Thread: rust blue

anybody out there ever try rust bluing the razor blade? would play hell on the edge and have to be re-honed I'm sure but....

you know what I'm talking about? like on guns back in the day, and on custom guns now. essentially you use a rust accelrant (rust bluing solution) and then boil to convert the rust from ferrous oxide (red) to ferric oxide (that deep blue), then card off the scaling and repeat, do this until there is no more rusting, you have made yourself a finish impervious to rust this way. and look at old guns, it sometimes lasts 100 years.

your edge of course wouldn't stay blued, but the rest of the razor might look really really cool.

thoughts guys?

Red

Could you cover the edge area with something so that the chemical wouldn't cause the edge to "blue" ?

yes, the trick is that it would have to be something totally grease/oil free to keep from interfering with the bluing. if you were really carefrul you could just not apply the solution to the edge. on something that size you could probably apply it with a cotton swab, would probably give you a slightly wavy, eye pleasing line to the edge there. I'm gonna have to try it, I have everything to do it (except a carding wheel turning the right speed, but I can improvise).

Red

You might laugh at this but, I make Fuzz Boxes !! You know the little device Jimi Hendrix used to get that distorted sound...........? Well anyway, I use chemical etching acid to make circuit boards.
Right, what you do is draw you circuit with a marker then swill acid over the copper plated fibre board. The copper that isn't markered is eaten away, the copper under the marker is still there.
Do I make sense?
M

Thats awesome! I'm surprised the marker isnt eaten away...Do you make any other effects or just the good old fuzz?

really? just a sharpie type marker? I wonder if that would work. I don't think I'll test it on a razor blade but I've got lots of metal here that I can test it on. that would really really be interesting.

Originally Posted by tjiscooler

Thats awesome! I'm surprised the marker isnt eaten away...Do you make any other effects or just the good old fuzz?

I make a Fuzz face (you know the round one) but I "tune" the amount of voltage going through the Germainium (or silicon if you prefer Jimi's later sound) transistors, so the fuzz is nice and as you back of the guitars volume you get a percussive chimey, bell like sound. Jimi's Tech Roger Mayer used to do it and that Eric Johnson chap does it too.
I also make a dallas rangemaster copy, again getting the voltage going through the (single in the case of the rangemaster) transistor correct so that as you play higher up the neck, the more distortion you get. I only copy and adapt circuits other people have invented, it's very basic stuff.
The marker trick does work though, it says to do it on the etching kit!
M