You will get it. The salts will be a gooey caustic mess while theyre cold, and you MUST have covers on the tank when youre not using them, or the salts will climb over the edges of the tank and make a mess on the floor. That seems wasteful. I wasnt planning on doing it for a few months. "Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colours steel black, or more often a very dark grey. 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. Spray down the whole barreled action with copious amounts of WD-40, inside and out. You can then use a soft brush to gently remove all the residue of the cleaning solution on the components. The part that is to race the other is heated normally up to about 220 especially if it is an aluminum casting like a cylinder head. When the liquid stops bubbling, remove the metal from the container and wipe off any excess liquid. This will remove all the traces of the bluing solution and other chemicals. Premium fencing blades are often offered with a blued finish. Metal 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. Ive learned a LOT. Wear disposable nitrile gloves, work in adequate ventilation, bag and dispose of all rags/towels used in the process in their own bags, and quickly. Now you slide the cold rod in, and the plate cools, gripping the rod. No one can even tell you what the heat treat is on a 1895 Mauser for instance yet we do not wet ourselves before we shoot one! this produces better, less turbulant gas flow, which will reduce heat traces. Next comes the main part. You can make your own desiccant packs with kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). -A heat source. 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]. If the solution is still boiling vigorously, then you can expect the bluing to happen naturally. Knowledge is the power and fear is the opposite of power it cripples the mind and the body and almost always guarantee's a poor decision will be made. 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. The color is oxide, but I believe you can scrape it off. Usually, you can find the manufacturers recommended ratio in the product manual. Hes claiming that method is more durable than Blue alone. "url": "https://shootingmystery.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/How-to-Blue-Stainless-Steel-in-5-Easy-Steps.jpg" You can also heat the oil to create different effects. I like using acetone to strip the heavy oil on guns, because it lightens up the oils and makes them easier to strip with a water-based cleaner. Note that it has to be a different tank from the one you used for Step 2. The difference is immersion in boiling water for bluing. This is as deadly as the lye-based hot salts, but more for the temperature of a large batch of salts. Above you can see some example pictures of the colour shades that can be achieved with this techniques. Get it Feb 25 - 27. Then, you can put the components back into the bluing tank and increase the temperature until you see the blued steel. SO, DG; unless I missed it, I am assuming the torch is used separate from heating the tank/ container with the boiling solution. In comparison, rust, the red oxide of iron (Fe2O3), undergoes an extremely large volume change upon hydration; as a result, the oxide easily flakes off, causing the typical reddish rusting away of iron. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. Browning a gun gives you a nice, even brown patina finish of red rust on a gun. Heres instructions from Mark Lee Supplies on using their Express Blue #1. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 13 in 1 Metal Shell Welding Torch Nozzle Tip Cleaner For Welder Soldering at the best online prices at eBay! This is all from memory so I might have left some stuff out. The part you want to place in the receiving part is cold often just placed in a freezer for a few hours. 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 An iron wire, stainless dipper, and part basket are required to handle the guns components and adjust the bluing solution as well. On another thread, we can go into nitre blueing, which is basically heating pins/screws/bits/bobs to 600F in a molten salt bath. Often it does provide an adequate cosmetic touch-up of a gun's finish when applied and additionally oiled on a regular basis. Further, I probably would have used a coarser wet-dry to prep the raw steel (this was a kit Kentucky long rifle) rather than the 1500 grit I used. 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. The parts are then boiled in distilled water, blown dry, then carded, as with rust bluing. It cannot rust any further. Larger flames produce less heat while smaller flames produce a higher heat. In order to confirm the bank transfer, you will need to upload a receipt or take a screenshot of your transfer within 1 day from your payment date. Even a fingerprint will affect the consistency of the colour. Very true. Im asking because theres a guy on YouTube recommending Brown Express first, then several layers of Blue over that. How do I do this? How to Blue Bluing Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method. Always wear goggles and gloves when operating a propane blow torch. Most waters in the Rockies clear out to the west coast will have high(er) dissolved solids in them. { 'Browning' is controlled red rust Fe2O3, and is also known as 'pluming' or 'plum brown'. But since this was my first project, with an inexpensive kit as a learning tool, and as I intend to do this again with a much more expensive kit, my trials and errors and your voice of experience will be very useful the next time around. "description": "If you want to find out how to blue stainless steel, then you've come to the right place. Heating will make the metal better in absorbing the bluing liquid. 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.. 