How To: Rust Bluing.

[AFJuvat]

I wanted to rust blue a few parts for a "Franken Rifle" that was left over from the two parts rifles that donated parts to my Arisaka.

While I was at it, I tossed in the "bubba" bolt from my Arisaka. This bolt had the original handle cut off, and a bent, flattened monstrosity welded on. Since the heat treatment is now questionable at best, it is a junked part. But it worked well to try a few different techniques with filing/sanding/and polishing metal before bluing.

Pic 1 - Parts before stripping and cleaning.



Pic 2 - Water, Dawn dish soap and 2 tablespoons of Lemi-Shine in a ultrasonic cleaner will clean/degrease the parts and strip off all of the old bluing.



Pic 3 - After 3 cycles in the ultrasoinic, the parts are stripped. Note that it removed the rust from the bolt handle.



After the parts were stripped, rinsed, and soaked in denatured alcohol to de-water them, I lightly polished the surfaces of the 'good' parts with 0000 steel wool. The bolt got a once over with files and sandpaper to remove/reduce scratches, gouges, hammer marks, etc. I did not try to remove the biggest ones completely, but overall, I was able to clean it up quite a bit.

Pic 4 - Bolt body



Pic 5 - "Bubba" bolt handle, close up.



Continued next post.

[AFJuvat]

After polishing/sanding, the parts are kept in a bath of denatured alcohol to remove any sanding grit as well as any residual oils. Once the bluing process begins, the parts cannot be touched with bare hands, or you end up with a permanent fingerprint in the bluing. I use chemical resistant gloves from Wal-Mart.

Pic 6 - Parts soaking in alcohol. The 0000 steel wool pad is being cleaned/degreased so I can use it to 'card' off the residual dust from the bluing process.



Pic 7 - The high tech lab. A cheap $20 toaster oven, a $20 electric hotplate, and a $4 pot.



I use "Mark Lee Express Blue #1" The process is similar to traditional rust bluing, but it makes the process go by much faster than using the traditional heat, apply acid, wait for part to start rusting, etc... For the first application of the Express Blue, you heat the parts to about 180 - 200 degrees F, apply the solution, reheat until solution is dry, apply more solution, reheat until dry, then boil in distilled water.

Pic 8 - Striker getting heated. You can see on the bearing surfaces where I lightly polished.



Pic 9 - About to apply the first application of the rust blue solution.



Pic 10 - Striker after the first application was applied. Notice the piece is discolored.



Pic 11 - First application to the bolt after heating it. You can tell that the bolt is made from a different type of steel, it rusted almost immediately.



I applied the rust bluing solution a total of three times to the pieces, reheating the parts between each application. The parts are pretty rusty.....
Pic 12 - All of the rust...



Continued next post.

[AFJuvat]

After applying the rust blue solution three times, I dropped the parts into the pot of boiling water and let them boil for about 10 minutes.
Pic 13 - Parts boiling.



The heat and the boiling water converts the red rust (Fe2O3) to Magnetite (Fe3O4) Magnetite has a blue/black color and is much more resistant to corrosion.

Pic 14 - Parts removed from the boiling water. They have turned black, with some red rust still on the surface. With repeated application, the amount of red rust remaining becomes less and less.



Pic 15 - Same parts, after carding off the "fuzzy" stuff on the parts as seen in picture above. No red rust on the parts, which have turned a nice blue/black color.



I repeated the process above three more times, though each application/boil cycle was progressively shorter and shorter, as there was less free iron left to oxidize. After the 4th application, I carded the parts and then turned up the heat in the toaster over to 250 degrees to evaporate any water left on the parts.

Pic 16 - After the heat soak, I slathered on the grease and let them sit for 24 hours.



After 24 hours, wiped off the excess grease. The bolt came out really well. too bad it is a junker part.
Pic 17 - Bolt body



Pic 18 - Bolt handle.

[Caleb]

Nice work, those came out great for what you are working with! I might have to send you my Enfield parts for some bluing, lol.

[pitor]

Nice work Mike. That was a lot of work, but working on guns is never "work" now, is it? Thanks for sharing with us.

[sdmc530]

nice job, I have never tried that but always wanted to, found it easier to have somebody else do it!! I guess I am lazy