It is hazardous. 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. Reply Gee, Im thinkin Duro or cero coat maybe even Krylon might be a good enough.. Ive learned a LOT. Itll take perhaps 20 minutes to really dry down. It is one smoooooth profile, from one end to the other. kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). Use Hot Bluing And Cold Bluing To Give Your Steel That The steel will pull some of the carbon out of the oil while quenching and harden the outer portion of the metal. 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. Vegetable oil has a higher boiling point, so the hot steel will take longer to cool and reduce the chance of it cracking. Depending on the manufacturers manual, youll have to prepare roughly 6 to 8 tanks to perform the bluing effectively and efficiently. Picture Information. Quenching the steel rapidly cools it so the alloys inside harden together. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience :) ). There's also blued hardware available, like nuts, bolts, screws, and hinges. 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' Heat the gun parts. Brownells has a product that will strip blueing and rust (Fe3O4 and Fe3O2, respectively) and not corrode the underlying steel.Remove the barrel & action from the stock. The steel is also used for producing great police flashlights with awesome durability. Wipe them down with WD-40 on a regular basis. Always wear goggles and gloves when operating a propane blow torch. 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. I rarely use them. The ideal setup is a pair of long sleeve gloves along with splash goggles and a face mask. The potassium nitrate will liquefy at around this temperature and blue your items at a relatively quick speed. This process leaves a deep blue-black finish. Once it's cooled down, take the object out of the oil and place it on a piece of paper/cloth and let it set for about 20 minutes. 2. An iron wire, stainless dipper, and part basket are required to handle the guns components and adjust the bluing solution as well. His enthusiasm for handling firearms and hunting gear inspired him to create the Shooting Mystery blog. Different colors can be achieved through variations of this method including quenching in oil instead of water. this produces better, less turbulant gas flow, which will reduce heat traces. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. I have done a cold blue on a very rusted .22 for a friend. While the rod may heat some by conduction, it wouldn't get hot enough to start the color-forming process. You dont want to affect the hardness of your steel in critical areas like actions, bolts, bolt lugs, barrels, chambers, etc. Historically, razor blades were often blued steel. 2mm wire has a circumference of ~0.25in. "https://twitter.com/Shoot1ngMystery", My current rifle builds are going to be parkerzied. "height": "800", So basically, youll want the rifle in the vise with the muzzle pointed to your left. Use hemostats to hold a cleaning patch wetted with the solution and apply in nice, long, even strokes. It provides the stainless steel surface with a layer of protection, giving rust and corrosion resistance while reducing potential glare as well. The process isnt intended for bronze. While still hot and while wearing rubber gloves rub the bluing compound Into the steel with the steel wool. Shooting Mystery is reader-supported. 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 reason why blued guns rust is that something was allowed to attack the surface blueing and get through it to new steel or the blueing job wasnt deep enough to complete passivate the surface from red rust. Oh mas oui.Express blueing, slow rust blueing, hot salt blueing, nitre blueing, carbona blueing all are better than cold blueing. With a simple heating and quenching process, you can make your steel last for much longer! The de-greasing you do directly affects the uniformity of the browning or blueing. If there is any finish left on the metal, it will interfere with the bluing pr Bluing (steel) - Wikipedia Bluing Stainless Steel: What You Can and Cant Do - Forging World Central Texas. Hardened steel prevents knife blades from dulling and tools from bending and breaking. The rust then turns to black-blue Fe3O4. 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. This article has been viewed 914,567 times. Brilliant blues. This process is also the only process safely used to re-blue vintage shotguns. Then, you can put the components back into the bluing tank and increase the temperature until you see the blued steel. 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. 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. You need to constantly be adding in a bit of water to bring the boiling point back down into the range you need. These processes were later abandoned by major firearm manufacturers as it often took parts days to finish completely, and was very labor-intensive. I use a pickling paste. Stand on end over some paper towels to drain. It will first turn gold, then orange, then red, purple, blue and then dark grey! You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. I now want to reverse the process so I can drill and tap the metal tip. February 20, 2016 at 16:12. 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. 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. Instead of applying the acid solution directly to the metal parts, the parts are placed in a sealed cabinet with a moisture source, a container of nitric acid and a container of hydrochloric acid. Haha. What is your opinion of the 2 to 1 lye and potassium nitrate bluing solution? ", the wrong quality steel. This process was repeated until the desired depth of color was achieved or the metal simply did not color further. ")You're ABSOLUTELY right. Spray down the whole barreled action with copious amounts of WD-40, inside and out. 5 years ago, I found that heating will turn steel silver ~> gold ~> violet ~> blue. "url": "https://shootingmystery.