Fire bluing SMR parts, Jax blacking barrel ....thoughts?

[Daveboone]

I fire blued many of the small parts of my Kibler Colonial rifle ,(trigger plate, wood screws, rear sight, tang bolts and such) and was very pleased with the results. I am looking ahead to my SMR now. I was originally going to Jax Black the steel. Now I am considering fire bluing as much of the steel as possible. I will not the triggers/sears, and of course the frizzen or working lock parts, but what of the lock plate itself? Has anyone ever fire blued the small steel parts in combination with the Jax Blacked barrel? How does it look? I am wondering if it would look....dorky, or only half done.

 

[rchas]

When you say "fire blue" I am assuming you mean oxidation color used to judge tempering temperature. It's pretty, but not abrasion resistant.

On small parts like screws I will often heat till cherry red then dunk in some old motor oil, then repeat. They come out a dark black which lasts a reasonably long time. I think blue/black screws adds a nice touch to a gun.

For a blue color on a lock plate you might want to consider rust blue

 

[Daveboone]

When you say "fire blue" I am assuming you mean oxidation color used to judge tempering temperature. It's pretty, but not abrasion resistant.

On small parts like screws I will often heat till cherry red then dunk in some old motor oil, then repeat. They come out a dark black which lasts a reasonably long time. I think blue/black screws adds a nice touch to a gun.

For a blue color on a lock plate you might want to consider rust blue

By fire bluing, I am referring to the heating/oil quenching process you refer to.

 

[64Springer]

You can achieve some very nice colors by polishing the steel and slowing heating the steel with a propane torch.

Grays, blues, purples, browns, straws can all be achieved with a torch.

Or you can make a saggar, place the parts in it with some carbonized material, heat in a furnace and dump in cold water.

There's too much to go into in a forum thread. Find some good on-line resources and start reading.

 

[BadDaditood]

Springer is correct, you can chase some nice colors with flame but too much to get into here. They also don’t wear well.
As far as hardening by heating and quenching that leaves the steel extremely hard but brittle. Without Tempering, screw heads can snap off and they are too hard to drill for an Easy-Out screw remover, so you’re screwed!
After hardening/quenching in pre-heated canola oil I’ll polish the screw heads back to bright then put all the parts I want blue/ black into an old toaster oven at 450 for an hour or so until I like the colors.
Seems to be more durable than flame colors.

 

[WBNovak]

I used the Jax black and was very happy with the results. Super easy.