Fire-Blue?

[aprayinbear]

I hear folks talking about their fire-blued guns. Now I have fire-blued screws, etc. by heating with a propane torch until the metal turns that rich purple blue. Is this what people are talking about when they say they fire-blued the barrel. If so. does the heating change the property of the steel. Is it safe?

What do you think? Also.... any pics?

Happy Shooting

 

[Voodoochile]

Fire bluing is the color that the steel takes on when it is subjected to a particular bluing process, don't ask me how it is done cuse I'm not 100% sure but I tink it is done with wood.

I've only done the hot tank & cold bluing processes but they don't ever come out as pretty as those do unfortunatly.

 

[BHP FAN]

I've got an Uberti 1875 Remington with that finish.It looks sort of like Dyekem metal marker.Unfortunately,it's not real durable,though very pretty.Mine is turning an attractive plum in spots from handling.

 

[mykeal]

Fire blueing is also known as charcoal blueing, and it is indeed a heating process. It's a delicate but very attractive finish. It must be carefully handled and mainained and cannot be touched up with chemical finishes.

It is certainly a safe process; the safety comes in by properly tempering the metal after the heating process. It is not recommended for application by non-professionals.

 

[44-henry]

I think people often confuse the fire blue finish with true charcoal blue finishes. Fire blue/temper blue is done at much lower temperatures and gives that peacock bright blue that people seem to lust over. One common way is to immerse the steel into a vat of melted potassium nitrate and remove when the color appears. The color must be protected with a varnish like substance as it does tend to wear away quickly otherwise.

Charcoal blue is a total different story and the parts that I have done using this process have come out very durable and have a wet ink black look to them.

 

[RSVP2RIP]

The fire blue method can also be used to make the "straw" colored parts also I belive like the saftey on a luger. Brownells used to sell a chemical to do it but I can't find it in their new catalog.

 

[Old Fuff]

Fire blueing is also known as charcoal blueing, and it is indeed a heating process. It's a delicate but very attractive finish. It must be carefully handled and mainained and cannot be touched up with chemical finishes.

No they were not, at least so far as Colt was concerned. How do I know? Well besides reading contempory literature I have a charcoal blued Colt revolver that has a trigger, hammer and fire-blued screws. The color is completely different. Winchester also fire blued small parts.

The finish on currently (so called) charcoal blued Italian revolver replicas isn't what Colt did either, and while it is attractive it isn't historically correct. In fact the color comes closer to fire blue and the "gas oven blue" Colt used between the two World Wars then it does charcoal blue.

To see an excellent example of Colt's gas oven blue go to the following link and notice how similar it is the the current Italian blue they call charcoal blue.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=121567426

Fire blue can be done with a tourch, but it's dificult to get an even, consistant color. The old-time gunmakers used a bath that was kept at exactly the right temperature to turn the steel the right color. The parts were submerged until they reached the right color and then quenched. This should not be confused with hot salt blues that are used today.

 

[rodinal220]

Brownells:NITREBLUE® BLUING SALTS

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/productdetail.aspx?p=1105&st=&s=