Heat colouring steel

Flieguy

Flieguy

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Hey guys, I have a few old shotguns that look like they used to have awesome colour case hardened receivers. My question is, can I recolour them somehow without messing up the steel? I don't want to put a bunch of money into it and they don't need to be re-hardened, just coloured.


thanks
 
Longer answer, the hardening process is what actually produces the colors of the case hardening that you want.

So, still no.

There is a method of faking color case using a lower heat and certain essential oils (clove, iirc, being one), but it doesn't last long at all in sunlight or if handled.
 
There is a method to give the results you want without having to weaken the steel in the receivers. It involves BONE CHARRING.

If it's done properly it looks fantastic. The thing is it's very time consuming and needs to be done carefully. Therefore it's expensive.

If you want to try getting just the surface to have the case hardened look, you may be able to do it with a propane bottle style torch. Heat the area until color starts to appear then quickly remove the flame and douse with water. It takes a long time to do this but I've seen some decent results when care was used.

One thing you need to find out is what type of steel was used in your receiver. Some of the older/cheaper shotguns used steel that was soft enough to file easily. Many aren't recommended for cartridges with more pressure than trap loads and had shorter chambers.

Take the wood off carefully before proceeding. It also helps to polish the receiver to bright metal again.

Do you have any idea as to the metallurgy???? A lot of damage can be done easily, that's why guntech was being so blunt. He's erring on the side of caution as well as answering your question as far as not wanting to put a bunch of money into them.

As far as not rehardening them, why would you want to create potential disasters in the making??? What happens to the shotguns AFTER you don't have them anymore???? Who gets a nasty surprise??

Most likely nothing will happen other than the guns will become very loose and the receivers dented around the firing pin holes, as well as stretching.


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Okay thanks, one's a 60's era belgian side by side 16ga and the other is an H&R. Just wanted to know if there was some way I could restore some of their former beauty without spending much money or ruining the metal
 
Ive seen a chemical mixture that can be applied. Watched several youtube videos. The results provided colour but it was evident it wasnt proper case hardened colors
 
Flieguy said:
Hey guys, I have a few old shotguns that look like they used to have awesome colour case hardened receivers. My question is, can I recolour them somehow without messing up the steel? I don't want to put a bunch of money into it and they don't need to be re-hardened, just coloured.


thanks
Click to expand...

I suppose it depends on your definition of "a bunch of money" - if you want to do the metal prep, a case color hardening job (by a professional) costs in the $400 range (per receiver) depending on how much work he has to do.
 
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