Thread: Bluing Recipie

I found this on a sword making forum I am going to give it a try on a blade that has a big chip missing out of it.



Starting with clean steel (degrease and clean with alcohol) and handle with clean hands or vinyl gloves to keep oil from contaminating the surface. Make a simple solution of hydrogen peroxide (the stuff they sell at the drug store for 99 cents), table salt, and vinegar. Put about 4 ounces of peroxide in a glass jar and microwave it until it is hot but not boiling. Add salt and stir and then reheat. Continue heating and adding salt until the solution is saturated....you can tell because the salt stops dissolving and starts to accumulate at the bottom of the glass jar. When saturated add about an ounce of vinegar (what kind does not matter) and pour the solution into a spray bottle. I use empty and very clean butter spray bottles.

Take the steel fitting (clean, remember?) and run it under hot tap water till it's hot. Remove it, and then spray it liberally with the hot solution. It will steam, fizz, foam and drip so don't do this over the living room carpet or your wife's clean bedspread. You will see red rust appear immediately and as the foam dies down spray it again and again. After a few spray cycles rinse it under hot tap water, brush it with a soft toothbrush (not *your* toothbrush...use someone else's) and then run it under hot tap water again. And then repeat the spray and foam routine until it is literally covered with a thick coating of red rust. Maybe about 10 cycles and maybe it takes about 12 to 15 minutes.

Then place the fitting into a pan, fill it with water, and set it on the stove. Heat until the water boils and then boil it about 10 or 15 minutes (I use distilled water) or until the fitting is black. Pull it out of the water (use your fingers! If you don't get burned it ruins the whole thing) and while it's still warm rub it with mineral oil or Renaissance wax. The wax will make it shiny...the oil will evaporate and leave a cool, dull black antique look.

It's done. Rub it with a soft cloth to remove any loose rust. This procedure will rust without pitting and the surface will be slightly matte looking. And I was just kidding about the burnt finger part. Use a stick or someone else's finger.

That sounds like a nice simplified version of the traditional rust-bluing process (the finish is superior to other forms of bluing, Im told) without all the fuss of a fuming chmber and extended time necessary to develop the rust coat before 'carding' it off.

Must give it a try!

Regards,
Neil

That sounds like a good recipe for gun parts, but if you boil a thin object like a straight razor blade you might be asking for trouble. If you do decide to do this, be absolutely sure that the blade is either supported or suspended in the water such that the blade does not contact the bottom of the pan you are heating the water in.

I have used that recipe from that exact post before. The results have been mostly good. I like the finish that results.

Charlie

Spazola

Do you have any pictures? I'd be most interested to see some of the results.

Originally Posted by ignatz

That sounds like a good recipe for gun parts, but if you boil a thin object like a straight razor blade you might be asking for trouble. If you do decide to do this, be absolutely sure that the blade is either supported or suspended in the water such that the blade does not contact the bottom of the pan you are heating the water in.

I have used a different bluing recipe (ammonium nitrite/sodium hydroxide) that calls for the blade to placed in the boiling salts - the salts raise the boiling temp of the water from 212F to around 285F. Although these temps are both well below the tempering temperature of razor steel I was still a bit nervous and suspended the razor by tightly fitting wire through the pivot hole so that the blade rested above the bottom of the pan, spine down.

I don't think it was really necessary from the tempering angle to do this, but it does stop patchiness and plummy brown colours caused by hot spots.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Scipio

Spazola

Do you have any pictures? I'd be most interested to see some of the results.

Here is a pic, the blade was blued this way.

Charlie

A lovely job, Charlie!

Regards,
Neil

Brian Vanspeybroeck is the gent's name. He's a good friend of mine and deserves the correct academic attribution for his methods.

I used it here: If I did not credit him previously; !must have been I didnt want to say Brian Van or correct my spelling of Vanspeybroeck. It gets blacker on some steel more than others.

It is either this or bury it.