bluing steel with a torch

How do I harden a steel hammer so that is lasts longer and is more durable? When the liquid stops bubbling, remove the metal from the container and wipe off any excess liquid. Heat the gun parts. Just dont. 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. Todos los derechos reservados. You might be able to start at 320 grit. The content is not meant to be a replacement for professional service advice. "https://twitter.com/Shoot1ngMystery", I saw you reference a coleman stove and propane tank for heating solution. I don't understand why you are submerging it in oil? Theyll usually go in from the right, and be drifted out from the left (ie, drifting them from left to the right as the muzzle is pointed away from you). By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Participated in the Explore Science Contest. Similarly, stainless steel parts may be immersed in a mixture of nitrates and chromates, similarly heated. Depending on the manufacturers manual, youll have to prepare roughly 6 to 8 tanks to perform the bluing effectively and efficiently. { "height": "800", Degrease a pad of 0000 steel wool with acetone. After three coats, washing and drying, the finish was not too bad, considering I was (and am) a rank amateur. Repeat 3 times. Reply If you drop a piece of paper in there, or hydrocarbon compounds (like oil or grease on your part). 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 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. Follow the instructions. I wasnt planning on doing it for a few months. You heat the outside member only when you do a shrink fit.). Stainless steel can only tolerate hot bluing and a limited amount of chemicals. This is not advisable. Ill go into parkerization later this week. Brownells has a product that will strip blueing and rust (Fe3O4 and Fe3O2, respectively) and not corrode the underlying steel.Remove the barrel & action from the stock. Blue Youll want to clamp on the barrel directly under the sight youre about to drift out. It is generally employed on smaller parts such as pins, screws, sights, etc. Then, you can put the components back into the bluing tank and increase the temperature until you see the blued steel. 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 Hot blueing salts attack soft solders on guns, so it isnt to be done on old shotguns and some older rifles. When Im polishing on barrels, I polish lengthwise. on Introduction. 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. 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. Now, using the information above, you should have little problem bluing your firearms on your own. My dad keeps his in a big safe with large desiccant packs that he threw in there. on Introduction. This process was repeated until the desired depth of color was achieved or the metal simply did not color further. Accidental exposure to the chemicals could result in serious injuries. "@type": "Article", I am simply trying to learn anything and everything that there is to know about it. He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns. Your 700F temp is too high, IMO. In fact most guides no matter their material cast iron to bronze and often bearing races are installed the same way. However, due to the unique qualities of stainless steel, you cant simply blue the material however way you like. You can make a Caustic Soda KNO3 water bath: 65% Lye (aka sodium hydroxide) So you said the polishing is key for the coloring process. Youre a gunsmith who has a lot of nice guns! I like using acetone to strip the heavy oil on guns, because it lightens up the oils and makes them easier to strip with a water-based cleaner. Very helpful! 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. This is a great source that you can learn lots of information from and I'll advise it to to a handfuls of others. Use a steel tool to stir (remember the fumes). 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. YouTube - Nitre bluing a few gun parts. Quenching the steel rapidly cools it so the alloys inside harden together. Go on and start bluing! Thermal Bluing - The Process of Heat Treating Watch Hands Never know when it will come in handy. The steel was mild steel and had very little carbon content. It was left in a flannel gun case in the back of a moist closet for 25+ years. Gas burners can usually do the job for this. DIY Gun Bluing Bluing is also used in seasoning cast-iron cookware, to render it relatively rust-proof and non-stick. Metal Finishing Guru. Hopefully these concepts suggest caution and diligence for what you are doing. This process leaves a deep blue-black finish. WebHeat the blade for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven set on 325 Fahrenheit if the handle is metal. If the sights need to be stripped & blued, follow the same procedure, but dont polish on them. Thank you so much for sharing such a great article. Black iron wire You will need black iron wire to tie around any object you Trust me, I'm speaking from experience :) ). Either of these two methods is called 'hot bluing'. 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. Dont. This is one of the reasons rust and fume bluing are generally more rust-resistant than other methods. How to Blue (Bluing) Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Wipe them down with WD-40 on a regular basis. 99. If the magnet doesnt stick, its ready to be pulled away from the heat. 