Bluing tanks

T

TrevorMack

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Nova Scotia
So we have some down time at the shop coming up so its home project time until we get busy again. I am going to make some bluing tanks. Wondering what the best metal is to use. I have a bunch of stainless but read that stainless will react with the salts and cause it to not work correctly. Also what would be a good dimension for the tank. I was thinking about 26"L 6"W and 6"D . This will be a "personal setup" just doing small home projects and the odd gun for a friend so it doesnt have to be big enough for a bunch of guns at once.

EDIT Also what do you guys use for bruners. This is a home job so I dont want to spend a bunch on this.
 
Plain old cheap black iron only for bluing tanks. 6" x 6" is good for a small tank but 41 inches is better for length as it will handle the majority of barreled actions.

Brownell's sell burners - look at them and see what you can scrounge/make up here.
 
After I saw the price of the Brownells burners, I thought I could source some parts from a barbeque place to make my own. No luck for the kind of length I was looking for, and BBQ burners are sort of light and flimsy feeling. So I just made my own burners.

Took a little messing around to get them burning nicely, but once I had 1 built properly (I think) I just built the next ones the exact same. All with parts from the local parts store, plus a couple different sizes of DOM tube. The biggest screw around I think was trying different gas orifice sizes to see what burned the best.

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And don't forget to make some small parts baskets!

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I think the needle valves and the adapters from the propane hose to pipe threads were the expensive parts. Valves were about $25 each, but they work nicely. My cost to assemble each entire burner is probably around $70 each.
 
I would look for an old surplus house furnace ( box of doughnuts to your local furnace installer might find one quickly) that someone is getting rid of. Pick your fuel supply type and they should come completly vented and jetted already...just a little tear-down and customization to fit your equipment and you should be away.
 
TrevorMack said:
So I need 4 tanks correct a caustic rinse, hot water, cold water and the salts?
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For 45 years I got by with 4 tanks:

1 Hot tank for bluing salts
1 Hot tank for boiling water
1 Cold water tank with an adjustable good flow so it is self cleaning and cold

I used the boiling water burner for a cleaner/degreaser as well. Swapped back and forth. I only had two burners.

I did not have a hot oil tank, I just flooded the hot metal with soluble oil and a brush after boiling and let it stand until cool.
 
Last edited:
double gun said:
What exactly does the cold water do?
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You go from the 285 degree bluing salts into cold flowing water to rinse the crap away and cool the metal... then into boiling water for a while.

You can get bluing procedure instructions from Brownell's.
 
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