If you want it smoother/shinier, you can polish up to 600 grit, with wet-or-dry paper. Dont mess with hot salts. Its much cheaper anyways. If you look at the temps that Tenifur(SP) and Melonite(sp) and early Pakerizing processes used this is nothing. Rust bluing is also used on shotgun barrels that are soldered to the rib between the barrels, as hot bluing solutions melt the solder during the bluing process. I rarely use them. High temperatures and dangerous chemicals mean that a moment of carelessness can make you pay a heavy price. Question Posted December 21, 2009. Very true. SO, DG; unless I missed it, I am assuming the torch is used separate from heating the tank/ container with the boiling solution. RF: Expect a write-up from me on Rust blueing and parkerizing in the next couple of weeks. -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. Heat the gun parts. You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. You will get it. 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. ", not only fun, but also profitable. In this case cooking oil, rather than gun oil, acts to displace water and prevent rust. Sorry for the misunderstanding. 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. In fact most guides no matter their material cast iron to bronze and often bearing races are installed the same way. Make sure the piece is chemically clean, sandblasting followed by power wire brushing is good then stop heating when you hit purple because the heat will travel. Add 5 lbs of regular table salt to the water. Itll take perhaps 20 minutes to really dry down. Either of these two methods is called 'hot bluing'. Wear thick gloves and a face mask before you quench your steel so the water or oil doesnt splash onto your hands. http://cdn.spectrumbrands.com/~/media/Spectracide/Files/MSDS/SpectracideStumpRemoverGranulesSDSApr15.ashx. If you havent done it before, wait until I mention some items about it. Also thanks DG! The rust then turns to black-blue Fe3O4. You risk a big fire that is self sustaining by the reaction itself. Brownells has steel tanks, and there are some steel/stainless long/thin tanks available from other sources. of the steel than do not even try this on something that is anything other than artistic in nature! How to Blue Bluing Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method. Alternatively, you can press the pad of steel wool between your hands over the container of acetone, and then put it on some paper towels to dry. "Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colours steel black, or more often a very dark grey. Its a good process, but it isnt a 1:1 replacement for blueing. 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 They are still sometimes used by gunsmiths to obtain an authentic finish for a period gun of the time that rust bluing was in vogue, analogous to the use of browning on earlier representative firearm replicas. The differing rate of cooling for each area produced a different color creating that rainbow effect. Im not responsible for marital discord as a result of gun projects attempted on the kitchen stove. As mentioned, cold bluing can be done at room temperature with decent results. "mainEntityOfPage": "https://shootingmystery.com/blue-stainless-steel-beginners/", For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! 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. This is not advisable. However, rust bluing small areas often match, blend, and wear better than any cold bluing process. With a simple heating and quenching process, you can make your steel last for much longer! 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. Christopher Graham writes all the content and reviews on this site with the help of his team of hunters and shooters. - Ballachy", "Bluing of Steel by Heat Treatment: Why and How it Happens? How do I do this? The melting point for KNO3 is 633F. I don't understand why you are submerging it in oil? "https://theshootingmystery.tumblr.com/", On another thread, we can go into nitre blueing, which is basically heating pins/screws/bits/bobs to 600F in a molten salt bath. Free shipping for many products! When heat treating a forged blade you get the whole knife glowing, then submerge just the blade in the oil for 8 seconds. Wear safety glasses and gloves while working with hot metal. Holy crap, did that reaction hurt like hell. Any more advice is welcome SteelJunkee Joined May 6, 2018 Messages 891 (NaOH from Ebay soap supplies). Bluing only works on steel, cast iron, or stainless steel parts for protecting against corrosion because it changes iron into Fe3O4; it does not work on non-ferrous material. Glad that there are folks like you around. 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. Any gun. 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock. Here is a simple way to get a blued finish on steel. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience :) ). If you do not get crazy and over heat the steel there is no reason to be fearful of the process. It cannot rust any further. At 700, you start losing your blues and the steel starts becoming a wispy silvery-blue, not a dark brilliant blue. However, due to the unique qualities of stainless steel, you cant simply blue the material however way you like. Another good test for determining when the steel is ready is seeing if a magnet sticks to its surface. "I have very limited knowledge as to how metal can be manipulated for different applications. Not only does it give you an alchemical feeling of satisfactionbut it also gives the metal a finish to stop corrosion. Brand: Logix. Excessive buffing on stainless steel could result in a grainy appearance so do it with care. Alternatively, You could store them in a hard case (like a pelican with a purge) and throw some desiccant packs in there as well. Its for mild steel, which must be greased, oiled or otherwise coated with something to stop it from rusting almost immediately. My dad keeps his in a big safe with large desiccant packs that he threw in there. That would be a hot salt blueing mix. Life is good. Cold blueing solutions usually just dont wear well. You need to constantly be adding in a bit of water to bring the boiling point back down into the range you need. 