faking case colors
- Thread starter brybenn
- Start date
I have used one method, where you heat the part up and dab the part with a crumpled tissue damp with cold bluing solution. Gave a mottled effect that wasn't too ugly.
A friend claims to use oil of wintergreen to fake case colors. Dunno if there is info online or not.
If all you want is color and pattern, the parts can be put through the same regimen as if you were actually case hardening them, but at a lower temperature and for less time, to produce the color without the depth of hard surface from the carbon penetration.
Cheers
Trev
A friend claims to use oil of wintergreen to fake case colors. Dunno if there is info online or not.
If all you want is color and pattern, the parts can be put through the same regimen as if you were actually case hardening them, but at a lower temperature and for less time, to produce the color without the depth of hard surface from the carbon penetration.
Cheers
Trev
I've read the various colors start between 400 and 500 degrees. I don't have a crucible or a proper furnace. I'm just worried about warping and stressing the metal. It would be done for rimfires so I doubt I could weaken it enough to be an issue
- Location
- south central Alberta
if you polish the metal, with the finish removed and metal in the white. you can play the surface with a acetylene torch with a small tip and a carburizing flame, this will change the surface color of the steel, with some practice you can get a close approximation of case colors. We were taught to do this, usually on older single shot shotgun receivers made of questionable alloy that would not take bluing. It does not take much heat to change the color. It would be a good idea to practice on some scrap steel to get a feel for it, before you go to town on your parts. It is not very durable but it does work
Ah, yes, the good old "torch" method of defacing guns.
A dealer in the USA (Ed Good) is famous for ruining nice old shotguns with his leopard spots done by torch.
Yes it works, and on small non critical parts can be passable, but I would not recommend it on a receiver. JMHO
A dealer in the USA (Ed Good) is famous for ruining nice old shotguns with his leopard spots done by torch.
Yes it works, and on small non critical parts can be passable, but I would not recommend it on a receiver. JMHO
- Location
- south central Alberta
Not the case at all, have you ever played a flame over clean bare steel? It takes very little heat to change the color on the surface. I agree that over doing it with a torch would ruin anything you apply it to. I was shown how to do this when I attended the Coloado School of Trades gunsmithing course. Where we completed many types of jobs, all on customer firearms, every one of which was test fired in the company of an instructor, before being sent back out to the customer, so nothing we did made anything we worked on unsafe. Where did you get your vast amount of misinformation?
- Location
- south central Alberta
Also, I agree not something you should do to something like a rifle reciever or something valuable, but say a trigger guard. But on a single shot shotgun that someone wanted a cheap refinish on, oil finish on the wood, light polish or bead blast on the barrel and into the bluing tanks, it looks better than the spray paint options of the mid 80's. We did 'em. Never saw one fail and never saw one come back.
