Also Dont get the 275-300F bath on you. -Something to hold your piece with, make sure it's appropriate to hold it with so it doesn't get too hot in your hands. Premium fencing blades are often offered with a blued finish. If you look at the temps that Tenifur(SP) and Melonite(sp) and early Pakerizing processes used this is nothing. 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. It is caused by a layer of oxide that forms when the steel is heated. Go on and start bluing! WebThe gun bluing process Start with 1 gallon of water and add it to a deep fryer that has been thoroughly cleaned. You need to constantly be adding in a bit of water to bring the boiling point back down into the range you need. Dont pour water in to your bath! Prepare the components of the metal surface before you attempt to blue using your tools. Try it on some unimportant pieces first. You have to apply the bluing fluid. "name": "Shooting Mystery", Water is great for rapidly quenching the hot metal, but it could cause thin steel to distort or crack. Alternatively, You could store them in a hard case (like a pelican with a purge) and throw some desiccant packs in there as well. The downsides are: the safety issue, which I laid out above, and which youve made clear. Then you pull it out and scrape off the oil along the blade edge. It is slow rust blueing. "Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colours steel black, or more often a very dark grey. He has more than three years of experience writing for and working with wikiHow. You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. } It is vastly appreciated even by those of us who will probably never use it. You might need two applications to clean up more deeply rusted spots. the cost of all the tanks you need for rinse & boil-out For the final step, we let the components cool down in water displacing oil. 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 ideal temperature is 180 degrees Fahrenheit but it also depends on the manual. You have entered an incorrect email address! When everything is set up, put on your protective gear and then get down to business. A couple bottles of aged bourbon minimum. Think big scars. Todos los derechos reservados. Youll get a dark spot right there. WebHeat the blade for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven set on 325 Fahrenheit if the handle is metal. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. I really appreciate you taking the time to share it DG. it takes a long time to heat up a long (ie barreled action length) tank that is, oh, three barrels wide. Do all the prep you would for express or rust blueing, especially degreasing. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Itll evaporate rather rapidly, but still, dont whip it at cars or house finishes. 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. Reply 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. Fortunately, this is easily had at any hardware store: WD-40 is a water displacing product, not a lubricant (contrary to widespread advertising). Wait for a day to let the bluing properly cure before you do anything else to it. }, There are also methods of cold bluing, which do not require heat. Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. It will instantly vaporize into steam and splash all over you. I use kerosene to wet my paper from 500 on up. 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. Its easy enough to color metal with a torch, but it has always been a hit-or-miss process for me, and when it was a big hit, I was rarely able to re-create how it got that way. I use it, oh so cautiously in making my biodiesel. Free shipping. Repeat 3 times. "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dwEQfHK1tk_ZeaA4PniOA/", on Introduction. "sameAs": Mark the sharpened edge with a crayon. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. It does provide good rust resistance, which is improved with oil. How to Blue Bluing Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method. Never know when it will come in handy. Larger flames produce less heat while smaller flames produce a higher heat. To remove them, you put the action/barrel into a sturdy vise (padded with soft jaws) and you use a piece of brass rod to drift the sights out. Historically, razor blades were often blued steel. 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. 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. Please be careful with the cold bluing solutions. You might be able to start at 320 grit. Drift the sights back in from the right side of the barrel. Thats how vigorously we de-grease guns before starting blueing. When the liquid stops bubbling, remove the metal from the container and wipe off any excess liquid. Its oiled in production to keep it from rusting on store shelves. I now want to reverse the process so I can drill and tap the metal tip. Copyright 2023 Flixsterz. Mea maxima culpa - and I left my comment up rather than delete the thread (for now) just so I could reply and admit the My Dumb, rather than skulk away cleanly >;-), Question Brownells has steel tanks, and there are some steel/stainless long/thin tanks available from other sources. For this reason, it is considered not to add any appreciable thickness to precisely-machined gun parts. February 20, 2016 at 16:12. 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 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. Ill be saving this for the future. If you tempered the steel with a blow torch, set the metal on an anvil or another large steel surface to conduct the heat. To heat this, I use a Coleman camp stove and a 15# jug of LPG gas. BUT like so many power tools on guns, it is possible to create expensive screw-ups to fix on guns with power tools, and buffing wheels are no exception. You heat the outside member only when you do a shrink fit.). JUST DONT. 4 years ago 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. 3. Now you can start.Apply heat to your object and heat up gently and equally. As I'm bluing round pieces I slowly and evenly rotate the piece over Soft, low-carbon steel was used, but strong materials were needed for the receivers of firearms. Great column, and thanks for all the responses to various questions and comments. 