Nitre bluing

[dclevinger]

Hey guys. I was doing some nitre bluing last night and decided to tape it just for sh*ts and giggles. I'm still engraving the rest of the gun and will rust blue those parts afterward.

Here is the link Nitre video Feel free to comment.

David

 

[nitetrane98]

Well, you make it real hard on us boony dwellers on dial up!! Kinda boring screenplay for the first 1:30. Plot was slow to develop.
Are you familiar with the term "A watched pot never boils"? Now imagine 50 people watching that pot. Somebody will have to tell me how this movie ends.
But I do want to know, what was the brewing recipe?

 

[dclevinger]

I'm using Brownell's salts, a mixture of sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and potassium nitrate.

David

 

[Kruzr]

I found it interesting and informative. The object of "watching" the pot was to see what to look for when the salts began melting and to control the heat.

dc, is the quench tank just water or is there some neutralizing agent added?

If you leave it in the bluing salts longer will it lose the blue and turn black?

 

[dclevinger]

Thanks Kruzr. The quench is just clean water. Sometimes the parts need to be scrubbed to remove all of the residue but that's it. The heat is what actually colors the steel so as long as it stays consistent, letting it sit longer shouldn't cause an issue. To get a black color the temp needs to be around 800 degrees.


David

 

[Kruzr]

Have you ever nitre blued a whole slide? I'm wondering if there would be a color difference between the polished flats and the matte blasted rounds.

 

[dclevinger]

Kruzr,
I'm thinking that the blasted areas may come out a bit darker than the rest. The next time I fire up the salts I'll give it a try and report back.

Below is a link to a 1911 that was engraved, nitred, and selectively french greyed by one of the engravers guild's top members.
http://www.fega.com/membership/PhDetWList.asp?recidparam=509

David

 

[krs]

That's a good video - clear explanation of the process. I don't know if it would be possible for you to better light the movie and maybe shoot from a tripod to sharpen up the imagery but it would be good if you could. Nevertheless, it's still well done.

What flame was giving heat? I mean what gas is used? Did I miss that in the video?

 

[dclevinger]

krs,
Thank you very much. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing. The lighting in my garage stinks but will be upgraded before I do another one.

I'm using propane for fuel in a Coleman Guide Series camp stove that has a 15,000 btu burner along with 2 smaller ones. The stove has an adapter so I can use a small bottle or one of the big tanks.

David

 

[krs]

Ah, propane, of course. I wasn't using my head and should have realized that most any jetted gas flame would be hot enough.

Nitre blueing duplicates the "peacock blue" used on small parts of Colts and many other 19th and early 20th century guns, right? Yet unless it was only the photographic anomolies it looked like you were obtaining a darker result than that. Time in solution governs the depth of color?

The salts are available prepackaged from Brownell's, mixed as necessary?

 

[frogomatic]

nitre bluing is pretty cool.

If you nitre blue stainless steel, it turns out gold (I did this on the barrel bands and screws for my stainless puma92)

If you nitre blue regular steel, you can achieve many different colors, including red, blue, and yellow.

Word to the wise though, don't nitre blue hardend parts (like recievers and sears) the high temp of nitre bluing can ruin the heat treatment.