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/How-to-Blue-Stainless-Steel-in-5-Easy-Steps.jpg" Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. Examples of this finish are common on older pocket watches whose hands exhibit what is called 'peacock blue', a rich iridescent blue. That seems wasteful. The colours range through straw, gold, brown, purple, blue, teal, then black. There wasnt a whole lot of pain just yet until my buddy took the safety bottle of vinegar solution used to neutralize the alkaline NaOH salts, and then the pain was there. These minerals (often calcium and magnesium compounds) tend to result in blotchy and uneven results. This is one of the reasons rust and fume bluing are generally more rust-resistant than other methods. -An old container filled with your chosen degreaser (unleaded petrol), -Your desired polished metal object/s (very important! Holy crap, did that reaction hurt like hell. It is slow rust blueing. The steel was mild steel and had very little carbon content. Hot blueing is a good process, especially if you have a lot of iron to shove through the blueing process quickly. I hope to someday have good knowledge to pass on to people, heh. Hopefully these concepts suggest caution and diligence for what you are doing. With. I've never done anything like this but want to try. I really appreciate you taking the time to share it DG. How to Blue Stainless Steel in 5 Easy Steps: Complete Guide For the color change to be uniform you have to remove the grease, oil, paint etc or it looks blotchy. 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. 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). You can not do this method with Aluminium because it won't reach the temperatures required for bluing, it will just melt. Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. When everything is set up, put on your protective gear and then get down to business. Any gun. Oxides come after its been heated to a red heat and cooled. I found through my bluing adventure that different oils do act slighty different but ultimately everything I've used has done the job. }. 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. 1. You are a fantastic resource for all of us here. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heating white, degreased steel to 550 to 600F results in brilliant colors. This will keep the bluing from adhering to the sharpened edge. It repeats the process adn by the time the head moves on to the next station all the parts are seated presumably for the life of the head. ", not only fun, but also profitable. -2x containers (one of them preferably being metal for the oil), -unleaded petrol/Acetone/Terpentine/Rubbing alcohol or any good degreaser, -metal object/s (I used mild steel, Please note this method should NOT be used on tempered/hardened steel as you will effect the properties of the metal). "https://www.facebook.com/Shooting-Mystery-110244180901951", And thats about everything you need to know about stainless steel bluing. "author": "Christopher Graham", There is something really rewarding about this technique. Then the crucibles would be removed from the furnace and placed over boiling hot water and air would be bubbled through the water and the parts would be dropped into the water. Bluing *Potassium Nitrate is an oxidizer. It had been thoroughly degreased before my first attempt, but in trying to repair a poor result, I apparently contaminated it a bit. My dad keeps his in a big safe with large desiccant packs that he threw in there. Ill go into parkerization later this week. 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. Wear thick gloves so you dont burn yourself. Cold blueing is OK for touchups, at best. 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. You risk a big fire that is self sustaining by the reaction itself. Steel That would be a hot salt blueing mix. Wear thick gloves and a face mask before you quench your steel so the water or oil doesnt splash onto your hands. 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. Torch The mixture is heated to 310 to 321C (590 to 610F) and the parts are suspended in this solution with wire. In colloquial use, thin coatings of black oxide are often termed 'gun bluing', while heavier coatings are termed 'black oxide'. Ill be buying the stainless tubs and chemicals to do it and go for as close to black as I can get. 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 guess Ill have to just be happy drying toilet paper. Blue Metal Shell 13 in 1 Welding Torch Nozzle Tip Cleaner For Welder Soldering. Mess. 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. Thanks, 8 years ago Keep a fire extinguisher near your workstation in case of a fire. occasionally I'll buff it afterwards. ", https://mgs.edu/making-chisels-skips-newsletter/, http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/heat1.htm. The robot gives the steel valve seat a quick blast with liquid nitrogen and drops the seat right in place. 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. It is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. { Then remove it from the degreaser, don't be tempted to wipe it off with anything. We will verify and confirm your receipt within 3 working days from the date you upload it. Soft, low-carbon steel was used, but strong materials were needed for the receivers of firearms. Bluing is also used for providing coloring for steel parts of fine clocks and other fine metalwork. Hot NaOH is so alkaline it is great as dissolving organic materials. 