Blackfast System
I do some gunsmithing in Winnipeg and I have a Blackfast system. I bought it from a local outfit that does custom tool making (mostly solid carbide). I don't know why they bought the system but they sold it to me for a reasonable price.
I have done the vast majority of my bluing with hot caustic solutions. I have doen hot stainless bluing as well and I have used the traditional mercuric chloride (Baker Express) hot water and Dicropan systems.
I bought the Blackfast system because I can only do proper caustic bluing outdoors to prevent moisture and salts from ruining my shop equipment. Living in Manitoba means that outdoor bluing only happens from May to October. Any earlier or later means vast amounts of propane needed to heat the tanks and troubles wiht where to let the clean running flush water to go without freezing.
The blackfast system works as advertised. It produces the kind of black oxide coating you see on steel tools and equipment or black bolts and capscrews. I doesn't do as nice a job as proper hot salt bluing.
For a while I used the system to blue chorme moly barrels for a local rifle maker who needed the barrels protected until they could be given a more high tech coating. It seemed to work well but I learned later that the bluing was not particularly durable and so I stopped uding the system. It wa only a temporary solution so that was alright.
Based on the feed back I got it appeared that the threaded parts of the barrels were the area with the biggest problem. I did not persue the issue but I speculate that two things might have contributed.
First, the threaded areas may not have gotten as thorough a cleaning as required. I am spoiled by the caustic hot bath which does a spectacular job of cleaning during bluing. Had I spent much more time with a stiff brush in the cleaning solution that is part of the Blackfast system I might have had better results.
Second, it is possible that some of the coolants used in the manufacture of the barrels, some of which were fluted, might have ben trickier to clean than my I supposed. Again, better cleaning or a different method of pre-cleaning might have produced a better result.
I will likely go back to the system for a second try at my own stuff. THere can be no doubt that the barrels I blued this way were beautifully black and glossy after coming out of the water displacing oil that is the last step in the Blackfast process.
I don't know if e-blackfast has the means of sending a small test setup that would allow you to try it out. Please don't ask me to ship a sample. I can't vouch for the strength of my solutions anymore nor do I have the time or inclination to do so.
