[TheForge] Gun blue finishing

[Bruce Freeman]

In case anyone is interesting, a YouTube search on "bluing" or
"blueing" turns up quite a number of videos.  I'm not saying any are
any good -- I've yet to watch any.

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 2:40 PM, peter fels & phoebe palmer
<artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
>
>
> On 1/12/2011 11:10 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:
>>> 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.
> For sure..it's only a few molecules thick and any coating seems to damp
> the color.
>> 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.
> Groan
>> 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.
> Selenic acid was the old blueing standard.."A class B poison". I used to
> get good results putting it on wet with a slow power wire brush, but i
> always got sprayed in the process and had stained hands for
> days..finally decided it wasn't such a good idea.
>>
>> - Mike
>>
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-- 
Bruce
NJ