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. Think big scars. occasionally I'll buff it afterwards. FigureLLC. Usually, you can find the manufacturers recommended ratio in the product manual. Bluing is also used in seasoning cast-iron cookware, to render it relatively rust-proof and non-stick. "@type": "ImageObject", It costs an arm and a leg, and you can buy 0000 so cheaply at Wally World that it makes the acetone method worth your while. The process isnt intended for bronze. So you said the polishing is key for the coloring process. COPYRIGHT 2021, THETRUTHABOUTGUNS.COM. WebThe gun bluing process Start with 1 gallon of water and add it to a deep fryer that has been thoroughly cleaned. 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. My apologies for the background noise in the first half of the video We had compressors running where I Hang the trigger group again, re-stock and you should be done. As mentioned, cold bluing can be done at room temperature with decent results. If you want it smoother/shinier, you can polish up to 600 grit, with wet-or-dry paper. However, oil may spill and create a fire hazard if the steel is put into the oil too quickly. I have done a cold blue on a very rusted .22 for a friend. Either of these two methods is called 'hot bluing'. When you add water to a hot salt tank, you get an explosion of steam, and you need to develop some skill in adding the water with a very fine copper pipe on your water hose to prevent steam blow-outs spattering salts all over you. Did you ever find out what oil they were using? } It greatly helped me to learn how to blue a gun perfectly at home. That surface rust on the barrel could be polished off easily. The mixed fumes of the acids produce a uniform rust on the surface of the parts (inside and out) in about 12 hours. This finish allows them to be stored in high-moisture conditions, like sports bags, without rusting. Hi SteelJunkee Method is as follows: Fit rod into drill and set at constant speed Clean rods with acetone on clean rag Use butane and propane mix blow torch to achieve colour range Quench in water Dry The weird thing is that they look great for around 4-5 days then deteriorate. 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 to finish my M76 and Galil first and buy the materials. 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. "dateModified": "2022-03-27", It will first turn gold, then orange, then red, purple, blue and then dark grey! The cotton gloves insulate your fingers from the heated barrel, and they prevent oils from your skin from getting on the raw steel. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Hopefully these concepts suggest caution and diligence for what you are doing. You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. That seems wasteful. Either that or the steel wool. it would appear these sights are drifted into dovetails. 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. Thoroughly degrease the area to be reblued with acetone. Various processes are used for the oxidizing process. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. This article has been viewed 914,567 times. Once you see it turn golden, the process has started and colours will change fairly 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). If you have very light, fine pitting, you can polish this out. Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full pricewine, food delivery, clothing and more. If your barrel has heavier pitting, now were into filing to remove pitting, and thats something I cant teach people in mere text. 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). An iron wire, stainless dipper, and part basket are required to handle the guns components and adjust the bluing solution as well. To heat this, I use a Coleman camp stove and a 15# jug of LPG gas. Turn the heat on and give a good regular stirring until it gets very hot and starts to steam. Heat the area you'd like to drill just until it starts to glow red, then allow it to cool slowly. fascinated with blacksmithing, but have not had an income to even get it started. 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. I wore latex gloves, as Brownells recommended, but used a pot holder to handle the hot barrel, and that may have been the source. You can then use a soft brush to gently remove all the residue of the cleaning solution on the components. Im asking because theres a guy on YouTube recommending Brown Express first, then several layers of Blue over that. kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). 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. It was left in a flannel gun case in the back of a moist closet for 25+ years. 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. Prepare the components of the metal surface before you attempt to blue using your tools. Ive used this method in a pinch to make a tap from a cheap mild steel bolt to chase out galled female threads. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. 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. Dang it all. Dont touch the metal with your bare hands since it could cause severe burns. Every true outdoorsmans dream! You can also heat the oil to create different effects. Here is a simple way to get a blued finish on steel. For the color change to be uniform you have to remove the grease, oil, paint etc or it looks blotchy. This heating forms the blue on the plate. 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. Bluing is also used for providing coloring for steel parts of fine clocks and other fine metalwork. 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. Next you hold it in front of your heat source until a blue oxide layer covers the whole blade edge. Alternatively. Heat the gun parts. "author": "Christopher Graham", You can get a IR non-contact thermometer for less than $20 at Harbor Freight. Once you strip the blue & rust, then you can see what youre dealing with. He has more than three years of experience writing for and working with wikiHow. "publisher": { I learned something slightly different than what you are teaching and that is I am willing to pay people like you to do this kind of stuff for me. Acetone is also useful for de-greasing the barreled action. 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. NaOH is nasty stuff. Cold bluing is not particularly resistant to holster wear, nor does it provide a large degree of rust resistance. "url": "https://shootingmystery.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/How-to-Blue-Stainless-Steel-in-5-Easy-Steps.jpg" 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. Copyright 2023 Flixsterz. If the sights need to be stripped & blued, follow the same procedure, but dont polish on them. Bluing is most commonly used by gun manufacturers, gunsmiths, and gun owners to improve the cosmetic appearance of and provide a measure of corrosion resistance to their firearms. Treating with an oiled coating enhances the protection offered by the bluing. Also Dont get the 275-300F bath on you. It takes practice. Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. { 1. Dont pour water in to your bath! That would be a hot salt blueing mix. Use ice cubes. The melting point for KNO3 is 633F. -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). Check out the video:https://hackaday.io/project/21947-makers-vise/log/60914-coloring-steel-with-magnetism. "datePublished": "2022-03-27", I want to add rainbow color to safety razor blades that would be used again, how can I do this? In colloquial use, thin coatings of black oxide are often termed 'gun bluing', while heavier coatings are termed 'black oxide'. 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. 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. The book claims they used wait for it "boiling gasoline" not making this up to clean them. Ill be saving this for the future. Oil-free steel wool is also sold by woodworking shops. My advice to people here: Unless youre a professional, and youre working in a shop with all the required safety gear (a cold water shower within a couple feet of the tanks, and an eyewash station next to the tanks, and someone working in the same shop every moment youre working on the salt tanks), DONT. This crucible was heated to 730C (1,350F) for up to 6hours (the longer the heat was applied the thicker the case hardening). the cost of the burners or heaters to heat up all these tanks really only practical if you have natural gas available ", the wrong quality steel. . (meaning oxygen atoms are able to attach themselves to the outer layer of the steel)We did this with an electromagnet! Its a pretty straightforward process. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. Thanks a lot for sharing. Answer The differing rate of cooling for each area produced a different color creating that rainbow effect. 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.