Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

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You could take your stuff to the nearest gunsmith with a hot bluing set-up.
Since you are doing all the prep and polish, the price should be pretty
reasonable.

Randy


"DE" wrote in message
...


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

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Newsgroups
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On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:12:49 -0700, DE
wrote:



Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

The Birchwood Casey stuff is wiped on. If you dip, you get smut. The
Caswell stuff is suitable for dip or immersion. I've had very
satisfactory results with it. It's not as robust as hot-blueing,
but it does give a nice-looking finish.

After blackening, you wipe the part with "Sheath" (Birchwood Casey) or
similar. I think Caswell includes a can of stuff with his blackening
juice. From the odor, I think it's probably just boiled linseed oil.
It imparts a nice sheen, darkens the color considerably, and provides
pretty good protection against rust. Looks p'fessional.

In article , DE says...



Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Brownell's Oxpho cold blue.

Under some conditions this gives a reasonable black
oxide coating.

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

DE wrote:
Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

There's any number of cold blues for guns, some are more durable than
others. www.brownells.com has a lot of them. Their Oxpho Blue is
pretty durable, comes as either a liquid or a cream. Follow the
directions to the letter. I use it a lot on some of the steel items I
make up from time to time. Most of this stuff takes a HAZMAT charge
from UPS.

You could find a gunsmith with a hot-blue setup and skip all the HAZMAT
stuff, too.

Stan

Hey DE,

Ain't co-incidence just sumpin' !!!! I just put up a few more book
shelves yesterday, and this morning when I was placing some catalogue
stuff from a show somewhere last year, a pamphlet fell out. So I just
now dug it out, and it says

" Room Temperature Blacking Process for Iron, Steel, Aluminum, and
Zinc. "

www.blackfast.com

The pamphlet indicates the product is from the UK, but my pamphlet has
a sticker on it from the Canadian Distributor and prices are in
Canadian dollars. Contact is Bob Pero, Toronto. Email at is


Phone at 1-416-521-9035

Good Luck. Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

ps.... I think I picked it up at either IMTS2004, or more likely at
the annual Bothwell Car Show. The car show is just down the street
from me, and in 2004 had almost 2,000 antique/classic/muscle cars for
the one-day show!! Increase of about 300 cars from 2003. It's great
to see them all coming into town in dribs and drabs over Friday and
Saturday morning early, but leaving late Saturday afternoon after the
show in a steady stream for over two hours is just fantastic!!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:12:49 -0700, DE
wrote:



Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

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DE wrote:


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

DE


What you realy need is some
"World famous, Model perfect gun blue " by Hearters.
:-) :-)
How many of youall remember that catalog?
...lew...

Keywords:
In article . net, Lew Hartswick wrote:
DE wrote:


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

DE


What you realy need is some
"World famous, Model perfect gun blue " by Hearters.
:-) :-)
How many of youall remember that catalog?
...lew...

It was "Herters" George Leonard & Sons. They don't make catalogs like
that anymore... (something about the FTC, I think...)

Doug White

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

We've tried some of the "cold black" systems and at best the results are
just ok, never as good as real black oxide. The last time we tried to use it
we kept getting bad "blotching" on the parts even though they were cleaned
really well so we gave up on it at that point.

Around here because of enviromental issues (California) you can't even get
black oxide treatment commercially done anymore. Its expensive, but we had
to move to "black zinc" plating. Looks good but its a lot easier to scratch
off than I would like.

For one offs, if you have a torch you should try the "heat it up and dunk it
in oil" method. Linseed oil or used motor oil are typically used, search the
web some more on these terms and you'll find some hints on using this
method. Be prepared for the oil to catch on fire if you try this, have a
cover ready to flop over the oil container.

Good luck-

Paul T.

You keep adding lye until the temperature is right. Adding lye
increases the boiling temp. You want about 280 or 290 F, if I recall
correctly.

Another posibility is using photo film fixer. If you use google you
can probably find some reference to using Hypo in this newsgroup.

Dan


DE wrote:
Opinions please:



The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

The Caswell Black Oxide kit works very well:

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/black.htm

See my results: http://www.ebiz2000.com/hsm

My parts were made from 12L14. The trick to good blackening was to
clean them thoroughly, dip them for 3-5 min., wipe them off dry with a
clean paper towel (some of the black comes off... this is good), and
dip them again for 3-5 min. Follow with the recommended sealer. Worked
*great*. The black after the first dip is mottled, after the second
dip it is a nice, even, deep black.

