Blueing of Stainless Steel?

[BigBoy1]

Is it possible to "blue" stainless steel? My friend has a S&W Model 60 revolver in stainless steel. He doesn't like "silver" guns and wants to blue his Model 60. I don't know if stainless steel can be be blued so that is why I'm asking the question. Thanks.

Bill

[Highpower]

"Blackened", yes. (Similar to parkerizing.) Have a look at the gas cylinder on an M1 Garand rifle.

"Blued", no.

Tell him to trade it in on a blued model.... :)

[MTNGUN]

Kinda, sorta. Brownell's #84. It's called a blue, but it's more black than blue, and not as durable. It is also used to blue cast iron.

[pcarpenter]

Melonite is a finish (really a process) that supposedly can blacken stainless steel. It's a salt-bath nitriding process and creates a very hard surface layer as do most other nitriding processes. If you search on Melonite, you will find a company in California that sells equipment for it as an industrial process. There are three versions of the process and I don't know which one ends up being used by firearm finishers who do it.

Its a process very similar to Glock's Tennifer and Sig Sauer's Nitron. It does not always, however, have to result in the very rough, matte finish we might normally think of with nitriding. I met Robert Miller of www.millercustom.com (http://www.millercustom.com) here at the University where I work. He is currently studying ME here. He has several examples of his work finished in Melonite and I am really impressed with the soft sheen it gives...very nicely done. I hope he is OK with me linking his site. His work is top shelf.

However, all that said, on a revolver, I am with Highpower....just trade it on a blued gun.

Paul

[smiller6912]

There are other options too. Brownells has some good examples of tactical spray on and bake on finishes. I've had great success with some of them.
However, I also vote to just trade it and get what you really want instead of messing with a perfectly good gun.

[CLARKMAG]

I had some Addams and Bennet barrels lying around since 2001.
In 2008 I built a rifle pro bono for the daughter of a friend of a pen pal.

When I went to blue the barrel, it would not take. The barrel was stainless.

So I got camouflage Rustolium spray paint at True Value Hardware store $5.

That paint seems to be as tough a finish as bluing.

[HighWall]

Is it possible to "blue" stainless steel? My friend has a S&W Model 60 revolver in stainless steel. He doesn't like "silver" guns and wants to blue his Model 60. I don't know if stainless steel can be be blued so that is why I'm asking the question. Thanks.

Bill

I had a stainless steel Douglas barrel "blued" by the guys at Delta Gunshop in Washington state. I met them at a Custom Gunmaker's Guild convention in Reno one year. One of the guys showed me a Leatherman tool he had blued, then carried in his pocket with his keys and change. It looked pretty good to me and the finish seemed to be pretty durable. The barrel ended up a nice dark blue gray and it's performed extremely well, but I don't know what process they used. Apparently, they no longer perform this service.

[38_Cal]

Brownells does indeed have a hot caustic bluing salt product, Oxynate 84. It will not work on all stainless steels, works better on 400 series than 300. You may even run into situations where some parts will color and others not, depending on their exact alloy and heat treat properties. As mentioned, it tends to be more of a gray-black color than a black-black. I wouldn't use it in the bore of a match grade barrel.

David
Montezuma, IA