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. How do I do this? Question Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 914,567 times. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. ", informative and did not use technical language and concepts that would have left me floundering and none the wiser. } 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. It is vastly appreciated even by those of us who will probably never use it. Best Gun Bluing The melting point for KNO3 is 633F. 4 Ways to Blue Steel - wikiHow 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. The usual mistake on buffing wheels is using too coarse a compound, and then the wheel becomes quite aggressive in removing material. 35% Potassium nitrate (aka saltpeter), http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-36054.html. journeyman. Drill bits and gun barrels are common examples. on Introduction. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock. Glad that there are folks like you around. It is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. SO, DG; unless I missed it, I am assuming the torch is used separate from heating the tank/ container with the boiling solution. As a small thank you, wed like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). 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. I believe the change of color is due to a growing thickness of an oxide layer. "datePublished": "2022-03-27", Then you sight down the barrel and you see dips and waves in the barrel profile. We have all kinds of rifles and shotguns with recievers made from non-Fe alloys again we do not give it a second though or break out the hardness tester. Its essential to keep stirring the tank to prevent the forming of hot and cold areas. It's easy to get it too hot, too quickly - especially with an O/A or oxy-propane torch. This method was adopted by larger firearm companies for large scale, more economical bluing. ], 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 . Pour in 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. 3 years ago. Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust using a black oxide coating. Shooting Mystery is an independent website that provides content for informational purposes only. 'Browning' is controlled red rust Fe2O3, and is also known as 'pluming' or 'plum brown'. 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. 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 you have a wood or phenolic handle, use a propane torch to heat the blade only for about two minutes. I agree used oil works better and adding some copper and graphite seems to deepen the color and add more purple or plum to it. You should note that the blue layer is rather delicate so dont treat it roughly. Help 'blueing' with OA torch Before operating your torch, read all instructions so you know how to handle it safely. Once you strip the blue & rust, then you can see what youre dealing with. . Approved. 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]. Todos los derechos reservados. Your 700F temp is too high, IMO. I handed a buddy my wallet and cell phone, and stepped under the safety shower and got wet. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. Brand: Logix. You wouldnt need salts. Just use distilled water. The loose oxide was then carded (scrubbed) off, using a carding brush - a wire brush with soft, thin (usually about 0.002in (0.051mm) thick) wires - or wheel. Check out the video:https://hackaday.io/project/21947-makers-vise/log/60914-coloring-steel-with-magnetism. "@type": "Article", The differential cooling causes patterns of colors to appear as well as hardening the part. Reply Answer Sorry for the misunderstanding. For the chemical, the bluing solution should be either Oxynate No. 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. Sign up for wikiHow's weekly email newsletter. Then you can express blue it with a propane torch and a tank of boiling water. Frequent TTAG commenter Dyspeptic Gunsmith saw the gun above in our postA Garden Gun Cultivates a Newfound Fascinationand answered reader questions about blueing/reblueing a gun thusly: If the rust is very fine and there is still substantial blueing left on the gun, you might want to strip the blueing. If you look at the temps that Tenifur(SP) and Melonite(sp) and early Pakerizing processes used this is nothing. Rust bluing was developed between hot and cold bluing processes, and was originally used by gunsmiths in the 19th century to blue firearms prior to the development of hot bluing processes. "url": "https://shootingmystery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Shootinglogo.png" For larger pieces of steel, you need to use a. That doesnt happen easily or by accident. That said, heres the truth: The best blueing you can have on a gun is simple, safe to do, but takes a long time. Isn't the point of the acetone to degrease, why would i grease? Be patient in the first few minutes as the metal needs to reach the temperatures where it changes colour! Hunter Rising is a wikiHow Staff Writer based in Los Angeles. on Introduction, looks nice but you are using what is known as heat treatment which will darken steel, not using bluing salts as in gun bluing of rifle barrels all in all very nice instructable, Reply Alternitavely you can leave it in the oil bath to stabilize. Fume bluing is another process similar to rust bluing. WebHeat the blade for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven set on 325 Fahrenheit if the handle is metal. That surface rust on the barrel could be polished off easily. 