I suppose a third would be even better, but this application did not
demand perfection.

Spencer



DE wrote:
Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

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News==----
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120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption
=----

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 23:27:44 GMT, Lew Hartswick
wrote:

DE wrote:


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

DE


What you realy need is some
"World famous, Model perfect gun blue " by Hearters.
:-) :-)
How many of youall remember that catalog?
...lew...

Ive still got one stuck away in storage. Lots of Herters cartridge
brass too G

Gunner


"[L]iberals are afraid to state what they truly believe in, for to do so would result in even less votes than they currently receive. Their methodology is to lie about their real agenda in the hopes of regaining power, at which point they will do whatever they damn well please. The problem is they have concealed and obfuscated for so long that, as a group, they themselves are no longer sure of their goals. They are a collection of wild-eyed splinter groups, all holding a grab-bag of dreams and wishes. Some want a Socialist, secular-humanist state, others the repeal of the Second Amendment. Some want same sex/different species marriage, others want voting rights for trees, fish, coal and bugs. Some want cradle to grave care and complete subservience to the government nanny state, others want a culture that walks in lockstep and speaks only with intonations of political correctness. I view the American liberals in much the same way I view the competing factions of Islamic
fundamentalists. The latter hate each other to the core, and only join forces to attack the US or Israel. The former hate themselves to the core, and only join forces to attack George Bush and conservatives." --Ron Marr

I haven't heard of the lye/fertilizer method. Could you elaborate, or
give some references, please?

Roger


DE wrote:


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

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----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

Thanks for all the replys. I have used my gunsmith in the past,
his work is great and fees reasonable, he just doesn't do blueing
every week. Maybe once a month.
Hence the desire to do my own.

I think I'll try some Oxpho and the Caswell stuff along with
going back to the hot blue and retrying it.


DE






On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:12:49 -0700, DE
wrote:



Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.

Tnks

DE

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----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----


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On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 04:12:28 GMT, rlincolnh
wrote:

I haven't heard of the lye/fertilizer method. Could you elaborate, or
give some references, please?

Roger


Do google on homemade blueing, lots of past threads.
Also the one on photo fixer sounds like it's worth a try.

DE

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On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 01:01:59 GMT, "Paul T."
wrote:



For one offs, if you have a torch you should try the "heat it up and dunk it
in oil" method. Linseed oil or used motor oil are typically used, search the
web some more on these terms and you'll find some hints on using this
method. Be prepared for the oil to catch on fire if you try this, have a
cover ready to flop over the oil container.

Good luck-

Paul T.

Tnks, I've done that for small parts, heat to red and quench in
linseed oil. Works great.

DE

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On 14 Mar 2005 20:01:37 -0800, "Spencer" wrote:

The Caswell Black Oxide kit works very well:

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/black.htm

See my results: http://www.ebiz2000.com/hsm

For more examples, see
http://www.caswellplating.com/restga...de_restgal.htm

I'm not an agent for Caswell, but I do like his products because they
work as promised and enable me to do some things I want to do.

I don't doubt that hot blueing is more robust, but this stuff is
very easy to use and I think it provides a nice-looking finish.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:15:30 -0700, DE
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 01:01:59 GMT, "Paul T."
wrote:



For one offs, if you have a torch you should try the "heat it up and dunk it
in oil" method. Linseed oil or used motor oil are typically used, search the
web some more on these terms and you'll find some hints on using this
method. Be prepared for the oil to catch on fire if you try this, have a
cover ready to flop over the oil container.

Good luck-

Paul T.

Tnks, I've done that for small parts, heat to red and quench in
linseed oil. Works great.

DE

Leigh at MarMachine ) has a shop in So. Cal that
he uses, that does marvelous black oxiding. Perhaps if you contacted
him?

Ive seen much of their work..very nice.

