-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Gun blue-ing on knife blades???
- Thread starter Ebbtide
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 21, 1999
- Messages
- 1,819
Howdy!
I'm guessing that it depends on the steel.
Other folks here know alot more than I do about the subject.... come to think of it, EVERYone here knows alot more about EVERthing than I do, but I digress.....
I have a SOG Bowie that's been blued so I know it's done. I haven't used the knife hard, so I don't know from personal experience if it scratches off or not, but I'd have to assume that it's fairly robust.
That particular knife's been offered since the 60's.
Good question!
------------------
Vampire Gerbil: Nosferatus Rodentus Moderatus; similar to a domestic gerbil, except for the odd accent and little black cape.
I'm guessing that it depends on the steel.
Other folks here know alot more than I do about the subject.... come to think of it, EVERYone here knows alot more about EVERthing than I do, but I digress.....
I have a SOG Bowie that's been blued so I know it's done. I haven't used the knife hard, so I don't know from personal experience if it scratches off or not, but I'd have to assume that it's fairly robust.
That particular knife's been offered since the 60's.
Good question!
------------------
Vampire Gerbil: Nosferatus Rodentus Moderatus; similar to a domestic gerbil, except for the odd accent and little black cape.
- Joined
- May 26, 1999
- Messages
- 617
Ebbtide,
You might want to go to the Shop Talk forum and ask the makers there. IMO you would not be pleased with the results of one of the commonly available cold blueing kits. These kits are really for touching up scratches etc. on blued items (generally guns). Its very difficult to get an even color/shade on anything but very small surfaces. Hot blueing, on the other hand, would provide very nice results (at least on gun steels), but the application is rather complicated and involves rather dangerous chemicals at near boiling temperatures.
You might want to go to the Shop Talk forum and ask the makers there. IMO you would not be pleased with the results of one of the commonly available cold blueing kits. These kits are really for touching up scratches etc. on blued items (generally guns). Its very difficult to get an even color/shade on anything but very small surfaces. Hot blueing, on the other hand, would provide very nice results (at least on gun steels), but the application is rather complicated and involves rather dangerous chemicals at near boiling temperatures.
- Joined
- Oct 7, 1998
- Messages
- 1,838
Hot blue or cold blue, it doesn't matter. Both are soft finishes, with almost no rust protection. Firearms are blued for decoration, not for corrosion protection.
My '67 Gold Cup once started rusting after only about 6 hours' exposure to humid conditions. Fortunately, I noticed it, and applied a more protective rust preventive.
Bluing will scratch, and rust. I suggest that there are several other finishes on the market which will be more suitable for knives. Walt
My '67 Gold Cup once started rusting after only about 6 hours' exposure to humid conditions. Fortunately, I noticed it, and applied a more protective rust preventive.
Bluing will scratch, and rust. I suggest that there are several other finishes on the market which will be more suitable for knives. Walt
Cougar Allen
Buccaneer (ret.)
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1998
- Messages
- 75,425
Here's an old post of mine -- I think a search of the "year 1" archive will turn up more posts of mine with more details, but this one has the basics:
---------------------------------------------
A lot of the reason I hate stainless steel is it can't be blued. It can
be coated with bake-on teflon paint, Brownells sells it, but it's
paint, not blue.
It's been a while since I've posted about bluing.... I like to do a
mottled finish, applying it with Q-tips or an artist's brush.
Sometimes it comes out not looking so great -- then I just polish it
off and start over. It's fragile and easy to polish off when it's fresh.
It hardens into a more durable finish in a few days. It can still
scratch and wear off and it isn't really great rust prevention, but it's
easy to touch up and it's beautiful.
I like Formula 44/40 better than any of the others I've tried. They
all have the same active ingredient, selenic acid (cold blues, that is;
hot blues are different) but Formula 44/40 works fast and doesn't
require as fanatic a degreasing as most of them.
You can use a wax resist with cold blue -- coat the blade with wax
and scratch your name in it or an immortal work of art -- I shouldn't
say immortal; it'll get scratched up and wear if you use the knife ...
you can always polish it off and make a new work of art, though.
