It cannot rust any further. Submerge in water and scrape edge. This method was adopted by larger firearm companies for large scale, more economical bluing. For the color change to be uniform you have to remove the grease, oil, paint etc or it looks blotchy. Its durable and wears well. I like 1.5 wide shop cloth myself). Bluing is often a hobbyist endeavor, and there are many methods of bluing, and continuing debates about the relative efficacy of each method. 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. 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. If the magnet doesnt stick, its ready to be pulled away from the heat. for 6-8 hours. 1. You are a fantastic resource for all of us here. Stainless steel can only tolerate hot bluing and a limited amount of chemicals. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Central Texas. The tempering reduces the amount of martensite and thus makes the steel softer. You are nitre blueing here. And I work alone in my shop, and lack the required (IMO) safety facilities that are needed. Heat the area with a torch until it stops sweating. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. Question I dont have that much blueing to do in my shop, so I dont use hot salts. Can a softly tempered piece be re-tempered harder without going through the hardening procedure again? There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. I am simply trying to learn anything and everything that there is to know about it. 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. The differing rate of cooling for each area produced a different color creating that rainbow effect. Spray down the whole barreled action with copious amounts of WD-40, inside and out. Accidental exposure to the chemicals could result in serious injuries. What is your opinion of the 2 to 1 lye and potassium nitrate bluing solution? It's easy to get it too hot, too quickly - especially with an O/A or oxy-propane torch. Try it on some unimportant pieces first. ", https://mgs.edu/making-chisels-skips-newsletter/, http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/heat1.htm. Both refer to the same chemical process for providing true gun bluing.[1]. Depending on what solution you use, the tank temperature must be maintained somewhere between 240 and 310 degrees Fahrenheit. 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. This is not necessary as long as you can hold your item appropriately and not cover where it is to be heated. 2. 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. "I am nearly 16 and can not wait until I have my drivers license. So basically, youll want the rifle in the vise with the muzzle pointed to your left. The part you want to place in the receiving part is cold often just placed in a freezer for a few hours. You then oil or wax over the finish when youre done. Im not responsible for marital discord as a result of gun projects attempted on the kitchen stove. Bluing, being a chemical conversion coating, is not as robust against wear and corrosion resistance as plated coatings, and is typically no thicker than 2.5 micrometres (0.0001 inches). I can then get the temp to be 600F spot-on in a lead melting pot. Oil and grease really are the enemy because youre trying to (literally) corrode the metal. Then, you can put the components back into the bluing tank and increase the temperature until you see the blued steel. 3 years ago After three coats, washing and drying, the finish was not too bad, considering I was (and am) a rank amateur. Initially case hardening was used but did not offer any aesthetics. It will first turn gold, then orange, then red, purple, blue and then dark grey! Ive hot salt blued guns in a shop with the proper equipment and you can shove a river of iron through a single hot salt tank in an afternoon. 3D Printed Futuristic Space Age Wall Clock. I wouldnt use this bluing method for these items. An iron wire, stainless dipper, and part basket are required to handle the guns components and adjust the bluing solution as well. When youre done and have neutralized & washed off the Express Blue #1 solution, you then should spray down the barrel with water-displacing oil. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. This is often achieved without chemicals by simply heating the steel until a blue oxide film appears. 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. [ 2mm wire has a circumference of ~0.25in. Ships from and sold by Direct-Wholesale. That way, you can still use your oven for the rest of the evening. WebHeat the blade for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven set on 325 Fahrenheit if the handle is metal. Pour in Hot blueing is a good process, especially if you have a lot of iron to shove through the blueing process quickly. The rod was heated and the plate 2" square was inserted and the rod shrunk onto it. I wish this article had come out sooner, since I did not know that 0000 steel wool may have oil in it. Go on and start bluing! That would be a hot salt blueing mix. Thermometers and stirring tools are also needed, as well as something to heat up the tanks. This answer was tested with a utility knife blade and it drilled through with ease. The cabinet is then sealed. It greatly helped me to learn how to blue a gun perfectly at home. You can make your own desiccant packs with kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). $3.59. I have at least three cold blue solutions in my shop including Oxpho-blue, 44-40 and others. You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. You heat the outside member only when you do a shrink fit.). 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. the cost of all the tanks you need for rinse & boil-out (You say the rod was heated, but it couldn't have been, as it was on the inside. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Hot bluing should never be attempted on aluminium, as it reacts it usually dissolves in the caustic salt bath. 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 steel will pull some of the carbon out of the oil while quenching and harden the outer portion of the metal. 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. 1/16-inch pivot wire has a circumference of ~0.2in. 