Gunner

"[L]iberals are afraid to state what they truly believe in, for to do so would result in even less votes than they currently receive. Their methodology is to lie about their real agenda in the hopes of regaining power, at which point they will do whatever they damn well please. The problem is they have concealed and obfuscated for so long that, as a group, they themselves are no longer sure of their goals. They are a collection of wild-eyed splinter groups, all holding a grab-bag of dreams and wishes. Some want a Socialist, secular-humanist state, others the repeal of the Second Amendment. Some want same sex/different species marriage, others want voting rights for trees, fish, coal and bugs. Some want cradle to grave care and complete subservience to the government nanny state, others want a culture that walks in lockstep and speaks only with intonations of political correctness. I view the American liberals in much the same way I view the competing factions of Islamic
fundamentalists. The latter hate each other to the core, and only join forces to attack the US or Israel. The former hate themselves to the core, and only join forces to attack George Bush and conservatives." --Ron Marr

In article , DE says...

I think I'll try some Oxpho and the Caswell stuff along with
going back to the hot blue and retrying it.

If you go with the oxpho, here's my experience with it:

1) it works best on some kinds of steel. I've found that
cold-rolled is kind of uncertain at best, it doesn't
work evenly or real darkly. Stainless is right out, don't
even bother trying. Best I've found is drill rod.

2) degrease the parts *completely* before starting. I
ultrasonic them (these are small parts, thumbscrews etc) in
some alcohol.

3) then I etch them in a 20% HCl acid dip for a few minutes,
and rinse in water. Dry without touching them.

4) dip in the Oxpho solution, and then I like to put that
beaker in the ultrasonic bath and blip it a few times. Seems
to give a deeper finish.

5) remove, rinse, blot dry, and oil right away.

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

"DE" wrote in message
...


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

The only thing I've tried is the lye/fertilizer mix
which I couldn't get hot enough to work well.
Kind of dangerous boiling lye also.


Depending upon size and usage, another method to consider might be a simple
"hot oil" or "blacksmith" finish.....

Heat them up to ~ 450 deg in a gas barbeque and then drop them into a 5 gal
bucket of used motor oil.

--

SVL

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 23:27:44 GMT, Lew Hartswick wrote:
DE wrote:


Opinions please:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

Is there anyone of these better than the other?
Strong and weeks points worth considering?

DE


What you realy need is some
"World famous, Model perfect gun blue " by Hearters.

That was some good stuff.

:-) :-)
How many of youall remember that catalog?

Hell, I remember the store, and what was where.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:12:49 -0700, DE
wrote:

I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?

I've been experimenting to get the "perfect" finish for antique engine
parts. Go here for my technique:
http://engines.rustyiron.com/electrolysis




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Rob Skinner
La Habra, California
www.rustyiron.com

Heck I can get rust on my stuff just by allowing them to set overnight
outside. Its a natural for Alabama!

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:03:21 -0800, Rob Skinner
wrote:

===On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:12:49 -0700, DE
===wrote:
===
=== I'm wanting to finish some of the things I make at home with
===a black oxide type coating. It looks like the options
===are Birchwood Casey, CaswellPlating and the ToolBlack
===sold in Enco and others. Cold type. Any others I've missed?
===
===I've been experimenting to get the "perfect" finish for antique engine
===parts. Go here for my technique:
===http://engines.rustyiron.com/electrolysis
===
===
===
===
====-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
===Rob Skinner
===La Habra, California
===www.rustyiron.com


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

Rob Skinner wrote:


I've been experimenting to get the "perfect" finish for antique engine
parts. Go here for my technique:
http://engines.rustyiron.com/electrolysis

Bob, this is very cool.
I could be wrong, but I thought EMT was galvanized. Is it used because
of that, or am I wrong?

thanks,

Ken Grunke
http://www.token.crwoodturner.com/shop/

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On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 20:49:14 -0600, Ken Grunke
wrote:

I've been experimenting to get the "perfect" finish for antique engine
parts. Go here for my technique:
http://engines.rustyiron.com/electrolysis


Bob, this is very cool.
I could be wrong, but I thought EMT was galvanized. Is it used because
of that, or am I wrong?

Hi Ken,
You're right, EMT is galvanized. That doesn't affect what I'm doing,
though. I used it because it was laying around in the junk pile,
wasn't particularly valuable for other projects, and could easily be
bent to fit the bucket.

Rob



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Rob Skinner
La Habra, California
www.rustyiron.com