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Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Chemical blueing can be difficult with varying results, I’ve been experimenting quite a bit just lately both with the blueing of steel and blacking of aluminium, the chemicals come in two types, a paste for steel and liquid for aluminium both work reasonably well with aluminium being the hardest to get right, when blueing steel it is very hard to get an even covering and a constant colour on a large piece of work.

So here is how I solved this problem, first clean the item to be blued in petrol and dry off next mix equal amounts of steel blue paste and aluminium black liquid together, it should have the consistency of oil, apply with a brush covering the whole area quickly then generally brush over the whole area until the colour is even, as soon as it looks right wash off with warm water and dry then apply gun oil and rub in.

You should now have a nice even finish on the item, if not wash in petrol and apply again on top of the previous effort. The chemicals I use are for steel “G96 Brand Gun Blue Cream”, and for aluminium “Birchwood Casey Aluminium Black“, these I bought from http://www.chambersgunmakers.co.uk/Lubricants.htm.

Remember preparation is everything get the item to be blued as clean as possible and finish off with steel wool, don’t touch with fingers use rubber gloves when handling.

Have Fun.

AL

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Sounds great- I've wondered about some of these cold bluing creams and such.

For anyone looking, here is the stuff Al was using:

G96 Online Store, Gun Blue Products

"G96" is based in Patterson, New Jersey

Birchwood Casey Online Store, Gun Blue Products

"Birchwood Casey" is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

StevieLaner7777 · Moderator

Hi

Is it possible to hot blue aluminum??

I was just wanting to know this for my new latest secret 1077 project that I might reveal the plans for later on this weekend.

Stevie Thumb Up!

AirGunEric · Site Admin

You wouldn't happen to have any decent pictures of your cold re-blueing effort, would you Al?

StevieLaner7777 · Moderator

Hmmm...

I think Al might have been discovered and cut off, I haven't seen him around here lately.
But maybe I'm wrong!!

Some pic's of the cold bluing would be interesting to see though.

Stevie Thumb Up!

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Hi
The connection is a bit erratic at the moment, I'll sort some pictures out of items I have blued, later to day, Stevie you cannot hot blue aluminium, but you can do it with chemical's with varying results. Have to go now catch you later.

AL

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Back again!, I found some photos of blueing on my laptop they will have to do until I get back home, the first photo is of new barrel bands I made for my winchester they have been done with the chemical mix in my first post, and I think are very good, it does not rub off and is a constant colour. The second photo is the front sight on the Winchester that I made, you will notice that on the base round the edges there is signs of wear this was with the old method of blueing but the sight cover is perfect and it was done at the same time, the reason for this is that the quality of the steel makes a lot of difference to the finish, the top cover of the sight is made out of spring steel which contains a lot of carbon where as the base is free cutting steel which contains lead to make it easy to machine.

Catch you later

Stevie when you use aluminium chemical black it is difficult to get it to work on sharp edges so round then off first.

AL

StevieLaner7777 · Moderator

Hi Al

Nice to see your still about!!

Thanks for the Cold Bluing Pics and tips, I will let you know how I get on if I decide to use a bluing technique on my project that I'm still planning.

Cheers Al!!

Stevie Thumb Up!