The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
  

  -----

HOT OR COLD BLUING METHOD

 

I AM IN THE PROCESS OF BLUING SOME OUL HAND GUNS AND NEED TO FIND OUT THE BEST BLUING METHOD. WHICH IS BETTER, THE HOT BLUE OR COLD BLUE METHOD AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED OFR BOTH.

MANY THANKS,

DAVID LURER
- CAPE CORAL, FL, U.S.A.

---

You may want to look in google groups rec.guns an append with the title: Anyone tried this homemade hot bluing formula?

The hot bluing with ammonium nitrate and lye are described there. I will experiment with it one of this days.

To the forum moderator: Not wishing to go against the rules I have not posted the web address of the append I mentioned above. Why is this so?

"Don't include phone/fax/e-mail/website addresses in this text block."

Thank you very much for your patience.

Aquiles Rubina
- Lima, Peru

Leadsetter's Note: Yes, Mr. Rubina, thank you for reading and following our posting guidelines. Our website has commercial links for finishers. The income from advertising is our only source of revenue, which makes this site possible.

For that reason, we cannot print 3rd party solutions or URL's.

Thank you, and please mention our site to companies who may be interested in advertising at finishing.com. We have many satisfied customers who get an extremely high return on investment for their directory listings. For more information, please visit www.finishing.com/advertise/

Tom Pullizzi
Secretary
finishing.com

---

 

Ed. note: Another problem is that these 50,000+ topics and their responses are a resource that remain on the net for years, even decades -- long after most of the referenced e-mail addresses and area codes changed. Countless URLs that were once technical content have been sold and redirected to commercial sites. On some of our early letters I and others recommended URLs which, due to spamming of newsgroups, have now degenerated into little more than directories of get rich quick schemes and pick-your-depravity porn sites. Maintenance of our site proves impossible if we are not very careful about links to other sites scattered over 50,000+ pages.

---

You will probably not be happy with a cold blue. It will not hold up very well and is a lot of work to obtain a good finish. I use a commercial caustic soda solution at 300 deg. to hot blue. If you only have a few guns to do, you will be ahead to find a gunsmith in your area to do the bluing. You would need tanks, heat source, safety equipment(most important), rinsing tanks, etc. As was suggested, a search of "gunsmithing supplies" on the net would turn up sources for bluing salts, equipment, and most needed, instructions.

Good luck,

Ed Kay
- St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Hi David, hot bluing is the most simplest method to blue your gun.here is how you do...1.clean and remove all pits and rust using emery sheet 400,followed by emery 800. 2.if possible buffing can save lot of time and energy. 3.make sure you have no finger prints or dust. 4.use a news paper to hold the parts and wipe clean. 5.mix 1kg of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on Amazon [affil link] ) with 1/4 kg sodium nitrate ⇦ this on Amazon [affil link] and add 1/4 liter of water. 6.heat the above mixture to about 140 degrees, 7.dip the parts in the mixture for about 10 minutes . 8.leave the parts in the mixture till the temperature comes down to 80degrees. 9.take it out of the mixture clean immerse in hot water,this will remove the chemicals stuck to the metal. 10.apply oil. first try this with a small parts ,good luck. jk .

Dr.N.Jayakumar
general surgeon - India
2007