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. highfour, case hardening is a bit different from what you describe.. Usually, the steel needs some time in a medium that will allow carbon to penetrate the surface, and we are talking 15 minutes to several hours. Nowadays, even mild steel does have a certain amount of carbon in the alloy, which can explain your observations, if you google "super quench," you should find a waterbased quench that is rumoured to do the same, but in my humble opinion, water can do just that as well. Ok you gotta help me out herewhen I was studying mechanical engineering a good few years back a project I done involved using a compression fit of 1/4" thick plate steel into 1" thick steel rod, both mild steel. ")You're ABSOLUTELY right. 1/16-inch pivot wire has a circumference of ~0.2in. 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]. These minerals (often calcium and magnesium compounds) tend to result in blotchy and uneven results. "logo": { It does provide good rust resistance, which is improved with oil. If you tempered the steel with a blow torch, set the metal on an anvil or another large steel surface to conduct the heat. Battery acid is childs play compared to blueing salts. Itll evaporate rather rapidly, but still, dont whip it at cars or house finishes. I can't stress how important the degreasing step is! Heating it again to a lower temperature will not introduce additional martensite. Most waters in the Rockies clear out to the west coast will have high(er) dissolved solids in them. Steps to Hot Blue Steel with a Torch Both ingredients are super cheap. Just use distilled water. Heat the Steel. While I am certain that I could do it myself, you already have all the bits and parts and stuff so it is worth my dollars to buy a gunsmiths time to have this done for me. Should something happen, seek medical help right away. 3 years ago I have always wondered about storage in gun soft cases or the foamed Hard cases, and humid or dry, heat and cold. 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. Many double-barreled shotguns are soft soldered (lead) or silver brazed together and many of the parts are attached by that method also. Follow the instructions. This is as deadly as the lye-based hot salts, but more for the temperature of a large batch of salts. Remove any previous finish. The mixed fumes of the acids produce a uniform rust on the surface of the parts (inside and out) in about 12 hours. Drift the sights back in from the right side of the barrel. That seems wasteful. If you need to use a blow torch, focus the flame tip on the area you want hardened. While the rod may heat some by conduction, it wouldn't get hot enough to start the color-forming process. So I buffed down the barrel with steel wool and started over heating the barrel in the oven before taking it outside to add the solution (which is nitric acid). Technically speaking, bluing is more or less a conversion of red iron oxide (Fe2O3) to black iron oxide (Fe3O4). My current rifle builds are going to be parkerzied. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 914,567 times. 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. 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. Im asking because theres a guy on YouTube recommending Brown Express first, then several layers of Blue over that. 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. And I work alone in my shop, and lack the required (IMO) safety facilities that are needed. Hot bluing is the current standard[6] in gun bluing, as both it and rust bluing provide the most permanent degree of rust-resistance and cosmetic protection of exposed gun metal, and hot bluing takes less time than rust bluing. You should put the brass drift (which you can make out of a piece of brass rod about 1/4 in diameter) on the sight base, and then start tapping the end of the drift with a small hammer. Let them cool down as you take a closer look at the bluing effect. Then remove it from the degreaser, don't be tempted to wipe it off with anything. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. 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. That doesnt happen easily or by accident. Keep a fire extinguisher near your workstation in case of a fire. 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. 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 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. I have to finish my M76 and Galil first and buy the materials. Woodworkers doing furniture finishing will use 000 and 0000 wool, and they hate oil on their wool for rubbing down oil finishes. you may benefit from the use of a gas lense as well. It would be a good idea to get some gloves on. 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. It is usually sold in a 1lb bottle for $3, you'll need 3 or 4 pounds probably. No. FigureLLC. 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. Im talking like 90+ minutes to heat the salt bath to 285F. 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. When Im polishing on barrels, I polish lengthwise. 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.