Why are blue finishes more durable tha CC?

[J. A. EARLY]

My two cents on the clear lacquer, I've got a couple of guns with either good original colors or ones that have been redone. Wanting to use the guns and not wear them, I used clear "brushing" lacquer which is available at Lowes. Cheap, about $10 a quart which will do a thousand guns.

Here is what I found. If there is no lacquer there, it goes on perfectly and smoothes out streak-free with an artist brush. If there is a existing coat, it streaks because the new breaks down the old. The solution is to remove old coats which one of the refinished guns had. When I nitre blue trigger guards I can protect them with a coat of clear and it makes the blue deeper and offers protection so I don't have to do them over. It will wear through eventually. Remove it and clear them again.

[Craig Budgeon]

Scott you have 3 choices for lacquering CC parts. You can acquire lacquer( Galazan, Brownells, or Midwest), camelhair brush (Hobby Lobby) and mineral spirits. Clean the parts in mineral spirits and brush the lacquer on evenly. J.A. Early has a well thought procedure. Finally you can do it my way which is to clean the parts thoroughly, mask all internal surfaces, and spray the parts with Krylon clear lacquer. Scott, your choice

[Bill Murphy]

Whether we like lacquer coating or not, it was used at the factory by Ithaca, Fox, and others. Not sure about Parker.

[MD*GSP]

Originally Posted by Craig Budgeon

Scott you have 3 choices for lacquering CC parts. You can acquire lacquer( Galazan, Brownells, or Midwest), camelhair brush (Hobby Lobby) and mineral spirits. Clean the parts in mineral spirits and brush the lacquer on evenly. J.A. Early has a well thought procedure. Finally you can do it my way which is to clean the parts thoroughly, mask all internal surfaces, and spray the parts with Krylon clear lacquer. Scott, your choice

Thanks CraigB

Guess I'm in the camp that just can't seem to find anything more gratifying then watching the colors go gray and the engraving coming to life. Dog doesn't seem to care one bit so, I won't either

(Sorry for the hijack CraigL)

[John Allen]

Brian can correct me if I am wrong on this,but the trigger guard and other parts were nitre blued for cost and because they are not of as high carbon steel as the barrels and don't take rust blue as well.Also,the main purpose of case hardening is to provide a hard outer shell around the action but still allow the action to flex on recoil.If the action is overhardened it becomes brittle and subject to cracking.The colors are just a byproduct of the process.

[Richard Flanders]

My take on blueing vs case hardening is that blueing is a barrier to chemical reactivity, ie, it's an oxide coating that is unreactive to further rusting, while case hardening is basically an armor plating designed to prevent physical wear from abrasion. I'd assume that the extra carbon in the hardened layer would also add some protection from chemical wear as pure carbon is also chemically unreactive. Do I have this right? Where are our real chemists here??

[Craig Budgeon]

Casehardening is not a plating, instead you are adding carbon to the the surface of the part chemically by the aid of heat ( 1375-1450F) and time. Hardening takes place when the part is quenched. Quenching solutions vary widely and are still secret when people are trying to achieve colors too. The depth of case hardening can vary from>0003" (speedcase) to as much as .030" (carburize). The purpose of cashardening is to maintain strength with a soft core and wear resistance with a hard surface. Case color provides no benefit but eye appeal to the part. An addendum to bluing: If you have a welded part and you rust blue it the weld will not show, if you chose to nitre blue it, hot blue it, or oxide it then the weld will show.

[Richard Flanders]

I did not mean that case hardening is an actual plating. I should have said that it is effectively a plating, which it is. It's a hard layer that is over and protects a softer layer.

[Bruce Day]

Originally Posted by Richard Flanders

I did not mean that case hardening is an actual plating. I should have said that it is effectively a plating, which it is. It's a hard layer that is over and protects a softer layer.

I did not take it any other way. I thought your statement was clear and accurate.