Here's where we were when we last talked.





Here's where we are now.



One of your parts Joe. A big retainer ring with faux carbon patterning.



A couple of your parts Doug. The receiver and bolt. Now ... I'll have to redo the receiver housing. There's a small "rash" on it. I don't know why. The rest of the part is beautiful. Something laid against it. Something adhered to it. It's a bummer, after all the work. I think I will have my friend Mr. Brown reblue it. I won't have another session for awhile. I think he reblued guns more often. We'll get it asap. Wish it was perfect. I guess you can put a tiny sticker on it ... ??? Sorry ... dark humor.



Barrel hub.



Mike's hammer tube with faux carbon pattern, now blued.



And, part of Joe's pistol grip frame. The part will never show, but I often mark things inside, like this.

The session seemed to turn out well. I have not cleaned it all. It all ends up with a heavy oil film. It needs to be swabbed, blown out, wiped, and generally cleaned. It's a good bit of work yet.

Hope you enjoyed a look see.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2011 12:24AM by barnespneumatic.

I guess, since we didn't see any scalded skin pictures all the bluing sessions turned out great. Probably ordered ordered a couple hundred pound of the salts, you were short of. or can you keep reusing that stuff.

Probably loss 10 pounds that day.in your caustic sweat house.

The gun that Julio has. Was that the other type of bluing where it turns out more of a browning? Dory

Hey you got me. You edited while I was posting. Added more pictures. Dory



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2011 12:32AM by Dory.

Hello Mark,

Yes - the Yukon II that Julio has is browned. It's sort of my own version of antique brown or "burl" I called it. It's held up well.

It was another part of my desire to be able to finish a project, without having to wait to accumulate a big bunch of racks to make the bluing session make sense. I've "antiqued" a few guns. Gave some a finish that fooled collectors of several decades, into thinking they were origonal 18th century work. Yes - I told them. But, that Mona Lisa copy of mine is still being displayed as an origonal ... hahahah.

Mark ... check your mail. I forwarded you a great funny e-mail.

Gary

Hi Mark,

I forgot to answer your question. The bluing salts don't really wear out - but they are dragged out of the bath and rinsed away. They actually crawl up the tank sides and coat the outside of the tank. They fall to the floor. I scoop them up and, sort them, and can re-use most of it. However; with a longer session, you still go thru a lot of salt.

Yes - I ordered two containers of the salts. $356 with shipping. They are just a metal bucket with a bag of salt taking up about half of the bucket interior. 40 pounds to the bucket. That would be a nice Christmas gift if ya'll were wondering what I'd like. Bucket of #7 Brownells.

Gary

Amazing isn't it? A few degress of heat and a few % of salt content takes the process from high speed rust to a beautiful finish. Looks very nice, I don't understand why you don't want to do weekly sessions?

Hello Jerry,

Yes ... I've also been considering offering bungy jumping courses from unknown heights. Maybe a bit of "wild bear" teasing. And, of course, weekly bluing sessions.

Yes - the line between art and crap is usually very thin.

Gary

Gary :

That faux CF look is very eye catching, that's for sure.

It seems I can recall how excited you were to bring the bluing in house way back when ...


We definitely benefit with having you do it.

Karl



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2011 02:47AM by Karl_D.

Couple of the tanks cooking.



Tray of re-blued parts - ruined in the am - beautiful in the pm.



The old grungy guy survived yet another bluing session! Kelly helped me quite a bit during these sessions. She helped me carry trays in and out, and arrange the brown paper on the floors. Floors are not my forte' recently, since I can't bend past about 5 degrees ... heheh. She also gave me alot of moral support and ice water. Also warned me when my buttstock was up against a 50,000 BTU burner! BIG help. Thanks Kelly.

Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2011 03:24PM by barnespneumatic.

Looking good Gary!
What's it like breathing in that caustic atmosphere? Ever tempted to get a respirator?
Cheers
Neil

Hello Neil,

Well, according to all I've researched .... it's NOT a harmful atmosphere. I've spoken to the techs at Brownells ... grilled them on that. If you note, I have taken precautions. The big honkin' thing over my head is an exhaust hood. And, the windows are open in the side wall. That sweeps fresh air over the tanks, up and out. I've never experienced any throat or lung irritation, or; believe me, I'd have done more about it.

The stuff will burn your skin. So; it's an odd situation. As you see, I wear a hood, and gauntlet neoprene gloves. I also wear a heavy neoprene apron, and boots (though I forgot the boots this time). It's whoozy hot in the garb. Three or four hours in that, warms you right up.

I always try for a sweeping air blast over a respirator, as they fog your glasses no matter what you do. They are also so hot you can't stand it. They irritate your skin, and generally make it so you can't work.

Thanks for watching my back.

Gary

Nice pictures Gary. It's amazing how this process really transforms metal parts into objects of beauty. I'm sure the conditions were brutal but once again you pulled it off. Thanks for the pic of my hammer tube, it looks great! Oh, last but not least, please thank Kelly for her help as well.

Thanks Mike,

I'll pass that on. AND ... she cut my hair yesterday! hahah. She must have seen my post. Guess I'd gone to seed a bit. She's cut my hair for the last twenty plus years. It's less and less work all the time.

Gary

Just beautiful. I suspect it is like lots of things. The finish is only as good as the prep!

Hello Hugh,

That's true. The bluing cannot improve any poor preparation. However; the bluing can destroy some fine prep. As the pics above show ... struggling to get another few degrees of heat, and another percent of solution, made nothing but a rusty mess of all those finely prepared parts.

Once I resanded them, and had the sufficient salt in the solution to raise the boiling point to about 280 F, then they turned a rich black and allowed the polished prep to glow thru.

BTW. As I attempted to clarify before; the few guns I'd planned as having the Dragon skin pattern finish, all were resanded to become traditional hot blued guns. The finish didn't harden as required, and I didn't feel like waiting for a cure at some point. I also realized that there was going to be wide opinion regarding preference ... so I decided on tradition.

As a result, I'm assembling a few guns that were planned to just add to the kitty. This is the time of the year that I plan for the remainder, and it's events. I guess I've given some the opinion that I'm on the street corner with a tin cup, most days. Not quite. Planning ahead moves pretty slow when you are hand manufacturing something that takes weeks or months of work. A couple of these guns are now spoken for. A couple are available. If this appeals, give me a shout. With the chronic pain issues flaring up as they have this month, this is exactly the reason why I must plan ahead.

Sincerely,
Gary

The blued parts look great! Fine craftsmanship is hard to come by, unless it's in Gary's shop. There we can see it everywhere.

I still say any rig with that much gas flame action going on underneath it better have a roasting pig carcass on top.