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). Wait for 10 15 minutes and then take out the components. Examples of this finish are common on older pocket watches whose hands exhibit what is called 'peacock blue', a rich iridescent blue. Shooting Mystery is an independent website that provides content for informational purposes only. Any gun. 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. I like 1.5 wide shop cloth myself). Are you sure you want to heat the steel to 700F in that early step? It is also used by machinists, to protect and beautify tools made for their own use. That way, you can still use your oven for the rest of the evening. And thats about everything you need to know about stainless steel bluing. I wouldnt use this bluing method for these items. All blued parts still require oiling to prevent rust. It can soften up some paints and plastics. This article has been viewed 914,567 times. If your barrel has heavier pitting, now were into filing to remove pitting, and thats something I cant teach people in mere text. This method must not be used on critically heat-treated parts such as receivers, slides or springs. Water is great for rapidly quenching the hot metal, but it could cause thin steel to distort or crack. [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. Depending on what solution you use, the tank temperature must be maintained somewhere between 240 and 310 degrees Fahrenheit. For the chemical, the bluing solution should be either Oxynate No. 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. "keywords": ["how to blue stainless steel"], Submerge in water and scrape edge. Were committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. : Make sure it is made from Mild Steel or Titanium. 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. 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. The cross section and size of parts affect the outcome of the finish and time it takes to achieve. Did you make this project? There are also methods of cold bluing, which do not require heat. WebThe gun bluing process Start with 1 gallon of water and add it to a deep fryer that has been thoroughly cleaned. Hot blueing is a good process, especially if you have a lot of iron to shove through the blueing process quickly. One can generally use the same solution to brown as to blue. For most of the time, guns that utilize carbon steel components are the prime candidates for bluing but its totally possible to color stainless steel blue as well. Although the steel parts, such as anOrdains watch hands, are near enough miniscule, each It is not nice stuff. Fe3O4 requires chemicals and/or heat to push the iron to full oxidation. Alternitavely you can leave it in the oil bath to stabilize. Bluing Still, you will find that cold blues dont last. Hunter holds a BFA in Entertainment Design from the University of Wisconsin - Stout and a Minor in English Writing. Approved. My first time wasnt a stunning success. 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. As a small thank you, wed like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). "description": "If you want to find out how to blue stainless steel, then you've come to the right place. Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. DG should receive a stipend for his valuable contributions to TTAG. Just take them from the comments he posts. Itll evaporate rather rapidly, but still, dont whip it at cars or house finishes. Shooting Mystery is reader-supported. Also Dont get the 275-300F bath on you. You dont want to affect the hardness of your steel in critical areas like actions, bolts, bolt lugs, barrels, chambers, etc. You need to constantly be adding in a bit of water to bring the boiling point back down into the range you need. Cold blues will 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 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. Every true outdoorsmans dream! ", While the rod may heat some by conduction, it wouldn't get hot enough to start the color-forming process. }, 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. Craig, torch bluing is a real thing that has been use a lot in the custom gun world, mostly for screw heads but even for complete muzzle loader creations ( the vendor will be quite proud of his work it seems as cost increases considerably to a finished item). 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. I like parkerization on some of my milsurps. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. } 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. At the end of this heating process the crucible is removed from the oven and positioned over a bath of water with air forced through a perforated coil in the bottom of the bath. It repeats the process adn by the time the head moves on to the next station all the parts are seated presumably for the life of the head. 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. If you need to use a blow torch, focus the flame tip on the area you want hardened. If you look at the temps that Tenifur(SP) and Melonite(sp) and early Pakerizing processes used this is nothing. The differing rate of cooling for each area produced a different color creating that rainbow effect. How to Blue Bluing Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method. the cost of all the tanks you need for rinse & boil-out They melt at, oh, somewhere about 280F. His enthusiasm for handling firearms and hunting gear inspired him to create the Shooting Mystery blog. 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. Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust using a black oxide coating. *Potassium Nitrate is an oxidizer. Heating will make the metal better in absorbing the bluing liquid. The process isnt intended for bronze. The de-greasing you do directly affects the uniformity of the browning or blueing. First, let us go through a couple of bluing concepts that you have to know in order to achieve the desired result. Ferrari installs valve seats in their aluminum cylinder heads via robot. With. It will first turn gold, then orange, then red, purple, blue and then dark grey! Hes claiming that method is more durable than Blue alone. There are many methods you can use to blue the steel. I just had my first experience rust browning a barrel. steel Thanks a lot for sharing. 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. 35% Potassium nitrate (aka saltpeter), http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-36054.html. The robot gives the steel valve seat a quick blast with liquid nitrogen and drops the seat right in place. "mainEntityOfPage": "https://shootingmystery.com/blue-stainless-steel-beginners/", Dang it all. Hardened steel prevents knife blades from dulling and tools from bending and breaking. I used Brownells Plum Brown, a product that requires that the barrel be heated to 275 degrees to activate the reaction. Is the torch used to heat metal ..ONLY.with Cold bluing? 1. polish it very well 2. clean very well 3. quick dip in dilute FeCl (4:1) is what I use 4. rinse in cold running water and pat The thickness of the oxide is a function of how hot you heat the steel (The color is due to interference of light reflecting from the surface of the oxide coating, and light reflecting from the oxide-steel interface). OK, now with the sights out and the trigger group off, you can put on the rust/blue remover on the barrel/action. Theres nothing wrong with your method, but is is very hazardous, especially to people who have never done anything like it before. Central Texas. 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. 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. Posted December 21, 2009. If you want to blue something fast I have a cheap hot blue method: Lowes stump remover: Add 5 lbs of regular table salt to the water. They have their place, but doing a whole gun with them isnt that place. It is vastly appreciated even by those of us who will probably never use it. For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! Use a backing block of wood or even a Pink Pearl rubber eraser. ", informative and did not use technical language and concepts that would have left me floundering and none the wiser. Ive used this method in a pinch to make a tap from a cheap mild steel bolt to chase out galled female threads. How to remove discoloration from heat? - Forums - Miller Welding Bluing is also used for providing coloring for steel parts of fine clocks and other fine metalwork. Apply heat to your object and heat up gently and equally. Haha. It turns out I have. That can be a pen torch (pictured), a blow torch, a heat gun, a gas hob (which I am going use) or anything that will provide you with enough heat. Then wipe off all excess oil and look at your beautiful finished object! Theres a reason I didnt pursue a career in chemistry. If a bank transfer is made but no receipt is uploaded within this period, your order will be cancelled. Various processes are used for the oxidizing process. Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. Question 3 years ago No. You can use a heat gun, a blow dryer, or a torch for this. You can improve your results by doing two things: 1. Degrease and heat the items to be blued in a steel pan to about 700F. I have also had good results with 5w/30 motor oil, I've also used two-stroke oil with good results. I have always wondered about storage in gun soft cases or the foamed Hard cases, and humid or dry, heat and cold. The wire is extremely small in diameter, so you have to take that into consideration. Thats how vigorously we de-grease guns before starting blueing. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer. 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. the cost of the burners or heaters to heat up all these tanks really only practical if you have natural gas available It is caused by a layer of oxide that forms when the steel is heated. When the first patch gets really funky, then drop that in your plastic garbage container (remember, these patches have been soaked in acid solutions! 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. 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. It is slightly caustic, so be careful you dont leave it on the gun for long. It is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. Let them cool down as you take a closer look at the bluing effect. An iron wire, stainless dipper, and part basket are required to handle the guns components and adjust the bluing solution as well. I have at least three cold blue solutions in my shop including Oxpho-blue, 44-40 and others. For modern uses of black oxide, see, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "How To Remove Rust From A Gun Without Damaging Bluing? 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. While still hot and while wearing rubber gloves rub the bluing compound Into the steel with the steel wool. Thanks for the lesson, DG. You have a degreased gun, and now you need to get the metal hot enough that the reaction will oxidize the steel as much as possible. Just let any residual matter evaporate/dry. 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. 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. THANKS DG. Note that it has to be a different tank from the one you used for Step 2.

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