Gun blue-ing knives?

RDT

RDT

Joined
Dec 17, 1999
Messages
4,117
Anyone ever tried Gun bluing or using any of the Birchwood Casey products like say their blackening gel or perma blue/super blue products on Stainless steel knives? I emailed them for more details bu have yet to hear from them. Was gonna call by the weeks end. Thought this could be a less expensve way of coating knives. I know alot of their products are for carbon steels, etc though. Anyone?
 
Cold blues won't work on stainless knife steels, in fact it's one quick way to tell stainless if it gets mixed in with regular tool steel .
There are some methods of hot bluing that I heard did, but I don't know who does it/them, and I heard it's beyond the tempering temperature of the blade and will ruin them as far as hardness goes.

Cold blue on regular spring or tool steel stinks bad and most people into guns recognize it instantly by smell and it lowers the value in their estimation.
It certainly does with guns.
 
Try PVD type coatings for stainless such as TiAlN. You'll have to find someone in the US who offers it. Bodycote may, but I hear they have a large min. order.

Forget about all cold blue products.

Hot blue works well on some carbon toolsteels. I've had good luck with having A2 blued. Always have a test piece done first. You'll have to find someone to do it as the chemicals needed to hot blue are VERY dangerous. Check with John Jovino Firearms in Manhattan or maybe someone down at the Westside Range 20 W20th street can hook you up. Otherwise maybe one of the gun forums?
 
Yup. just as I thought..Darn! Thanks MIke & Kevin...(john Jovino might be a good idea):D
 
I think your best bet is to "sandblast" not bead, and use heavy duty gun coatings like ceracote etc. It just requires a small touch up type spray gun and small compressor and maybe an oven to either preheat the part, or cure after the fact.
Custom riflesmiths are using these coatings on many long range precision tactical rifles with great success.
Here's a few links to some of the better ones.
http://www.molyresin.com/default.asp

http://www.aervoe.com/aervoe/shopping/aervoe_PaintsCoatings_detail.asp?ID=6

http://www.lauerweaponry.com/index.cfm

http://www.larsontactical.com/
This guy is good with information on products and use.

http://www.shootersolutions.com/

http://www.m1tactical.com/
 
I use the gel bluing more than I thought.......works okay :) Easy to do :thumbup: and can be reapplied by the end user which I love!!

oh yeah.....your stainless......:)
 
Thanks BlGoode! yup stainless...;) Mike, those worked like a dream, just opened up a whole new bunch of toys to play with! Thanks bro!:thumbup:
 
Darrel,
they are great so I've noticed from other makers knives. However, don't they need a rather large minimum order?:D Thanks!
 
What about blueing damascus? I have a damascus blade or two, and I'd like to accentuate the dark and make the shiny layers more evident. What works, without affecting the temper of the blade?
 
If it's not stainless damascus you might give this a try. It's one of the better cold blues on the market and is not suppoed to leave a smell.

I'd get their blue cleaner too. It really works for preperation. Some are even using the stuff to clean the inside of badly fouled barrels.

http://www.novumsolutions.com/

You can get it at Midway shooting supplies, IIRC. They are excellent people to deal with.

http://www.midwayusa.com/
 
What I don't like about all the spray and bake coatings like Gunkote is the difficulty of getting a rellly even, clean finished surface. If you get one dust particle setteling on the finish when it's wet, it's there forever. And unless you have a water cabine for really clean spraying of parts, you is gonna some dust... or at least I do. Plus they bead blasting and cleaning and spraying and cleaning out the airbrush and baking and and are all a PITA.

I have a firm here in town who put a great TiAlN finish on the blades and they always come out perfect.

I have some carbon blades done by a gunsmith locally too. For some knives a deap blue/black is really nice... but ya still have to polish the parts first yourself! :)
 
Kevin,
Yeah I have had poor results with Gunkote personally. I can get an ever spray but even after following the instructions to the letter, the finish will crack and peel. Who's the firm in your town that coats knives?
 
I've never had Gunkote crack or peel off... if you bead blast before application, keep everything totally oil free and bake it real good it should be durable. I also use at least 3 coats the first one being a lighter tack coat. It's just such a pain to do the whole process.

The guys who do my stuff are Dr. Heyer Werkzeugtechnik GmbH. They dont have a website. Cheap it's not.

There's got to be some people in the US who do it too. Or save up a bunch of knives and send em to Bodycote.
 
Kevin Wilkins said:
What I don't like about all the spray and bake coatings like Gunkote is the difficulty of getting a rellly even, clean finished surface. /quote]

If you use an external mix touch up gun and do the prep right, following the directions(pretty simple), Cerakote goes on VERY evenly. I'm not referring to "gun kote" at all.
That stuff has always been lumpy at best and not as durable as the rest of the new gun coatings on the market.
Cerakote is a ceramic and very tough. DuraCoat is similar and also very tough and goes on evenly.

I've seen first timers get remarkable results on long guns using those two products and following directions.

Edited to add, "Sand blast", don't bead blast and clean the knife up thoroughly after. Bead blasting does not seem to provide as good a base as sand blasting on those two products.
Click to expand...
 
Sure I use the Birchwood Casey product all the time on my high carbon blades. I think a bottle of it costs like $3.63 at the local Wal-Mart.

I have used it on my handmade high carbon blades and used it on some of my production blades also. I really like the look. Just make sure the surface is clean and bare metal, and that you wear rubber gloves. Selenium Dioxide absorbs through the skin. Too much will tax out your kidneys. Wear gloves and do it in a well ventilated room or outdoors. The stuff stinks to high heavens.

STR
 
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