I was thinking of something and wondered if anybody had ever tried rust bluing something not gun? specifically a motorcycle. You see all these custom builder shows on TV. If rust bluing looks so good on a gun, wouldn't it look great on a motorcycle?

I would think it would just require a good supply of Gun Goddess and large enough tanks and heat sources to do the boil off.

Hell, maybe I'm crazy. Just thought it would be a real novel idea.

Red

i did a damascus knife once... then lightly wiped with clr followed by water/baking soda..

jeffe

The commercial process of "Black Oxide" is about the same as gun metal bluing.....as a matter of fact I suspect that's what's done at larger factories and it might be the exact same process.

As in gun metal bluing the resultant finish is more to do with the substrate than the bluing.

It's how the metal is prepared...polished etc that makes it beautiful.

Further it's a temporary rust inhibitor....not a good long term thing like galvanizing.

The motorcycle would be gorgous I think if it was done right.....but fairly impractical IMO.

I finished up slow rust bluing two vintage vises that I am going to mount on my workbench- a long slow goin project... Not quite as long a my Pre War M70 .30-06 but...

The vises were a Emmert Patternmakers #2 (the smaller one- "only" weighs 56 lbs) and a Morgan 200A both in excellent condition- under chipped paint and rust

Sandblasted them with BlackBeauty slag and degreased with Simple Green. It was a pain in the ass to find something to boil the parts in- as I see it that is the major hurdle. The jaws wouldn't fit in the Brownells tank. I used an aluminum turkey roasting pan found in a thrift store for $4... Had to boil in batches- slow goin.

Personally, I saved the GunGoddess and used Mark Lee Slow Rust. Sand blasted cast iron sucks up alot of solution! Mark Lee Slow Rust is a bit cheaper last time I bought it...

Also, cast iron is much more forgiving than polished steel. You say you let the solution on for 3 days??? Yep no harm done. You say you put on a coat left it overnight and then put on ANOTHER coat without boiling??? Yep worked fine... No detectable pitting Most carding was done with a Foredom tool and various sizes of fine wire wheel cups.

Eight coats on the Emmert was probably overkill so I went five coats on the Morgan. A nice even black patina resulted. Sticking to my methods, I let the parts sit a day or two with no oil then I set them in the sun to heat up and slapped on a thick coat of homemade cabinetmakers wax. Kinda killed the shine but I'll buff them out after I get them mounted.

In retrospect, I was alot of work but the results are much superior to paint, the parts can't rust, and will be resistant to stripper, acetone, epoxy and any other goop I might be using. Not to mention that they just plain look cool...

DeBee

I know that others must be as intrested in your project as I am. Do you have any photos that you can share?

Jason

I did my grandfather's old roofing square, heard that the original finish was blued.