-Cougar Allen :{)
---------------------------------------------
A lot of the reason I hate stainless steel is it can't be blued. It can
be coated with bake-on teflon paint, Brownells sells it, but it's
paint, not blue.
It's been a while since I've posted about bluing.... I like to do a
mottled finish, applying it with Q-tips or an artist's brush.
Sometimes it comes out not looking so great -- then I just polish it
off and start over. It's fragile and easy to polish off when it's fresh.
It hardens into a more durable finish in a few days. It can still
scratch and wear off and it isn't really great rust prevention, but it's
easy to touch up and it's beautiful.
I like Formula 44/40 better than any of the others I've tried. They
all have the same active ingredient, selenic acid (cold blues, that is;
hot blues are different) but Formula 44/40 works fast and doesn't
require as fanatic a degreasing as most of them.
You can use a wax resist with cold blue -- coat the blade with wax
and scratch your name in it or an immortal work of art -- I shouldn't
say immortal; it'll get scratched up and wear if you use the knife ...
you can always polish it off and make a new work of art, though.
-Cougar Allen :{)
- Joined
- May 18, 1999
- Messages
- 15,395
:
A few years back I bought one of the CS Trailmaster 2nds.
I was so impressed with mine that I bought my son one for his graduation.He was just finishing up a pretty tough NCO school.
I knew he would prefer a more "tactical" finish than the bright colored blade,so I blued it.
I used the Birchwood Casey brand that I got at the local Wal-mart.
Whoever said that the warmer the blade was the better is right.I used hot water after a thorough degreasing --- ( outside with laquer thinner) -- and inside the house with alcohol.Keep it from touching anything except something squeaky clean or a soft cloth or paper towel.
The cleaner it is the better it works to get an even blue in my experience.
I use cotton balls to put the bluing on with and then run very hot water over the blade.After a bit you will find you are taking more off than you are putting on.Stop and follow the rest of the directons on the bottle.
Careful with the oiling part or you will rub more blue off that in my experience will get somewhat harder in a few days.
If you give in to temptation like I did and use the knife to soon then you will find yourslf bluing the knife again.
My son's knife held up pretty well in Mississippi,He was at Camp Shelby.
Mine has been reblued once since then and is going to get a complete stripping and rebluing soon.
I am replacing the kraton which I never did like with black linen micarta and a small nickle silver single guard.
I think both of these will be a great improvement in the knife.
One of the improvements will be in the orientation of the handle.I will always know which side is sharp even in the dark.
Useful for picking it up in the dark to tap in another tack with the
_spine_ when setting up an artillery simulator trip wire or any other device.
------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®
If you mix milk of magnesia with vodka and orange juice do you get a phillips screwdriver?
Khukuri FAQ
A few years back I bought one of the CS Trailmaster 2nds.
I was so impressed with mine that I bought my son one for his graduation.He was just finishing up a pretty tough NCO school.
I knew he would prefer a more "tactical" finish than the bright colored blade,so I blued it.
I used the Birchwood Casey brand that I got at the local Wal-mart.
Whoever said that the warmer the blade was the better is right.I used hot water after a thorough degreasing --- ( outside with laquer thinner) -- and inside the house with alcohol.Keep it from touching anything except something squeaky clean or a soft cloth or paper towel.
The cleaner it is the better it works to get an even blue in my experience.
I use cotton balls to put the bluing on with and then run very hot water over the blade.After a bit you will find you are taking more off than you are putting on.Stop and follow the rest of the directons on the bottle.
Careful with the oiling part or you will rub more blue off that in my experience will get somewhat harder in a few days.
If you give in to temptation like I did and use the knife to soon then you will find yourslf bluing the knife again.
My son's knife held up pretty well in Mississippi,He was at Camp Shelby.
Mine has been reblued once since then and is going to get a complete stripping and rebluing soon.
I am replacing the kraton which I never did like with black linen micarta and a small nickle silver single guard.
I think both of these will be a great improvement in the knife.
One of the improvements will be in the orientation of the handle.I will always know which side is sharp even in the dark.
Useful for picking it up in the dark to tap in another tack with the
_spine_ when setting up an artillery simulator trip wire or any other device.
------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®
If you mix milk of magnesia with vodka and orange juice do you get a phillips screwdriver?
Khukuri FAQ