Author Topic: another blue question (Read 4044 times)

Alex · « **on:** June 16, 2016, 03:42:51 pm »

So I went ahead .. pulled on my big boy pants and am in the process of hot bluing my rocky slide. It is coming out wonderful and has actually been alot of fun. I am still making it darker and then will put it in baking soda solution as instructed. after I card it and it is dry ... what should I apply. I have heard people take newly blued guns and put everything from vaseline to motoroil and bath the gun and warm it in the oven. Anyone have any suggestions. Do I just apply gun oil as regular?

ArizonaGunOwners.com

Alex · « **Reply #1 on:** June 16, 2016, 05:47:47 pm »

Ok so the bluing part is done and looks AWESOME! Man what a difference from the finish that looked like cheap spray paint. I have only done the slide so far since there is less to take apart and it was the part that was all scratched/ marred. I used Mark lee express blue and it has just come out of the baking soda/water bath. Now it is drying. I was given a very exhaustive set of instructions on how to use the lee's but it involved a torch and I bought the torch but after more than a year of having all the material I was afraid to try it because I was afraid of overheating the slide using a torch. Someone with a lot of experience may know when its done .. I do not.

Then I read where someone suggested using your oven and argued it was better since the steel would be more uniformly heated than you could get with a torch and I thought .. ok that makes sense. 150 -200 degrees is not going to mess with your temper in any way. Think about it ... most of us are going tolerate 120 this weekend.

So I went oven. I have to tell you .. my finish looks so good. If nothing else it is 10,000 times better looking than the spray paint finish it looks like it comes with. But I don’t know what next steps are. It took a few hours but the whole thing this far has cost me under 20 bucks to do and I still have 3/4 bottle of Lee's to do other stuff. my gut says to take my slide and put it in a tray of some clean new motor oil I have for a day or so to let it soak up what it will.

Arizonagunsmith · « **Reply #2 on:** June 16, 2016, 07:09:14 pm »

Motor Oil is good, but a water displacing oil is the best... use WD40. Wipe it down after spraying and them coat it with motor oil. Let it dry and you should be good to go. Let it set for a couple of days so the surface hardens up.

Jon

coelacanth · « **Reply #3 on:** June 16, 2016, 07:42:26 pm »

Glad you are pleased with the results.

I agree with some kind of thin oil to work into the finish to displace water and also letting the finish cure a bit. Most bluing continues to age and change color slightly over time.

steve2md · « **Reply #4 on:** June 17, 2016, 12:20:31 am »

This is what happens when you buff a lot and don't let the blue set..... it's a tomahawk I just got done forging and finishing. Things sell well like this, but firearms sell/look better when done darker

Alex · « **Reply #5 on:** June 17, 2016, 07:44:36 am »

Thank you for the advise and admonishments fellas. I srayed it with wd 40 then I put it in a shallow tray completely covered with clean 5w20 synthetic motoroil overnight. I just pulled it out and put it on a rack in the sun. I didnt wipe it down, I'm just letting it drip dry. I figured later today I will clean out the extractor and firing pin channels. So when should I buff it up and give the whole thing a good wiping. I was thinking I would leave it until tomorrow or sunday and then cover it in ren wax and reassemble.

It really was a lot of fun and a great feeling of gun accomplishment! I just did trigger work on it so it feels great and now it looks really good. I certainly don’t mind saving money by doing it myself. I have a bunch of work to catch up on so the frame will wait a few weeks before I tackle it.

Hey Steve that hawk head looks great. I am a carbon steel knife junky so I will have to keep myself from attacking all them with my fledgling skills!! Maybe I just need another Rocky.

Alex · « **Reply #6 on:** June 17, 2016, 08:10:45 am »

I couldnt locate any instructions for the Mark Lee Express Blue online except for the cursory ones on the brownell page. I bought the blue over a year ago and had misplaced the instructions but found them. I scanned them and will post a link here for anyone on the internet that runs into the same thing.

http://boriqualeather.com/stuff/Mark%20lee%20Express%20Blue%20instructions.jpg

steve2md · « **Reply #7 on:** June 17, 2016, 11:04:05 am »

Quote from: Alex on June 17, 2016, 07:44:36 am

Hey Steve that hawk head looks great. I am a carbon steel knife junky so I will have to keep myself from attacking all them with my fledgling skills!!

Thanks! I turned a handle for it this morning on the wood lathe from a walnut branch I harvested in Flagstaff a few weeks ago. Waiting for the epoxy I coated the handle with to cure (fills imperfections nicely, like tung oil without the extra waiting) before I go out and sand up to 2000 grit and then buff. Kinda going over the top, but kinda have to when marketing the thing around $150

Alex · « **Reply #8 on:** June 17, 2016, 11:26:14 am »

That seems reasonably priced for a hand forged Hawk! Please post pix when its done w measurements. My birthday is coming up and I might be able to start hinting early!!

steve2md · « **Reply #9 on:** June 17, 2016, 12:27:50 pm »

Will do. I have a blacksmithing thread in "off topic" that I'll continue it in.

coelacanth · « **Reply #10 on:** June 17, 2016, 07:38:13 pm »

Nice looking 'hawk.

That finish you have on it would look awesome with an osage orange handle. Just sayin' . . .

steve2md · « **Reply #11 on:** June 17, 2016, 09:36:16 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on June 17, 2016, 07:38:13 pm

Nice looking 'hawk. That finish you have on it would look awesome with an osage orange handle. Just sayin' . . .

Agreed...if I had access to some osage....

Alex · « **Reply #12 on:** June 18, 2016, 11:51:15 am »

I figured I would keep updating because while many of you have done this and probably dont understand my excitement Im sure there are a bunch of people who ae sitting on the fence about doing it.

So like i said after I sprayed it down with wd40 and gave it the lightest wipe down I submerged it in clean fresh 5w20. No great reason I choose that wt it was just what my cars use so I had a couple of qts of it. I let it sit overnight and then yesterday morning I took it out and put it on a cheap rack (50 cents) over the tin oven pan I used to apply the lee's and put it in the sun all day. I figured the warm metal might get the oils in the pores? Dont know if that actually works but it seems reasonable. It dripped off most of the oil by end of day.

Still afraid to rub it after what you guys said I waited until this morning. I blew out the inside with my compressor and gently wiped off any oil on the outside surface. I still havent buffed it. I dont plan on using a buffing wheel just a tee shirt and some elbow grease. I took a q tip to the firing pin channel an dextractor chanel and blew it out again.

I was not going to do this so I didnt take any before pictures

But I had managed to but big rub marks in the surface when changing my sights. Right now it looks like a black mirror and I did the slide stop while i was at it and it looks great.

I had originally planned on doing a rust brown finish but I am happy I did it with the lee's method because I was able to apply it with a dauber to the areas I wanted affected and didnt have to worry about a lot of rust forming on the inside of the slide and in the channels. While the inside has a slight patina now I didnt have to get nuts with the steel wool and wire brush on the inside at all.