I do some infrequent bluing and have mostly mixed my own caustic salts for hot bluing. I have used Belgian Blue quite often for doubles and as I was just getting ready to order another bottle go to thinking. What are the active ingredients in the Belgian Blue and Mark Lee Express Blue? And can I mix my own? Just curious if anyone had a recipe for something like them. Not looking for a slow rust blue recipe....got that, but for a hot water bluing recipe like Belgian, Mark Lee or Dicropan.
Thanks in advance.

This is a modified formula from Firearm Blueing and Browning, Angier:

64 grains - Ammonium Chloride (pharmacist)
96 grains - Potassium Nitrate (garden center)
32 grains - Sodium Nitrate (garden center)
64 grains - 95% ethyl alcohol (liquor store, Everclear)
distilled water to make 4 fl oz

Crush dry ingredients to consistency of table salt. Add to 2 oz distilled water to dissolve, one constituent at a time. Add alcohol and top off with distilled water.


Procedure

Pre-pickle steel with 5% nitric acid. Apply blue to hot steel from boiling water. Return to boiling water for 3 minutes. Cool, card and repeat as necessary.

Potassium Chlorate is NOT saltpeter! It is an ingredient of homemade bombs, and will be flagged/suspected. Potassium Nitrate is saltpeter. Good luck.

Many old "express blue" formulas contain mercuric chloride. Avoid it, it is a very nasty neuro- toxin. Those old formulas work great but will cause permanent brain damage. Today I use a lot of Brichwood Casey plumb brown. The formula now contains nitric acid instead of mercuric chloride. It works great to create an even rust. After rusting, boil in distilled water or steam the part to create a blue-black, mostly black actually. Anything that makes rust can be boiled or steamed to make black. Laural Mountian forge comes to mind also.

Acquiring chemicals to make your own is not worth the bother. Getting good pure chemicals is not easy, like it used to be. Not cheap either. Modern pharmacies have nothing. You can not just use any old make due substitutes. The recipe provided is incorrect in many sources and descriptions. Do not ever crush up dry oxidizers! It could explode. Most of those items are strong oxidizers and might cause attention from law enforcement. They might think you are making a B-thing. It would be probable cause to get a warrant and search your home. They will probably take your guns and ammo then sort it out later. You might go to jail for a while too. It is a bad idea all around.

Just buy the Birchwood Casey stuff, I get the quart bottles.

Brownells has Dicopan.

Funny, the text referred to it as saltpeter. You are right. I didn't pause to check. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by xs headspace:
Potassium Chlorate is NOT saltpeter! It is an ingredient of homemade bombs, and will be flagged/suspected. Potassium Nitrate is saltpeter. Good luck.

Potassium Chlorate and Potassium Nitrate are both able to be b-thing stuff. Potassium Nitrate can be found in stump remover at the plant store (maybe not now).

Scota4570
I wondered about the plumb brown, if it could be boiled and would turn black. So since you have used it and it does, how many passes does it take to get black/blue? Do you use it like Belgian Blue...boil apply, card, repeat? Or do you apply it overnight or longer and boil once?
Thanks in advance.

quote:

Originally posted by Scota4570:
Do not ever crush up dry oxidizers! It could explode. Most of those items are strong oxidizers and might cause attention from law enforcement. They might think you are making a B-thing. It would be probable cause to get a warrant and search your home. They will probably take your guns and ammo then sort it out later. You might go to jail for a while too. It is a bad idea all around.

Crushing pelletized fertilizer is not hazardous as long as you don't do it in a steel container and pound on it with a hammer while being mixed with sulfur and charcoal. If there is nothing for it to react with there is no issue. You can just put it in a plastic bag and roll it with a glass tumbler. The tiny amounts of fertilizer needed are easily acquired at a farm center with no undue attention. My local store lets me get my own from broken bags. If it were potassium perchlorate specifically formulated to detonate then that would a valid statement. We are talking about fertilizer. Hell, there are thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate and powdered aluminum being sold in sporting goods stores as exploding targets. Nobody is monitoring that.

FWIW almost any chemical solution that contains chlorine if used to brown / blue will turn black on boiling. In fact the last time I used a very dilute solution of plain bleach to rust "brown" and then boiled - turned out quite well actually albeit black in colour. --- John