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. Higher carbon contents will take longer to heat. I can keep a Krylon can always handy for touch-ups. Its durable and wears well. I wouldnt use this bluing method for these items. I use a pickling paste. Stand on end over some paper towels to drain. "datePublished": "2022-03-27", Do NOT wipe/touch your metal with anything after degreasing as the whole purpose of cleaning was then for nothing. Drop a piece of hot charcoal in it and it will burn in the absence of any atmosphere as the nitrate provides the oxygen for the reaction. Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust using a black oxide coating. Should something happen, seek medical help right away. If a bank transfer is made but no receipt is uploaded within this period, your order will be cancelled. Approved. 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock. I am using bronze, is it for a polish? 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!). I like 1.5 wide shop cloth myself). Gun companies dont/wont do it because they want to make quick money, and today its all phosphates and bake-on appliance paint (you didnt think a guy who calls Glocks cheez-whiz was going to sing the praises of Duracote or Cerakote, did you?). on Introduction. Holy crap, did that reaction hurt like hell. Treating with an oiled coating enhances the protection offered by the bluing. 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 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 greatly helped me to learn how to blue a gun perfectly at home. Heating it again to a lower temperature will not introduce additional martensite. kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). I wish this article had come out sooner, since I did not know that 0000 steel wool may have oil in it. 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. Also Dont get the 275-300F bath on you. Right now I'm working on excavator replacement pins! Use hemostats to hold a cleaning patch wetted with the solution and apply in nice, long, even strokes. Contemporary heat-treatable steels did not exist or were in their infancy. The process isnt intended for bronze. it takes a long time to heat up a long (ie barreled action length) tank that is, oh, three barrels wide. "author": "Christopher Graham", Ive gotten hot blue salts on me splashed into my hair. Thank you all who had a part in the production of this important information! Initially case hardening was used but did not offer any aesthetics. 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). 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. Safety is the number one priority so protect your body as much as possible. Youre a gunsmith who has a lot of nice guns! pliers, mole grips, -An old metal container (I know, a plastic container is pictured but always use a metal one) filled high enough with oil to completely submerge your steel object would be ideal. 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. Metal parts that look black or blue-black are usually blued (rather than painted). "https://www.reddit.com/user/theshootingmystery" I really appreciate you taking the time to share it DG. Dang it all. Take them out after a couple of minutes and then wipe them clean to remove excess oil. Use a steel tool to stir (remember the fumes). Prepare the components of the metal surface before you attempt to blue using your tools. My apologies for the background noise in the first half of the video We had compressors running where I With. Either that or the steel wool. Next, suspend the components in a cleaning solution tank to get rid of dirt, oil, grease, and crud. Then you sight down the barrel and you see dips and waves in the barrel profile. As mentioned, cold bluing can be done at room temperature with decent results. The steel will pull some of the carbon out of the oil while quenching and harden the outer portion of the metal. Think big scars. Here is a video by Clevinger Customs illustrating it: I use the Brownells nitre blueing salts, which are a combination of sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate. Dont touch the metal with your bare hands since it could cause severe burns. Brownells has steel tanks, and there are some steel/stainless long/thin tanks available from other sources. I thought there was something that could help improve the colors but wasnt sure until I came across this. The torch comes in when you first apply the Express Blue. Besides those, you must also have water displacing oil and cleaning solution (Dicro-Clean 909). If you have very light, fine pitting, you can polish this out. 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. Then you have to heat the metal. You can improve your results by doing two things: 1. 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' Fill a heat-safe container with water or oil deep enough to submerge your steel. For larger pieces of steel, you need to use a. Hunter holds a BFA in Entertainment Design from the University of Wisconsin - Stout and a Minor in English Writing. Probably the main one is the content of so-called "carbon, "I was looking at making a set of plate armor and I wanted to see how to harden the breastplate. Copyright 2023 Flixsterz. However, due to the unique qualities of stainless steel, you cant simply blue the material however way you like. 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 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. Oil and grease really are the enemy because youre trying to (literally) corrode the metal. Once you get the colour you want, go outside to your oil container and fully quench your object into the oil! Sign up for wikiHow's weekly email newsletter. Vegetable oil has a higher boiling point, so the hot steel will take longer to cool and reduce the chance of it cracking. That means 50-60 revolutions to make a foot. Rinse them in a cold water tank after. http://www.lowes.com/pd_188198-316-HG-66420_0__?productId=4764059 Youll need some shop rolls, ranging from 180 to 400 grit (typical 4-packs are 180, 240, 320 and 400 grit, in 1, 1.5 or 2. