Niter Blueing
 

What is the best way to do my own niter blueing in order to attain that deep rich, almost black, jeweled shade for screw heads and pins…

…or should I simply send them out to have them professionally done - and who should I send them to?





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Dan Rossiter showed me how but I am sworn to secrecy.

:rotf:





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Niter bluing chemicals from Brownells. Stainless steel pot. Heavy leather gloves and face shield. Screen basket for small parts. Propane burner. 1000 degree thermometer from Brownells. Watch chemicals for a long time to come up to 600-700 degrees in pot. Hope you don't end up in the emergency room due to a drop of rain water hitting pot or an accidental spill.

When desired blue/black is achieved, retrieve and drop the parts into oil and allow to stay for a while. The white residue that builds on parts washes off with hot water.

It is not a process to be taken lightly. And you may get the same results by heating the small parts with a torch (flame blued). Just my 2 cents.

Screws and pins can be flame blued. Quick. Easy. Cheap.

Larger parts for nitre blue, brownells salts heated to around 800 degrees. Time does nothing for color. It is all the temp. You need close to 800 for black.

I've done screw heads with a regular propane torch with, what I considered, very good results. Just heat it until it reaches the desired shade of blue, to black. I like them in a deep, dark blue, but I wasn't attempting to re-create any particular match.

590-600 degrees in an electric furnace is a good substitute, but still not as good as nitre blue.