Torch Blue Stainless Parts

[Maverick]

Has anyone tried this on small parts such as hammers.... I'm not having any luck finding a SBH Blued Wide Spur hammer and was wondering if i could get a satisfactory 'blue' from heating a stainless hammer.

Example videos...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO0rdIjs0F4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWyxcNdSA2s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw4Rl0uG7ok

 

[Hondo44]

Yes on the flame coloring. I don't like shiny hammer sides. On already blued parts, one can get coloring similar to color case hardening. Works equally well on stainless parts. However stainless parts can be blued.

These Colt hammers had shiny sides in the white:

Have also done heat treating and annealing. When one is flame coloring a hammer however, one should use caution not to get to the dull red color spoken of in the last video or the hammer notches will be softened. Heat paste from Brownells can be used to protect the notches.

 

[Pete]

The parts in the videos that were flame blued were not stainless steel.Stainless can be blackened but the finish is not very durable.The videos show non-stainless steels that have been polished first.

 

[Hondo44]

Yes agreed they were not stainless parts in the video, but as I said above, I have also flame colored stainless parts.

I was not referring to blackening Stainless steel, I was talking about bluing stainless; as in blued Remington 7 MM bolt action barrels, etc.

Several re-finishers blue stainless steel such as:

George Roghaar, Boca Raton, Florida
http://gunblue.homestead.com/

 

[caryc]

I have been fire bluing my grip screws for almost ten years. Of course it doesn't work on stainless but it does work on carbon steel.

I just hold a screw with needle nose pliers over the flame on my kitchen stove. Heat it up to orange and drop it into a small container of dirty used motor oil. Works beautifully.

Any of you with my grips can re blue your screws the same way if they need it.

 

[Maverick]

Hondo44,
Interesting pics. I am a hammer shy of completing my project. Ruger only makes SBH wide spur hammers in stainless now...but.. if I could get some blue to stick i'd buy the stainless version. Do you think this would be possible with the right prep and cold blue? I'm not looking for miracles.. just enough color so that it isn't obvious that it's stainless. The pictures you show above..is that a stainless hammer that you used cold blue on?

 

[caryc]

Hondo44,
Interesting pics. I am a hammer shy of completing my project. Ruger only makes SBH wide spur hammers in stainless now...but.. if I could get some blue to stick i'd buy the stainless version. Do you think this would be possible with the right prep and cold blue? I'm not looking for miracles.. just enough color so that it isn't obvious that it's stainless. The pictures you show above..is that a stainless hammer that you used cold blue on?

Any chemical cold blue will not even touch stainless. But http://www.caswellplating.com sells a stainless blackener. I tried it and it works pretty well but is not permanent. It will blacken stainless enough that for small parts it would be ok, since you could re do it again if it started to wear thin. To do a decent job, dip your small stainless parts in muriatic acid first to clean them real good then dip in the blackener.

Muriatic acid is swimming pool acid. You can even get it at Home Depot. Be careful with the stuff and use in a well ventilated area. Best to use it outside.

 

[Hondo44]

Maverick,

Sorry, no, cold blue will not work at all and blackening is a waste of time It takes special salts and critical heat control to even hot blue stainless.

The guns shown above are Colts and therefore the hammers are not stainless. They are flame colored blue. Flame coloring stainless will not come out that dark and won't last long on a heavily used part like a hammer.

The stainless steels used in guns can be hot blued. Explained here by George Roghaar:
http://gunblue.homestead.com/Stainless.html

He's very reasonable and will standard blue an entire handgun for $65 if it's fully prepared when he gets it. Stainless bluing is higher but how much can 1 hammer be? I've thought about having him blue a dozen Ruger hammers for resale on the forum at my cost because so many Ruger owners need them.

Brownell's sells the special bluing chemical, and some of the better gun re-finishers offer stainless bluing.

OXYNATE® NO. 84 - HOT CHEMICAL BLUING COMPOUND - Brownells

 

[DPris]

Ruger's putting stainless hammers on all single-actions now, not just Super Bs.
Denis

 

[Hondo44]

Denis,

That's true, as well as stainless triggers and ejector housing screws. The screws are blued though. If the blue wears off, they can not be touched up with cold blue.

 

[DPris]

So, there you are.
Buy OLD!!!!!
Denis