bluing steel with a torch

Also buffing wheels pre blue. How to Blue Bluing Steel Using Oven Or Torch and Oil Method. kitty litter (I would recommend the unused variety). The cross section and size of parts affect the outcome of the finish and time it takes to achieve. Are you sure you want to heat the steel to 700F in that early step? Theres nothing wrong with your method, but is is very hazardous, especially to people who have never done anything like it before. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. That way, you can still use your oven for the rest of the evening. To harden steel, start by heating the metal directly with a blow torch until it turns a cherry red color. The name of the process actually comes from the blue-black appearance of the black iron oxide. DG should receive a stipend for his valuable contributions to TTAG. It is a difficult product to apply evenly, offers minimal protection and is generally best used for small fast repair jobs and touch-ups.[2][3]. I'm a professional knifemaker and use many very high-temp methods including quenching 1,600F steel in pre-heated oil - I know what I'm talking about, 'cause I still have 10 fingers and my eyesight. You want to be in the range of 600 to 650F. The "turning blue" process has nothing to do with hardening of the steel, or its compression. Itll take perhaps 20 minutes to really dry down. Depending on the manufacturers manual, youll have to prepare roughly 6 to 8 tanks to perform the bluing effectively and efficiently. 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 ", Never know when it will come in handy. You dont want to affect the hardness of your steel in critical areas like actions, bolts, bolt lugs, barrels, chambers, etc. Keep heating the steel until you notice a blue color form on the metal. The cabinet is then sealed. *700F is very close to the heat treatment temperature of some steels. 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. You have entered an incorrect email address! Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. OK, Buffing wheels, which Im making their own break-out response from the blueing salt issue: Buffing wheels are useful things in a gun shop. Process that partially protects steel against rust, This article is about the historical uses of black oxide. fascinated with blacksmithing, but have not had an income to even get it started. Rinse them in a cold water tank after. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 914,567 times. Should something happen, seek medical help right away. Then you pull it out and scrape off the oil along the blade edge. It, too, must be oiled to provide any significant rust resistance. (Its Crystalline Potassium Nitrate 100%) $6.18 Heat the gun parts. Work on a metal or steel surface, such as an anvil, to avoid any fire hazards. This is how Colt made their rifles and pistols prior to Civil War you can read all about the process. Turn the heat on and give a good regular stirring until it gets very hot and starts to steam. Repeat 3 times. Whats the difference between Brown Express and Blue Express? Stand on end over some paper towels to drain. It is hazardous. With HSS you're looking for 2500-3000rpm, M35 or M42 cobalt bits 3000-3600rpm, and carbide 10k-12krpm. I found through my bluing adventure that different oils do act slighty different but ultimately everything I've used has done the job. Bluing is often a hobbyist endeavor, and there are many methods of bluing, and continuing debates about the relative efficacy of each method. Get it Feb 25 - 27. To shrink, I assumed you heated the steel plate only, to expand the hole in it. 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. You need to adjust the boiling point of the salts for your altitude. I have at least three cold blue solutions in my shop including Oxpho-blue, 44-40 and others. The reason I ask is that when you heat steel that is in the white to 600F, you get a brilliant blue all on its own. - Ballachy", "Bluing of Steel by Heat Treatment: Why and How it Happens? Browning a gun gives you a nice, even brown patina finish of red rust on a gun. I plan on doing this on a couple of older beaters first. 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. When youre using polishing paper, you think that 600 grit is very fine, and it is taking you hours to polish out something to 600. Keep them in that state while you heat them but be sure to not boil up the tank. His enthusiasm for handling firearms and hunting gear inspired him to create the Shooting Mystery blog. Contemporary heat-treatable steels did not exist or were in their infancy. Use a backing block of wood or even a Pink Pearl rubber eraser. Cold blueing solutions usually just dont wear well. Reply It is usually sold in a 1lb bottle for $3, you'll need 3 or 4 pounds probably. I dont have that much blueing to do in my shop, so I dont use hot salts. 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. Just let any residual matter evaporate/dry. When putting water in your boil-out tank, use distilled water if you have water with high mineral content. journeyman. Ferrari installs valve seats in their aluminum cylinder heads via robot. My apologies for the background noise in the first half of the video We had compressors running where I With a simple heating and quenching process, you can make your steel last for much longer! For the color change to be uniform you have to remove the grease, oil, paint etc or it looks blotchy. Thanks for the lesson, DG. 