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. "Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colours steel black, or more often a very dark grey. What did you use for polishing your pieces and Im guessing you polished then added the chemicals after?Thanks, Joe, Question Bluing is also used in seasoning cast-iron cookware, to render it relatively rust-proof and non-stick. 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. "mainEntityOfPage": "https://shootingmystery.com/blue-stainless-steel-beginners/", Process that partially protects steel against rust, This article is about the historical uses of black oxide. Now, using the information above, you should have little problem bluing your firearms on your own. I have at least three cold blue solutions in my shop including Oxpho-blue, 44-40 and others. 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. $36.73. The object on the left is a custom mild steel potentiometer knob! Black oxide provides minimal protection against corrosion, unless also treated with a water-displacing oil to reduce wetting and galvanic action. Its oiled in production to keep it from rusting on store shelves. These include hot bluing, cold bluing, niter bluing, and so on. Learn more Steel is a common durable alloy, and while most steel used in tools is already tough, you can harden it even more to prevent wear and tear. You can also heat the oil to create different effects. Add 5 lbs of regular table salt to the water. You can make your own desiccant packs with kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). However, due to the unique qualities of stainless steel, you cant simply blue the material however way you like. 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. In fact most guides no matter their material cast iron to bronze and often bearing races are installed the same way. If the magnet doesnt stick, its ready to be pulled away from the heat. Oil binds with the metal and prevent it from getting air/chemicals to corrode. the cost of all the tanks you need for rinse & boil-out Keep them in that state while you heat them but be sure to not boil up the tank. 4 years ago "@type": "ImageObject", Prepare the components of the metal surface before you attempt to blue using your tools. It greatly helped me to learn how to blue a gun perfectly at home. 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 In my case I drilled/threaded the metal piece and made a holder with a threaded end. To temper the steel so it isn't brittle, place it in an oven heated to 375 F for 3 hours, and then it let it cool overnight. Dont mess with hot salts. How to remove discoloration from heat? - Forums - Miller Welding gas coverage is another big one. After the Civil War they switched to another process. It would be a good idea to get some gloves on. Larger flames produce less heat while smaller flames produce a higher heat. Depending on what solution you use, the tank temperature must be maintained somewhere between 240 and 310 degrees Fahrenheit. My first time wasnt a stunning success. Itll evaporate rather rapidly, but still, dont whip it at cars or house finishes. They should send you a stipend for your time. Similarly, stainless steel parts may be immersed in a mixture of nitrates and chromates, similarly heated. % of people told us that this article helped them. He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns. The plate turned blue just like you ible and I was told this was an effect of compression fitting.the rod didn't change colour even though it had the heat applied to it so was it actually the compression fit that changed the plates colour. 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 process was to coat the gun parts in an acid solution, let the parts rust uniformly, then immerse the parts in boiling water to convert the red oxide Fe2O3 to black oxide Fe3O4, which forms a more protective, stable coating than the red oxide; the boiling water also removes any remaining residue from the applied acid solution (often nitric acid and hydrochloric acid diluted in water). Christopher Graham writes all the content and reviews on this site with the help of his team of hunters and shooters. At least one of the cold bluing solutions contains selenium dioxide. Thank you all who had a part in the production of this important information! Besides those, you must also have water displacing oil and cleaning solution (Dicro-Clean 909). You will get it. Ventilation is important. Premium fencing blades are often offered with a blued finish. Its a good process, but it isnt a 1:1 replacement for blueing. $3.59. Thats one way to get dyspeptic to write articles! After References Note: I know a plastic container is pictured but always use a metal one! Excessive buffing on stainless steel could result in a grainy appearance so do it with care. -A heat source. Here is a simple way to get a blued finish on steel. Hes claiming that method is more durable than Blue alone. This is a great time to point out that leaving guns in gun cases, especially the woolen/fleece cases, in the back of a closet, is one of the most sure-fire ways to rust the value completely out of a gun. 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!). 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 Black iron wire You will need black iron wire to tie around any object you the cost of the burners or heaters to heat up all these tanks really only practical if you have natural gas available A couple bottles of aged bourbon minimum. 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?). To obtain oil-free steel wool, get some acetone in a container (say, an old, clean yogurt container you were going to throw away anyway).