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. (You say the rod was heated, but it couldn't have been, as it was on the inside. It is one smoooooth profile, from one end to the other. Life is good. Steel Fe3O4 requires chemicals and/or heat to push the iron to full oxidation. This article was very, "I've been working with steel since I was a child, and reviewing these proper methods and skills makes my projects, "It surely educated me on several points. Referring to the post that started all of this; Dyspeptic Gunsmith says: 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. 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. All blued parts still require oiling to prevent rust. Thanks for the lesson, DG. Next wash your piece in your chosen degreaser for a minute or so to get rid of all grease/fingerprints that was on the metal. How to colour steel with heat (hot oil finish) is a simple but effective way of achieving a desired colour of choice.The colours are fantastic and often come out in a beautiful two-tone shine. 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. A non-linear resistance property of the blued steel of razor blades, foreshadowing the same property later discovered in semiconductor diode junctions, along with the ready availability of blued steel razor blades, led to the use of razor blades as a detector in crystal set AM radios that were built by servicemen (as foxhole radios) or by prisoners of war during World War II.[8]. Hes claiming that method is more durable than Blue alone. Wait for 10 15 minutes and then take out the components. "keywords": ["how to blue stainless steel"], "dateModified": "2022-03-27", 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. 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. Bluing is also used in seasoning cast-iron cookware, to render it relatively rust-proof and non-stick. WHERE or when would the torch get used? It will first turn gold, then orange, then red, purple, blue and then dark grey! List Price: $18.64 $18.64. Picture Information. What I forgot to mention in all of this is a detail that seems mundane, but it critically important: Wear cotton gloves. 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. Answer You can not do this method with Aluminium because it won't reach the temperatures required for bluing, it will just melt. I don't understand why you are submerging it in oil? It also looks good on AK type weapons of which I have three to park. If your barrel has heavier pitting, now were into filing to remove pitting, and thats something I cant teach people in mere text. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. You can use a heat gun, a blow dryer, or a torch for this. I like parkerization on some of my milsurps. Your 700F temp is too high, IMO. In this case cooking oil, rather than gun oil, acts to displace water and prevent rust. Note that it has to be a different tank from the one you used for Step 2. I plan on doing this on a couple of older beaters first. Theres a reason I didnt pursue a career in chemistry. This process is also the only process safely used to re-blue vintage shotguns. Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. 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. Itll take perhaps 20 minutes to really dry down. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. Mea culpa. 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. 5. Above you can see some example pictures of the colour shades that can be achieved with this techniques.Have fun doing it! I can't stress how important the degreasing step is! Submerge in water and scrape edge. The de-greasing you do directly affects the uniformity of the browning or blueing. 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. Safety notes: Dont use an aluminum pan. 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. Wear thick gloves and a face mask before you quench your steel so the water or oil doesnt splash onto your hands. You can get a IR non-contact thermometer for less than $20 at Harbor Freight. I am using bronze, is it for a polish? A few safety items: It can soften up some paints and plastics. 84 or Du-Lite 3-0. You can experiment ultimately what oils to use. "https://theshootingmystery.tumblr.com/", $3.59. 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. Dont want to get any of the liquid on you its 700F. 1. That seems wasteful. To remove pitting and keep the barrel profile intact requires skill with a file, and that requires hands-on training. Most knives, rifle receivers and barrels are heated to at least 1200F and cooled and drawn at 490F-700F. Keep a fire extinguisher near your workstation in case of a fire. You are a fantastic resource for all of us here. 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. THANKS DG. I wouldn't recommend either. Torch Thanks for always being so willing to share, Sir. When polishing something like the above rifle/shotgun, youve got a pretty light coat of rust, without severe pitting. ", the wrong quality steel. 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. 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. Heating up a tank on the kitchen stove. Another good test for determining when the steel is ready is seeing if a magnet sticks to its surface. ], Hardened steel prevents knife blades from dulling and tools from bending and breaking. "https://www.reddit.com/user/theshootingmystery" You dont want to affect the hardness of your steel in critical areas like actions, bolts, bolt lugs, barrels, chambers, etc. Hopefully these concepts suggest caution and diligence for what you are doing. Hot NaOH is so alkaline it is great as dissolving organic materials. This crucible was heated to 730C (1,350F) for up to 6hours (the longer the heat was applied the thicker the case hardening). blue steel Many double-barreled shotguns are soft soldered (lead) or silver brazed together and many of the parts are attached by that method also. You will get it. You risk a big fire that is self sustaining by the reaction itself. Im talking like 90+ minutes to heat the salt bath to 285F. Ferrari installs valve seats in their aluminum cylinder heads via robot. First, let us go through a couple of bluing concepts that you have to know in order to achieve the desired result. Just dont do it. to blue / heat anodize stainless steel {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/8\/81\/Harden-Steel-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Harden-Steel-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/8\/81\/Harden-Steel-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/aid1214287-v4-728px-Harden-Steel-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"