Is there a place around Tulsa y'all know of that sells hot bluing salts? I really don't wanna pay Brownells $38 worth of hazmat fees to ship some to me.
Hot bluing salts is da debil!!
Lol. Well I need some in my bidness.
That stuff is incredibly hard to get rid of when it's finished.
A guy in Ponca used that and other methods of bluing for years and had to quit as it became more expensive to dispose of the chemicals than he could make in profit. Sucked because he had customers from all over the country.
A guy in Ponca used that and other methods of bluing for years and had to quit as it became more expensive to dispose of the chemicals than he could make in profit. Sucked because he had customers from all over the country.
That and no matter how good your mask is the stuff will kill you.
I'm lucky I'm not any worse off than I am after bluing for over 20 years.
After you mix a batch, is it only good for that one heat cycle or can you reheat it and use again at a later date?
You can use it for several cycles I believe.
Properly handled it will last a year. needs regular use or salts will all crawl out of the tanks .
You mix it in a Black Iron tank (not stainless) big enough to hold the items without them touching the sides. (Stainless tanks or touching sides causes galvanic action which the bluing will later rub off) You heat tank to approx. 292 degrees in a WELL VENTILATED area.
Note that this stuff is highly corrosive, eats aluminum like crazy.
You will need at a minimum
Bluing tank
Hot water cleaning tank w/ oakite or similar cleanser
fresh water rinse tank
bleed out neutralizer tank (optional but recommended)
hot oil dip tank
Propane or natural gas burners for 4 of the tanks.
racks to hold tanks and burners recommended
heavy rubber gloves that go past your elbows
Mask and goggles
Only do this in an area you can afford to destroy. The fumes will corrode everything.
Last edited:
Thanks for the info. I've watched a guys video of him doing what I intend to do. He has a fish fryer burner set up outside and a stew pot on it. He mentioned not to use stainless or aluminum too. His process is simply to cook his parts monitoring the foam level and checking the parts every few minutes. Then when he is satisfied with the color he throws the parts in a cold water tank. What is wrong with that process?
Similar threads
