Thread: Blue Steel Razor

I love this razor! It is a Union Cutlery Bing Blue Steel. The art deco appearance is tres cool with the blue steel and the blue and faux MOP celluloid striped handle.



As this manufacturer is not on our list I know nothing about it. However because of the art deco design I would guess it was made between 1910 and 1930. I was able to clean her up nicely but the hone wear is pretty severe. Can anyone teach me about steel bluing? Is it possible to re-blue steel? Is bluing a coating or some sort of surface treatment?

Thanks,

Brad

Excellent looking razor. The two tone scales are cool!
I have a Union Cutlery as well its an Expert Barber Blue Steel that is an excellent shaver.
They have a cold blue that you can do yourself, should be able to find it at any gun shop.

Bob

Originally Posted by CactusBob

Excellent looking razor. The two tone scales are cool!
I have a Union Cutlery as well its an Expert Barber Blue Steel that is an excellent shaver.
They have a cold blue that you can do yourself, should be able to find it at any gun shop.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I was hoping for something like that. So bluing is somee sort of coating?

I use the Birchwood & Casey cold bluing. I found it at Wal-Mart. It works great if the metal is absolutely clean.

Blueing is a coating on the metal that helps inhibit rust it doesn't stop rust but does offer some protection to the metal. Think of a gun barrel. If you can restore a razor, you can use cold blue.

Bob

To do a truly authentic and even reblue it really needs to be the kind that uses fairly high heat treating. Yes you can use the cold process and many here have with very wide ranging results. The kicker is that with the cold process you must have a surface that is uniformly clean and I mean really clean. if its not the result will not be even.

I have a vintage US made razor with an engraved blade ‘Gun Metal’ with a blued tang. I have to get around to restoring it but the bluing is still intact.