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. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. 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]. Higher carbon contents will take longer to heat. When the first patch gets really funky, then drop that in your plastic garbage container (remember, these patches have been soaked in acid solutions! They have their place, but doing a whole gun with them isnt that place. $36.73. "I have very limited knowledge as to how metal can be manipulated for different applications. You should keep guns in a safe, if you can. Your 700F temp is too high, IMO. Often it does provide an adequate cosmetic touch-up of a gun's finish when applied and additionally oiled on a regular basis. It also looks good on AK type weapons of which I have three to park. on Introduction, Hello my name is Joe and Im doing a project where Im trying to achieve the same outcome. 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. Now you slide the cold rod in, and the plate cools, gripping the rod. 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. Hot blueing is a good process, especially if you have a lot of iron to shove through the blueing process quickly. So you said the polishing is key for the coloring process. on Introduction. "width": "1500", Mark the sharpened edge with a crayon. Sorry for the misunderstanding. you may benefit from the use of a gas lense as well. The head is fixtured and and an arm holding the valve seat moves the the proper location. Last Updated: May 13, 2022 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. Hot NaOH is so alkaline it is great as dissolving organic materials. { 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. I can't stress how important the degreasing step is! It does provide good rust resistance, which is improved with oil. For hazzalandy: carbon content has nothing to do with the color process, it is only the temperature you heat to, and to a lesser extent, the time spent hot. You might also want to read our article on how to easily darken stainless steel or blacken stainless steel for more ways to personalize your gear. % of people told us that this article helped them. 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. I used Brownells Plum Brown, a product that requires that the barrel be heated to 275 degrees to activate the reaction. Just use distilled water. Larger flames produce less heat while smaller flames produce a higher heat. If your barrel has heavier pitting, now were into filing to remove pitting, and thats something I cant teach people in mere text. Hot. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. I dont use hot salt blueing because much of my work is on older double guns, which have ribs that are soft-soldered into place. Hopefully these concepts suggest caution and diligence for what you are doing. 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. You can experiment ultimately what oils to use. Please note: As you are working with heat, please be smart, use your common sense, do the bluing process in a well ventilated area and keep a wet towel to hand. Brownells has steel tanks, and there are some steel/stainless long/thin tanks available from other sources. You then oil or wax over the finish when youre done. I thought there was something that could help improve the colors but wasnt sure until I came across this. To heat this, I use a Coleman camp stove and a 15# jug of LPG gas. Various processes are used for the oxidizing process. 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. There are many simple ways to achieve good bluing. Brilliant blues. Color case hardening is the predecessor of all metal coloring typically employed in the firearms industry. 2 years ago Dont touch the metal with your bare hands since it could cause severe burns. The rod was heated and the plate 2" square was inserted and the rod shrunk onto it. NaOH is nasty stuff. If youre interested, just ask and I can provide more details. on Step 1. Apply heat to your object and heat up gently and equally. 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 am using bronze, is it for a polish? Also, the results you indicate are typical of still having some oil on the gun. 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. 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. Before operating your torch, read all instructions so you know how to handle it safely. Degrease and heat the items to be blued in a steel pan to about 700F. 3 years ago. You want 0000 steel wool for carding between coats. "headline": "How to Blue Stainless Steel in 5 Easy Steps: Complete Guide", However, the chemicals from the bluing process can accomplish uneven staining on aluminium and polymer parts. I have also had good results with 5w/30 motor oil, I've also used two-stroke oil with good results. "height": "800", Once the solution reaches its boiling point, turn down the burner to about one-third of the boiling temperature and let it stay there. [ Theres a reason I didnt pursue a career in chemistry. The part you want to place in the receiving part is cold often just placed in a freezer for a few hours. Old school smiths use something called washing soda to strip oil off guns. {"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":"