[chance]

Anybody here do their own hot bluing? Have been do a bunch of reading on the subject and it sounds very doable with the propercare and attention. Similar to reloading you don't want to let the mind wander.

Anyway. Any of you have expierence with bluing with home made salts?

Have tracked down the need parts and supplies and it looks like about 150 to get up and running. Anay ideas?

 

[XLCH]

Re: Hot Bluing

They have a sticky at ruger.com in gunsmithing about it.

 

[chance]

Re: Hot Bluing

Have read that and similar material many other forums. Since I can work outside here year round I don't see a problem. All the hyperbole about the dangers involved just makes me shake my head. Guns have been being blued for the last few centuries with minimal causalties. Hell I grew up chewing on lead pencils, playing with mercury out of broken thermometers and riding around in cars with no seat belts. Surely heating up some lye and fertilizer is not going to kill me. The problem is finding the stuff to mix in this day of seira club indorsed products that are guarenteed to save the earth and NOT WORK for their intended purpose. But they CAN BE FOUND.

 

[tx gun runner]

Re: Hot Bluing

This work real good and holds up ...

http://www.bluewonder.us/BlueWonderGunBlue.html

 

[chance]

Re: Hot Bluing

I'll pass on the 24.99 per ounce new and improved cold bluing. I can buy 10 pounds of supplies for hot bluing for the same price, more than enough for a lifetime of home use.

To get back to the question: Does anybody have any expierence with HOT BLUING with home made brew?

 

[Johngoboom]

Re: Hot Bluing

No, but I'm really curious as to how this turns out for you...I'd really love to do a few old guns around here, and if it works well, I like to give it a try. Make sure if you do it, give us a write up of how it went. (With lots of pics).

 

[chance]

Re: Hot Bluing

Will do JGB. Like you I have a few that could use some refinishing and the cold blues just don't hack it. But you know I am very shy about posting pics. Anyone have any Red Devil lye drain cleaner laying around you would be willing to part with?

 

[chance]

Re: Hot Bluing

Well, did the first batch of hot bluing yesterday. Very disorganized and found that some of the stuff I collected didn't work as I thought it would, just the junk stuff like pans for the water and oil. No biggie, all cheap garage sale stuff.

I used the niter-bluing process which is only potassium nitrate melted from powder to liquid form. This does require high temps but does a nice job.

Parts prep is everything in the bluing process. I did the Stevens visible loader reciever and it came out okay but I sure didn't get the metal prepped enough to get the deep blue finish I was looking for. Will do it again starting with 100 grit paper and working up to 600. I didn't get all the pitting removed this time and it really shows up after bluing. But, the small parts came out great.

Will get some pics up later.

The bluing itself is a very simple process.

 

[sheepdog]

Re: Hot Bluing

PM

 

[sheepdog]

Re: Hot Bluing

...curious as to how it would be shipped, I poked around and found this:

Caustics
Please be aware that both Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide are very caustic materials. We strongly encourage you to use all safety precautions and protection when in contact with lye. Please read all our information on the Lye page, so that you will be informed on the uses and warnings concerning lye. KEEP ALL LYE AWAY FROM CHILDREN!

Due to the illegal use of Sodium Hydroxide in drug making, we must report any suspicious sale of Sodium Hydroxide to the proper authorities.

The Federal Regulations enforce certain quantities and procedure rules concerning shipping lyes. We have done our best to incorporate these into our system, but we reserve the right to change your order should it conflict with any of the federal regulations. We recommend shipping all lye through UPS, as USPS tends to extend the transit time when shipping lye.

 

[Johngoboom]

Re: Hot Bluing

Looking forward to your pics of the whole setup. This is something I would love to setup in the spring (as it's getting to darn cold to do in the garage here).

If you have the time I would love to see a step by step right up of what you did. PLEASE!!!!

 

[chance]

Re: Hot Bluing

This batch used the Potassium Nitrate (bought off ebay) which is not caustic and had no shipping restrictions. The next batch will use Sodium Hydroxide which required haz mat to be paid for shipping and Sodium Nitrate which is nitrate of soda fertilizer and requires no haz mat fees.

The lye I bought from Ace Hardware on-line with ground shipping. The fertilizer came from Amazon.com with no special shipping requirements. I bought much more than I need since the materials will only get harder to come by as the wacko's (no offense Johnny) keep extending their reach into our lives.

A couple of years ago you could run down to the local hardware store and buy everything you need. No it is almost impossible to buy anything that works for any job.

 

[chance]

Re: Hot Bluing

Here is the short version John, since I don't know much. These are not instructions, just pics of the basics of what I did, there is much more than pictured here.

potassium nitrate powder is put into a pan. I used a small roaster and may change to something deeper with square sides.

As it heats up a crust forms on top where the liquid cools. Still very hot underneath

Parts ready to go in

Parts in the bluing. Larger parts suspended from wire hung on a rod while screws and such are in a steel strainer

When the parts come out after 15 or so minutes they go into an oil bath (motor oil) then hot water for washing

Dry off and reoil and admire your work

 

[XLCH]

Kool

 

[Johngoboom]

VERY COOL!!!! Thanks for doing the Chance. That's going to be a project of mine come this spring.

Keep us posted on how the other mixture works out for you.

 

[sheepdog]

...makes ya wonder who...how...when...bluing was thought of, perfected...it'd be a real interesting story to read...

 

[Bountyhunter]

Nice job, Chance! Maybe you should open up a little gun smithing shop.

 

[chance]

Nope BH, too much work. I plan on getting a job as a consultant for Johnny Whacko Inc.

 

[Bountyhunter]

:lol: :lol:

 

[sheepdog]

...upstairs or downstairs???