Old school smiths use something called washing soda to strip oil off guns. 2 years ago Wipe them down with WD-40 on a regular basis. Enjoy! The difference is immersion in boiling water for bluing. The bottom of the crucible is opened allowing the contents to drop into the rapidly bubbling water. Initially case hardening was used but did not offer any aesthetics. Christopher Graham writes all the content and reviews on this site with the help of his team of hunters and shooters. Ive dealt with strong acids and strong bases in lab work, and I fear the strong bases more. it takes a long time to heat up a long (ie barreled action length) tank that is, oh, three barrels wide. 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. ", Hot bluing should never be attempted on aluminium, as it reacts it usually dissolves in the caustic salt bath. Whats the difference between Brown Express and Blue Express? Metal Finishing Guru. ", not only fun, but also profitable. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. WebThe gun bluing process Start with 1 gallon of water and add it to a deep fryer that has been thoroughly cleaned. You will get it. "width": "1500", Dont leave cold blue solutions around anywhere pets or kids could get at them. DG thank you. *700F is very close to the heat treatment temperature of some steels. If you have a wood or phenolic handle, use a propane torch to heat the blade only for about two minutes. 6 years ago. Wear safety glasses and gloves while working with hot metal. We have all kinds of rifles and shotguns with recievers made from non-Fe alloys again we do not give it a second though or break out the hardness tester. 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. Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full pricewine, food delivery, clothing and more. The name of the process actually comes from the blue-black appearance of the black iron oxide. They melt at, oh, somewhere about 280F. Excellent info. Theres nothing wrong with your method, but is is very hazardous, especially to people who have never done anything like it before. It will instantly vaporize into steam and splash all over you. 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. A few safety items: All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. OK, now with the sights out and the trigger group off, you can put on the rust/blue remover on the barrel/action. How to remove discoloration from heat? - Forums - Miller Welding Hunter holds a BFA in Entertainment Design from the University of Wisconsin - Stout and a Minor in English Writing. The content is not meant to be a replacement for professional service advice. 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]. Just let any residual matter evaporate/dry. Buffing wheels have their purpose, but they take real skill to use without making a mess of guns, starting with the selection of the wheel (theres, oh, at least six types of buffing wheel), choice of type of compound, choice of grit of compound, choice of wheel speed (many buffers have only one speed, and there are some jobs where you really want a 3-phase motor on your buffer with a VFD to adjust the speed down from 1800 or 3600 RPM) and so on. Its nice when something can be re-used a time or two, especially when used in diversified ways. 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? A couple bottles of aged bourbon minimum. It takes practice. This is one of the reasons rust and fume bluing are generally more rust-resistant than other methods. Again, dont mess around with these chemicals and only handle them with extreme attention. No one can even tell you what the heat treat is on a 1895 Mauser for instance yet we do not wet ourselves before we shoot one! }. Ships from and sold by Direct-Wholesale. You wouldnt need salts. 1. You will need:-2x containers (one of them preferably being metal for the oil)-oil -unleaded petrol/Acetone/Terpentine/Rubbing alcohol or any goo Wear thick gloves so you dont burn yourself. 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. Thank you, DG! For more information on using a blowtorch and protecting the steel, scroll down! 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. When everything is set up, put on your protective gear and then get down to business. Holy crap, did that reaction hurt like hell. Right now I'm working on excavator replacement pins! If you need to use a blow torch, focus the flame tip on the area you want hardened. 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 Bluing Stainless Steel: What You Can and Cant Do - Forging World 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 Many older browning and bluing formulas are based on corrosive solutions (necessary to cause metal to rust), and often contain cyanide or mercury salts solutions that are especially toxic to humans. 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. Safety is the number one priority so protect your body as much as possible. When youre using hot blueing salts, youd better be on top of your game, or you can seriously injure yourself. Also remember, by adjusting the heat you can get whatever color you want. The book claims they used wait for it "boiling gasoline" not making this up to clean them. Red rust is Fe2O3, and is incomplete rust it will continue allowing the surface to corrode over time hence the oil or wax. Best Gun Bluing Drift the sights back in from the right side of the barrel. Rinse them in a cold water tank after. In fact most guides no matter their material cast iron to bronze and often bearing races are installed the same way. 2 years ago, For the record The gentleman said multiple times that the plastic container shown in the pictures was just for the instructional photos and to be sure that the container is made of metal for this process, (Homer Simpson smacking his forehead: "DOH! This answer was tested with a utility knife blade and it drilled through with ease. In colloquial use, thin coatings of black oxide are often termed 'gun bluing', while heavier coatings are termed 'black oxide'. 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. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. I didnt drop outta my mommas womb being able to do this stuff. 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. If you cant, just get them out of the case and allow air to circulate around them. The wire is extremely small in diameter, so you have to take that into consideration. gas coverage is another big one. There's also blued hardware available, like nuts, bolts, screws, and hinges. If I remember right they then heated them up a bit and applied fish oil orignal and I think latter switching to linseed oil to protect the finish and give it that wet look. Add 5 lbs of regular table salt to the water. Torch I think DGs method is a lot safer than mine. That seems wasteful. Browning a gun gives you a nice, even brown patina finish of red rust on a gun. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Bluing is also used in seasoning cast-iron cookware, to render it relatively rust-proof and non-stick. The cotton gloves insulate your fingers from the heated barrel, and they prevent oils from your skin from getting on the raw steel. You can experiment ultimately what oils to use. Ill go into parkerization later this week. "author": "Christopher Graham", Water is great for rapidly quenching the hot metal, but it could cause thin steel to distort or crack. This is as deadly as the lye-based hot salts, but more for the temperature of a large batch of salts. If you look at the temps that Tenifur(SP) and Melonite(sp) and early Pakerizing processes used this is nothing. They should start gassing up approximately 2 to 3 minutes after exposure. The part you want to place in the receiving part is cold often just placed in a freezer for a few hours. Also, the results you indicate are typical of still having some oil on the gun. Tenifer get's up to (1077F) last I checked and was the 5th step in Glock heat treating after that they Pakerize it. Dont drop or try to bend the steel once its removed. 35% Potassium nitrate (aka saltpeter), http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-36054.html. Central Texas. Dont mess with hot salts. Not only does it give you an alchemical feeling of satisfactionbut it also gives the metal a finish to stop corrosion. Your 700F temp is too high, IMO. Soft, low-carbon steel was used, but strong materials were needed for the receivers of firearms. 2023 All Rights Reserved by Shooting Mystery. 3 years ago Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Depending on the manufacturers manual, youll have to prepare roughly 6 to 8 tanks to perform the bluing effectively and efficiently. Oil binds with the metal and prevent it from getting air/chemicals to corrode. 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. Once you see it turn golden, the process has started and colours will change fairly quickly! It does provide good rust resistance, which is improved with oil. LOGIX 20910 Butane Torch, Cooking Torch, Torch for Creme Brulee, Refillable, 9.6 oz, Blue Steel . Every true outdoorsmans dream! I found through my bluing adventure that different oils do act slighty different but ultimately everything I've used has done the job. How to Hot Blue Steel with a Torch- A Step-by-Step Guide Heat the Steel. This is how Colt made their rifles and pistols prior to Civil War you can read all about the process. Do this outside, so you can do this next part: Just whip the steel wool at arms length to extract the excess acetone. I use it, oh so cautiously in making my biodiesel. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Keep heating the steel until you notice a blue color form on the metal. ")You're ABSOLUTELY right. { {"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":"