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. Above you can see some example pictures of the colour shades that can be achieved with this techniques. What I forgot to mention in all of this is a detail that seems mundane, but it critically important: Wear cotton gloves. Blue Metal Shell 13 in 1 Welding Torch Nozzle Tip Cleaner For Welder Soldering. [4], Bluing can also be done in a furnace, for example for a sword or other item traditionally made by a blacksmith or specialist such as a weapon-smith. Wear thick gloves so you dont burn yourself. Itll evaporate rather rapidly, but still, dont whip it at cars or house finishes. Ive cut and pasted this to my notes on the cloud. Wait for a day to let the bluing properly cure before you do anything else to it. Not blessed with a climate controlled safe. Safety is the number one priority so protect your body as much as possible. It is usually inadvisable to use cold bluing as a touch-up where friction is present. When polishing something like the above rifle/shotgun, youve got a pretty light coat of rust, without severe pitting. Again, dont mess around with these chemicals and only handle them with extreme attention. This works well for me. On another thread, we can go into nitre blueing, which is basically heating pins/screws/bits/bobs to 600F in a molten salt bath. When putting water in your boil-out tank, use distilled water if you have water with high mineral content. As I'm bluing round pieces I slowly and evenly rotate the piece over the flame to equally disburse the heat. Friction, as from holster wear, quickly removes cold bluing, and also removes hot bluing, rust, or fume bluing over long periods of use. Next you hold it in front of your heat source until a blue oxide layer covers the whole blade edge. Premium fencing blades are often offered with a blued finish. | Alpha Detroit", "NRA Family | Gun Manufacturing: Browning vs. Bluing", http://mypeculiarnature.blogspot.com/2014/08/quick-rust-bluing-back-in-black.html, "Radio Kits and Designs for Old and New Styles", "Coating, Oxide, Black, for Ferrous Metals (MIL-DTL-13924D)", "Phosphate and black oxide coating of ferrous metals (MIL-HDBK-205A)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bluing_(steel)&oldid=1142351288, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles that may contain original research from October 2020, All articles that may contain original research, Articles needing additional references from October 2020, All articles needing additional references, Articles lacking in-text citations from September 2014, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with dead external links from July 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 22:58. It is generally employed on smaller parts such as pins, screws, sights, etc. This step should be done before heating the steel, as the steel should be quenched immediately after removing from heat. Dont touch the metal with your bare hands since it could cause severe burns. Heating will make the metal better in absorbing the bluing liquid. If youre using acetone to de-oil, dont be afraid to do it more than once. The differential cooling causes patterns of colors to appear as well as hardening the part. Woodworkers doing furniture finishing will use 000 and 0000 wool, and they hate oil on their wool for rubbing down oil finishes. Before operating your torch, read all instructions so you know how to handle it safely. Different colors can be achieved through variations of this method including quenching in oil instead of water. In the automotive world this is a common practice. Life is good. Blow torches only heat a small concentrated area. 3 years ago. Use hemostats to hold a cleaning patch wetted with the solution and apply in nice, long, even strokes. Ive used this method in a pinch to make a tap from a cheap mild steel bolt to chase out galled female threads. It is caused by a layer of oxide that forms when the steel is heated. The process isnt intended for bronze. "https://www.reddit.com/user/theshootingmystery" "https://www.facebook.com/Shooting-Mystery-110244180901951", They melt at, oh, somewhere about 280F. You have entered an incorrect email address! Never know when it will come in handy. 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. ", not only fun, but also profitable. "@type": "Organization", 3.3k. Usually, you can find the manufacturers recommended ratio in the product manual. Interesting and informative as always. 5 years ago, I found that heating will turn steel silver ~> gold ~> violet ~> blue. 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. How to Blue (Bluing) Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method OOMAN 2.28K subscribers Subscribe 872 112K views 4 years ago My apologies for the background 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. I have always wondered about storage in gun soft cases or the foamed Hard cases, and humid or dry, heat and cold. List Price: $18.64 $18.64. Oh mas oui.Express blueing, slow rust blueing, hot salt blueing, nitre blueing, carbona blueing all are better than cold blueing. 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. After Hardened steel prevents knife blades from dulling and tools from bending and breaking. Here is a simple way to get a blued finish on steel. The difference is immersion in boiling water for bluing. I pulled the temp off the top of my head. How to Blue Bluing Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method. Following the treatment in the bluing tank, relocate the components to a cold water tank. My apologies for the background noise in the first half of the video We had compressors running where I Be patient in the first few minutes as the metal needs to reach the temperatures where it changes colour! "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dwEQfHK1tk_ZeaA4PniOA/", However, if the bluing effect isnt satisfactory, then you can try giving the components an acid bath (using Hydrochloric Acid). The colours range through straw, gold, brown, purple, blue, teal, then black. Once the steel is clean, you can begin heating it up. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. It can soften up some paints and plastics. Repeat 3 times. Fortunately, this is easily had at any hardware store: WD-40 is a water displacing product, not a lubricant (contrary to widespread advertising). Remember the oil is probably gonna release some smoke/fumes once the piece is quenched so as said before: please do this step in a well ventilated area. WHERE or when would the torch get used? Youre a gunsmith who has a lot of nice guns! A Garden Gun Cultivates a Newfound Fascination, AZ Judge Dan Slayton Refuses to Reduce $2m Bail in Flagstaff Campus Self Defense Case, State Judge Issues Order Blocking Enforcement of Illinois Firearms Ban Act Statewide, Protecting and Serving: Springfield, IL Police Seized Homeowners Gun After Investigating Her Report of a Prowler UPDATED, Chicagos Failed Mayor Lori Lightfoot Loses in Reelection EffortBadly, http://www.lowes.com/pd_188198-316-HG-66420_0__?productId=4764059, http://cdn.spectrumbrands.com/~/media/Spectracide/Files/MSDS/SpectracideStumpRemoverGranulesSDSApr15.ashx. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube.