[TheForge] Re: Gun blue finishing

[Mike Spencer]

> Put the piece in a slowly rising toaster oven till it turns
> blue..slower is better...surface prep is critical.

I did some inlayed belt buckles like that.  Polish, clean, heat very
carefully. Result is a beautiful peacock blue.

Two problems arose:

The blue isn't very durable. Without a protective finish (or after the
finish has worn off) a single droplet of water will remove a spot of
blue if allowed to remain for a while.

And I didn't think ahead on the brass inlay.  Used a lubricant to cut
the inlay dovetails.  When the "clean" piece was heated to get the
blue, wax boiled out from under the inlay.  Boiled that one in lye for
a while, reblued.  After that, I boiled them in lye *before* hammering
in the inlay wire.

I've read about a bluing process that involves immersing the workpiece
in molten potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate.  Anybody have
experience with that?  IIRC, it was being used on spurs for drugstore
cowboys.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^