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. Im talking like 90+ minutes to heat the salt bath to 285F. 3 years ago. In place of using a hot bath (although at a lower temperature) chemically induced method, it is possible through controlling the temperature to heat steel precisely such as to cause the formation of black oxide selectively over the red oxide. for 6-8 hours. Again, dont mess around with these chemicals and only handle them with extreme attention. Oh mas oui.Express blueing, slow rust blueing, hot salt blueing, nitre blueing, carbona blueing all are better than cold blueing. High temperatures and dangerous chemicals mean that a moment of carelessness can make you pay a heavy price. This method must not be used on critically heat-treated parts such as receivers, slides or springs. Wear safety glasses and gloves while working with hot metal. Heat the Steel. When youre using hot blueing salts, youd better be on top of your game, or you can seriously injure yourself. Another good test for determining when the steel is ready is seeing if a magnet sticks to its surface. steel This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer. The downsides are: the safety issue, which I laid out above, and which youve made clear. When youre done and have neutralized & washed off the Express Blue #1 solution, you then should spray down the barrel with water-displacing oil. Please note: As you are working with heat, please be smart, use your common sense, do the bluing process in a well ventilated area and keep a wet towel to hand. Following the treatment in the bluing tank, relocate the components to a cold water tank. 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. 5. Above you can see some example pictures of the colour shades that can be achieved with this techniques.Have fun doing it! The steel is also used for producing great police flashlights with awesome durability. It was left in a flannel gun case in the back of a moist closet for 25+ years. 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 colours range through straw, gold, brown, purple, blue, teal, then black. So, you start with a clean gun, in the white, you play a propane torch over the gun to get it to the point where the blueing solution just will readily steam, but barely sizzle, and then you brush on the blueing compound. 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. "dateModified": "2022-03-27", Remove the bolt & trigger group this might require a pin punch on some guns to pull the trigger group.From what little I can see in the picture here . Its for mild steel, which must be greased, oiled or otherwise coated with something to stop it from rusting almost immediately. Torch 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. It is usually sold in a 1lb bottle for $3, you'll need 3 or 4 pounds probably. The ideal setup is a pair of long sleeve gloves along with splash goggles and a face mask. Do this outside, so you can do this next part: Just whip the steel wool at arms length to extract the excess acetone. For this reason, it is considered not to add any appreciable thickness to precisely-machined gun parts. Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. The blueing salt bath will be at about 286 to 292F, and as it is bubbling away, it is losing water, and the boiling point of the solution keeps climbing. Examples of this finish are common on older pocket watches whose hands exhibit what is called 'peacock blue', a rich iridescent blue. It is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. Thank you, DG! 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. Ill detail why. If you are referring to torch bluing, the Brilliant blues. The actual temperature of the steel depends on the carbon content inside. Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. Blued Pivot Steel 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. This is not necessary as long as you can hold your item appropriately and not cover where it is to be heated. Next you hold it in front of your heat source until a blue oxide layer covers the whole blade edge. Depending on what solution you use, the tank temperature must be maintained somewhere between 240 and 310 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a simple way to get a blued finish on steel. Its a good process, but it isnt a 1:1 replacement for blueing. Even with safety glasses and a full-face shield, a rubber apron, rubber boots, etc it is possible to get salts into your eyes and all over the rest of you. I wore latex gloves, as Brownells recommended, but used a pot holder to handle the hot barrel, and that may have been the source. Hang the trigger group again, re-stock and you should be done. Hot NaOH is so alkaline it is great as dissolving organic materials. Oil binds with the metal and prevent it from getting air/chemicals to corrode. However, oil may spill and create a fire hazard if the steel is put into the oil too quickly. Remove any previous finish. Although the steel parts, such as anOrdains watch hands, are near enough miniscule, each on Introduction. The cross section and size of parts affect the outcome of the finish and time it takes to achieve. The parts must be observed constantly for colour change. "logo": { - Ballachy", "Bluing of Steel by Heat Treatment: Why and How it Happens? Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. I used Brownells Plum Brown, a product that requires that the barrel be heated to 275 degrees to activate the reaction. The content is not meant to be a replacement for professional service advice. "@type": "Organization", 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. Shooting Mystery is an independent website that provides content for informational purposes only. . Its the corrosive gift that just keeps on giving. It would be a good idea to get some gloves on. Just let any residual matter evaporate/dry. Thermal Bluing - The Process of Heat Treating Watch Hands This is one of the reasons rust and fume bluing are generally more rust-resistant than other methods. The book claims they used wait for it "boiling gasoline" not making this up to clean them. 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