Salts. Keep posting like this. Wear safety glasses and gloves while working with hot metal. Youll get a dark spot right there. After three coats, washing and drying, the finish was not too bad, considering I was (and am) a rank amateur. I used Express Blue #1 on lots of guns, where I want something less labor intensive than slow rust blueing (which I wont describe here): most steel wool isnt oil-free. You want 0000 steel wool for carding between coats. Where/how did you think I got to the point I could make nice guns? The content is not meant to be a replacement for professional service advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to share it DG. Metal parts that look black or blue-black are usually blued (rather than painted). For hazzalandy: carbon content has nothing to do with the color process, it is only the temperature you heat to, and to a lesser extent, the time spent hot. You can use a heat gun, a blow dryer, or a torch for this. 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. ", the wrong quality steel. I use it, oh so cautiously in making my biodiesel. Large scale industrial hot bluing is often performed using a bluing furnace. - Ballachy", "Bluing of Steel by Heat Treatment: Why and How it Happens? If you want it smoother/shinier, you can polish up to 600 grit, with wet-or-dry paper. Also, the results you indicate are typical of still having some oil on the gun. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. "keywords": ["how to blue stainless steel"], The "turning blue" process has nothing to do with hardening of the steel, or its compression. Ill go into parkerization later this week. Its a pretty straightforward process. 'Browning' is controlled red rust Fe2O3, and is also known as 'pluming' or 'plum brown'. "Bluing" is the process of oxidizing steel to create a durable, corrosion-resistant layer. So you said the polishing is key for the coloring process. Dont mess with hot salts. 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. Think big scars. Blacksmith products to this day may occasionally be found made from blued steel by traditional craftsmen in cultures and segments of society who use that technology either by necessity or choice.[5]. 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 Its much cheaper anyways. 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. Oxides come after its been heated to a red heat and cooled. Blue or Black rust is complete passivation of the steel surface Fe3O4. Torch Depending on the manufacturers manual, youll have to prepare roughly 6 to 8 tanks to perform the bluing effectively and efficiently. Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. High temperatures and dangerous chemicals mean that a moment of carelessness can make you pay a heavy price. Excellent info. This will remove all the traces of the bluing solution and other chemicals. Sometimes at this point, I come just a fraction away from the heat to go through colours a bit slower. And thats about everything you need to know about stainless steel bluing. 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. 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. If you do not get crazy and over heat the steel there is no reason to be fearful of the process. A few safety items: Then wipe off all excess oil and look at your beautiful finished object! Acetone is also useful for de-greasing the barreled action. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. ", steel". It is not nice stuff. I think I was drinking heavily (and likely doing stupid things in my shop with high heat and flammables at the time, possibly while juggling chainsaws) at the time I made that comment - without reading carefully. You want to be in the range of 600 to 650F. Fill the tank with a suitable amount of water then add in the bluing salt using the correct ratio. If youre interested, just ask and I can provide more details. They have their place, but doing a whole gun with them isnt that place. 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). 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. Remove any previous finish. You should note that the blue layer is rather delicate so dont treat it roughly. That seems wasteful. It greatly helped me to learn how to blue a gun perfectly at home. For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! I have also had good results with 5w/30 motor oil, I've also used two-stroke oil with good results. Thats how vigorously we de-grease guns before starting blueing. 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. Ive used this method in a pinch to make a tap from a cheap mild steel bolt to chase out galled female threads. 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. 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. 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). The only way to do that is to heat it until the metal de-magnetises, quench it again, and then temper to the desired hardness. Its for mild steel, which must be greased, oiled or otherwise coated with something to stop it from rusting almost immediately. Note that it has to be a different tank from the one you used for Step 2. Soft, low-carbon steel was used, but strong materials were needed for the receivers of firearms. It is usually sold in a 1lb bottle for $3, you'll need 3 or 4 pounds probably. : Make sure it is made from Mild Steel or Titanium. Spray down the whole barreled action with copious amounts of WD-40, inside and out. Thanks a lot for sharing. on Introduction. Mix equal parts of cream and liquid Brownells Oxpho Blue. After the Civil War they switched to another process. 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. 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. Hunter holds a BFA in Entertainment Design from the University of Wisconsin - Stout and a Minor in English Writing. Christopher Graham writes all the content and reviews on this site with the help of his team of hunters and shooters. Please be careful with the cold bluing solutions. Also thanks DG! Once the solution reaches its boiling point, turn down the burner to about one-third of the boiling temperature and let it stay there. 