Home hot blueing kit

[BeaverMeat]

Looking for a hot blueing kit for small parts. My goal is to blue my SKS bolt carrier and bolt... or anything else that I feel needs to be blued around the house.

Any recommendations? Where to get?

 

[gunpro]

cheaper to send the parts out to be done, or better yet something you can do in your home if you have access to an airbrush and an oven, gun metal blue kg gunkote, or send parts out to be done as such.

 

[Deuce-deuce]

Parkerizing would be easier and cheaper.

 

[Blegend]

I wouldn't mind hearing some recommendations too. Sometimes it's nice knowing how to do the job not just outsource it.

 

[BeaverMeat]

There was a post about a home blued TT33 using a stove and some pots. Looking to get the same product he used. I know it's "easier" to throw some cash at it and get someone else to do it. I like doing it myself, I want a challenge and to learn something new.

If it were a whole firearm, I would get a gunsmith perhaps.

 

[bearhunter]

You know it all depends on your circumstances.

My wife is married to a cheap bastard. Not only that, I like doing things myself. That way I can't blame anyone but me and if I'm lucky maybe even learn something from the experience.

For small parts, go to your local junk shoppe and look for the biggest stainless steel pots and pans that will suit the projects you have in mind. You will be amazed at how much stuff is laying there for a buck apiece, begging to be turned into a hot blue tank.

Look on the internet for recipes for hot blue. There are a few very good ones out there. There are a couple that give an almost black blue, very similar to the Krieghoff blue found on many K98s.

I had an old electric stove, which I picked up beside the road because it had a free sign on it. It looked really nice but there was a note in the oven, declaring the element was burned out. My wife had a fit when I unloaded it. No biggie once she found out I wasn't selling her new stove and replacing it with this one. She gets touchy about things like that.

Anyway an old hot plate will work just as well.

What is really nice about an old stove with all of the top elements working, is that you can set up a blueing operation very cheaply and quickly and with dials to regulate the temperatures evenly and consistently. No gas to fiddle with etc.

By the way, DRANO can give you a very nice blue. Not what you're looking for though.

That stove is long gone. Now I use a hot plate to heat my sauce pans of blueing media for small parts. It sets up in 10 minutes and cleans up just as quickly.

By the way, do it outside or in the garage with the doors open if you don't have a venting fan.

Now, that is the easy part.

Now comes the hard part. You have to prep the parts properly. They must be absolutely grease and dirt free. Polish it first, before you blue it. Then, determine the metallurgy in your parts. Just think about the purple color of the Russian Capture K98s or the bolts on SVT 40 rifles.

Once you have determined what you're bluing find the best recipe and go for it. Brownelle's sell ready made salts but I don't know if they will ship them to Canada. Google is your friend. Look for a source in Canada or make up your own from an online recipe.

 

[tiriaq]

The easiest way to do real bluing is to use the hot water process. It is labour intensive, but not difficult, and not particularly hazardous, if you can safely boil water.
Do a search for "Radocy". His hot water blue works very well. This method is the classic, used on fine guns for years. Also works very well for small projects.
Hot caustic bluing is a pain. You are dealing with a caustic solution that is boiling at about 290 degrees Fahrenheit, that will give chemical burns as well as scalds. Temperature is controlled by adding water to the boiling solution. Think about it, you are adding water, which boils at 212 to something boiling at a temperature 80 degrees higher.
The bath is easily made using lye (caustic soda, sodium hydroxide) and a nitrate. Sodium or potassium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate will work, but you must mix it up outside because ammonia gas will be produced initially. I made a set up, used it, decided I would rather have any hot bluing I needed to have done to be preformed by someone else.
After preparing the surfaces, boil the parts in trisodium phosphate (TSP) to remove all traces of oil, grease, fingerprints. Rinse in hot water, then blue.
Easiest process of all is Parkerizing. Surface prep, degrease, stew in the solution, which is below the boiling point of water. Rinse, oil.

 

[OneBarfly]

As mentioned above, the "Radocy"Express rust blue gives a nice hard durable finish. You can also use a heat gun and cloth to do the "coats" between carding with fine steel wool.

 

[ronnie01]

As mentioned above, the "Radocy"Express rust blue gives a nice hard durable finish. You can also use a heat gun and cloth to do the "coats" between carding with fine steel wool.

Go with Radocy not a complicated process great results if you don't deviate from the directions.

R

 

[sunray]

If you do find other stiff that needs bluing, just leave it in the room while bluing your parts. The salts will blue 'em. Has to be ferrous metals though.
The only really difficult part of hot bluing is controlling the temperatures. Easiest done with a gas burner vs electric.
Kind of pricey, but not stupidly so. Note the heat disclaimer. Add the W's. .pjsproducts.com/radocy.htm