872 112K views 4 years ago My apologies for the background Thank you, DG! 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. "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dwEQfHK1tk_ZeaA4PniOA/", Where/how did you think I got to the point I could make nice guns? Then remove it from the degreaser, don't be tempted to wipe it off with anything. Hot blueing salts attack soft solders on guns, so it isnt to be done on old shotguns and some older rifles. Then you can express blue it with a propane torch and a tank of boiling water. You can make a Caustic Soda KNO3 water bath: 65% Lye (aka sodium hydroxide) 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. Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). You risk a big fire that is self sustaining by the reaction itself. Quenching the steel rapidly cools it so the alloys inside harden together. Ive cut and pasted this to my notes on the cloud. Youll want to clamp on the barrel directly under the sight youre about to drift out. If the sights need to be stripped & blued, follow the same procedure, but dont polish on them. Apply heat to your object and heat up gently and equally. His enthusiasm for handling firearms and hunting gear inspired him to create the Shooting Mystery blog. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. "@type": "Article", Any more advice is welcome SteelJunkee Joined May 6, 2018 Messages 891 These work by depositing a coating of copper selenide on the surface. 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. If your barrel has heavier pitting, now were into filing to remove pitting, and thats something I cant teach people in mere text. 99. Heating up a tank on the kitchen stove. For most of the time, guns that utilize carbon steel components are the prime candidates for bluing but its totally possible to color stainless steel blue as well. The parts can often be put together with little or no forces need and friction lock together and the one parts shrinks and the other part expands. The content is not meant to be a replacement for professional service advice. If you look at the temps that Tenifur(SP) and Melonite(sp) and early Pakerizing processes used this is nothing. By the time I was done it looked like it was a beat up 5 year old gun rather than a 1930s bolt .22 that came from a scrap yard. Copyright 2023 Flixsterz. "@type": "ImageObject", SO, DG; unless I missed it, I am assuming the torch is used separate from heating the tank/ container with the boiling solution. If you need to use a blow torch, focus the flame tip on the area you want hardened. What is your opinion of the 2 to 1 lye and potassium nitrate bluing solution? 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 Heat source You will require at least one burner for bluing salts and two hot water burners. My first time wasnt a stunning success. You should note that the blue layer is rather delicate so dont treat it roughly. Blue Metal Shell 13 in 1 Welding Torch Nozzle Tip Cleaner For Welder Soldering. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. So I buffed down the barrel with steel wool and started over heating the barrel in the oven before taking it outside to add the solution (which is nitric acid). Mark the sharpened edge with a crayon. Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. If you have a wood or phenolic handle, use a propane torch to heat the blade only for about two minutes. That would be a hot salt blueing mix. It is slightly caustic, so be careful you dont leave it on the gun for long. Accidental exposure to the chemicals could result in serious injuries. The melting point for KNO3 is 633F. All blued parts still require oiling to prevent rust. 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. 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? 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. 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. The wire is extremely small in diameter, so you have to take that into consideration. It is hazardous. 3.3k. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. It does provide good rust resistance, which is improved with oil. Bear in mind not to touch the walls of your container as you don't want to disturb the process of what's happening! Theyll usually go in from the right, and be drifted out from the left (ie, drifting them from left to the right as the muzzle is pointed away from you). Referring to the post that started all of this; Dyspeptic Gunsmith says: Pull it out of the tank and place on a drain rack. 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). "Rust bluing" and "fume bluing" provide the best rust and corrosion resistance as the process continually converts any metal that is capable of rusting into magnetite (Fe3O4). To remove pitting and keep the barrel profile intact requires skill with a file, and that requires hands-on training. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. The "turning blue" process has nothing to do with hardening of the steel, or its compression. 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. Also: Do not allow the solution to run, drip or sag. 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. The book claims they used wait for it "boiling gasoline" not making this up to clean them. These include hot bluing, cold bluing, niter bluing, and so on. Colour case hardening occurs when soft steels were packed in a reasonably airtight crucible in a mixture of charred leather, bone charcoal and wood charcoal. That means 50-60 revolutions to make a foot. You want to be in the range of 600 to 650F. How do I do this? This is an alternative method for creating the black oxide coating. Alternatively. The differing rate of cooling for each area produced a different color creating that rainbow effect. Are you sure you want to heat the steel to 700F in that early step? For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! I like 1.5 wide shop cloth myself). Very true. When everything is set up, put on your protective gear and then get down to business. There can be different layers you have to apply. Thank you so much for sharing such a great article. There are many simple ways to achieve good bluing. If you are referring to torch bluing, the [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. "url": "https://shootingmystery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Shootinglogo.png" It also looks good on AK type weapons of which I have three to park. I have done a cold blue on a very rusted .22 for a friend. 