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. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Historically, razor blades were often blued steel. If a bank transfer is made but no receipt is uploaded within this period, your order will be cancelled. So you will get a shinier finish. 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. Just take them from the comments he posts. Aluminium (Al) and polymer parts cannot be blued, and no corrosion protection is provided. I used Brownells Plum Brown, a product that requires that the barrel be heated to 275 degrees to activate the reaction. The rust then turns to black-blue Fe3O4. JUST DONT. Stand on end over some paper towels to drain. Above you can see some example pictures of the colour shades that can be achieved with this techniques. 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). WebBluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust using a black oxide coating. It takes practice. There are many methods you can use to blue the steel. Ive learned a LOT. However, there are certain characteristics differences between the materials so knowing clearly how to blue stainless steel is really important. In the automotive world this is a common practice. 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. Slow rust blueing can take a week or more to accomplish, but it is a durable blue job like no other. However, oil may spill and create a fire hazard if the steel is put into the oil too quickly. Heat the area you'd like to drill just until it starts to glow red, then allow it to cool slowly. Great column, and thanks for all the responses to various questions and comments. Whats the difference between Brown Express and Blue Express? Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. Repeat 3 times. Reply 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. Then you have to heat the metal. Then you pull it out and scrape off the oil along the blade edge. Hot. I wouldn't recommend either. At 700, you start losing your blues and the steel starts becoming a wispy silvery-blue, not a dark brilliant blue. List Price: $18.64 $18.64. The mixed fumes of the acids produce a uniform rust on the surface of the parts (inside and out) in about 12 hours. Steps to Hot Blue Steel with a Torch journeyman. I dont use hot salt blueing because much of my work is on older double guns, which have ribs that are soft-soldered into place. Never know when it will come in handy. Are you sure you want to heat the steel to 700F in that early step? Im talking like 90+ minutes to heat the salt bath to 285F. Ferrari installs valve seats in their aluminum cylinder heads via robot. It, too, must be oiled to provide any significant rust resistance. 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. 99. "https://www.pinterest.com/theshootingmystery/", Best Gun Bluing I plan on doing this on a couple of older beaters first. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. 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. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer. They melt at, oh, somewhere about 280F. You can experiment ultimately what oils to use. You heat the outside member only when you do a shrink fit.). Pull it out of the tank and place on a drain rack. Quenched steel is harder, but it becomes more brittle. 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. Question 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. Any more advice is welcome SteelJunkee Joined May 6, 2018 Messages 891 Process that partially protects steel against rust, This article is about the historical uses of black oxide. Put all the components into the tank and wait for 5 15 minutes. I pulled the temp off the top of my head. In fact most guides no matter their material cast iron to bronze and often bearing races are installed the same way. 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 Following the treatment in the bluing tank, relocate the components to a cold water tank. steel Keep heating the steel until you notice a blue color form on the metal. Heat source You will require at least one burner for bluing salts and two hot water burners. Ill detail why. Thanks for always being so willing to share, Sir. "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). You can make a Caustic Soda KNO3 water bath: 65% Lye (aka sodium hydroxide) I have to finish my M76 and Galil first and buy the materials. My current rifle builds are going to be parkerzied. Again, dont mess around with these chemicals and only handle them with extreme attention. 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. 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. (NaOH from Ebay soap supplies). Bluing is often a hobbyist endeavor, and there are many methods of bluing, and continuing debates about the relative efficacy of each method. Heat the gun parts. Why do you bother with all this crap?. This is an alternative method for creating the black oxide coating. Usually, you can find the manufacturers recommended ratio in the product manual. Did you ever find out what oil they were using? 4 Ways to Blue Steel - wikiHow Hardening will cause it to be more brittle, which could cause the hammer to chip and cause injury. Not blessed with a climate controlled safe. "@context": "http://schema.org/", (And taking, out of *your* hide). I want to add rainbow color to safety razor blades that would be used again, how can I do this? Different colors can be achieved through variations of this method including quenching in oil instead of water. When the first patch gets really funky, then drop that in your plastic garbage container (remember, these patches have been soaked in acid solutions! On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience :) ). Black iron wire You will need black iron wire to tie around any object you Hopefully these concepts suggest caution and diligence for what you are doing. Although the steel parts, such as anOrdains watch hands, are near enough miniscule, each Then remove it from the degreaser, don't be tempted to wipe it off with anything.