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. you could also heat this size tank with anything from a hibatchi up to a Weber charcoal grill or you could put it on top of a wood-burning stove or even a kitchen stove. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. I use a pickling paste. 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. Heating will make the metal better in absorbing the bluing liquid. If you havent done it before, wait until I mention some items about it. Depending on what solution you use, the tank temperature must be maintained somewhere between 240 and 310 degrees Fahrenheit. Bluing is also used in seasoning cast-iron cookware, to render it relatively rust-proof and non-stick. When the first patch gets really funky, then drop that in your plastic garbage container (remember, these patches have been soaked in acid solutions! Oil and grease really are the enemy because youre trying to (literally) corrode the metal. You can make your own desiccant packs with kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). Thermometers and stirring tools are also needed, as well as something to heat up the tanks. Share it with us! 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. This process was repeated until the desired depth of color was achieved or the metal simply did not color further. "I have very limited knowledge as to how metal can be manipulated for different applications. Enjoy! I really appreciate you taking the time to share it DG. NaOH is nasty stuff. COPYRIGHT 2021, THETRUTHABOUTGUNS.COM. The downsides are: the safety issue, which I laid out above, and which youve made clear. You have a degreased gun, and now you need to get the metal hot enough that the reaction will oxidize the steel as much as possible. Use a steel tool to stir (remember the fumes). Todos los derechos reservados. Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. Check out the video:https://hackaday.io/project/21947-makers-vise/log/60914-coloring-steel-with-magnetism. 500F-600F is often all that is needed and the parts can be done over and over again you just have to clean between each attempt. Dont. -something to hold your object with i.e. Put 600 grit compound on a wheel, use a little too much pressure and youll be gob-smacked at how fast it can cut material off the gun. Wear thick gloves so you dont burn yourself. Dont just leave them on a surface that could corrode or burn), get a new patch into the hemostats, soak, wring out, and keep going. I just had my first experience rust browning a barrel. Hot. 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.. The de-greasing you do directly affects the uniformity of the browning or blueing. Buffing wheels have their purpose, but they take real skill to use without making a mess of guns, starting with the selection of the wheel (theres, oh, at least six types of buffing wheel), choice of type of compound, choice of grit of compound, choice of wheel speed (many buffers have only one speed, and there are some jobs where you really want a 3-phase motor on your buffer with a VFD to adjust the speed down from 1800 or 3600 RPM) and so on. Its oiled in production to keep it from rusting on store shelves. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. Take them out after a couple of minutes and then wipe them clean to remove excess oil. the cost of all the tanks you need for rinse & boil-out Then wipe off all excess oil and look at your beautiful finished object! If the magnet doesnt stick, its ready to be pulled away from the heat. Prepare the components of the metal surface before you attempt to blue using your tools. *Potassium Nitrate is an oxidizer. 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. Still, you will find that cold blues dont last. I use kerosene to wet my paper from 500 on up. At 700, you start losing your blues and the steel starts becoming a wispy silvery-blue, not a dark brilliant blue. You'll probably be fine following these instructions - you'll probably be OK driving home a little drunk, too. }. journeyman. Some people might not have a tank long enough to contain a barreled action to boil out. Once the steel is clean, you can begin heating it up. Im asking because theres a guy on YouTube recommending Brown Express first, then several layers of Blue over that. 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!). Heat the Steel. Also buffing wheels pre blue. Often it does provide an adequate cosmetic touch-up of a gun's finish when applied and additionally oiled on a regular basis. The mixed fumes of the acids produce a uniform rust on the surface of the parts (inside and out) in about 12 hours. You dont want to affect the hardness of your steel in critical areas like actions, bolts, bolt lugs, barrels, chambers, etc. I wish this article had come out sooner, since I did not know that 0000 steel wool may have oil in it. Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. "name": "Shooting Mystery", Only 3 left in stock - order soon. 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. What did you use for polishing your pieces and Im guessing you polished then added the chemicals after?Thanks, Joe, Question Gas burners can usually do the job for this. I have to finish my M76 and Galil first and buy the materials. "description": "If you want to find out how to blue stainless steel, then you've come to the right place. JUST DONT. Fill a heat-safe container with water or oil deep enough to submerge your steel. The part you want to place in the receiving part is cold often just placed in a freezer for a few hours. Interesting and informative as always. ], My current rifle builds are going to be parkerzied. Steps to Hot Blue Steel with a Torch The cross section and size of parts affect the outcome of the finish and time it takes to achieve. Theres nothing wrong with your method, but is is very hazardous, especially to people who have never done anything like it before. Thats how vigorously we de-grease guns before starting blueing. 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. This finish allows them to be stored in high-moisture conditions, like sports bags, without rusting. Bluing is also used for providing coloring for steel parts of fine clocks and other fine metalwork. While the rod may heat some by conduction, it wouldn't get hot enough to start the color-forming process. 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. 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 then oil or wax over the finish when youre done. Metal parts that look black or blue-black are usually blued (rather than painted).