I've got a few projects that have stainless barrels and need to find someone to do a good job hot bluing them. They are Shilen Match grade barrels. I assume they are 416R. Anyone have any ideas here? I DON'T want to paint them with any spray on coatings.
Thanks

There is an outfit in Milwaukee that I have sent barrels to just can't remember their name. I will see if I can find something in my old recepts. An alternative would be to send it off to Robar.

Jim

Look here: http://gunblue.homestead.com/Index.html

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
Look here: http://gunblue.homestead.com/Index.html

Thanks for the link
Have you had work done there?

I've seen some stainless bluing that has a very flat looking finish. I'm looking to try and match the rust blue look. Not sure if it's possible.

quote:

Have you had work done there?

No, I just googled "Bluing Stainless Steel" and that's what came up.

I am pretty sure you can melanite a SS barrel. THat is what I plan on doing if I ever need to color a SS barrel again. It holds up well on concealed carry pieces, so it should wear well on a rifle. Looks pretty good too.

Don't have a lead on a guy to do it for you-the only one I am familiar with can only do pistol sized pieces. But I am sure googles could find you some good melaniters.

I have had stainless blued, but it is a flat finish, not like a good rust blue. It does serve to take the shine off the stainless barrel, but not pretty enough for a custom rifle. It is plenty good enough for a hunting rifle with a synthetic stock.

James,
I emailed pics to you of a melonited BR barrel. I am challanged as far as posting on the forum.
Butch

I got the pics from Butch. Thanks. Spent a little looking up info on melonite. Interesting stuff. Not sure how well it can be recoated though. It has a much lower coefficient than steel. Might make actions slicker than snot. Wonder if it could be used on Titanium?

James

All of the company's that did stainless bluing for me has closed or quit doing it. (I have a new 40 lb can of Oxynate 84 if anyone is interested.) The last was Craftguard. They iron plated the barrel prior to bluing. They my still do it special if requested.

A new coating that I have been checking out is IonBond. It is a physical vapor deposition coating. It has a thickness from 3 to 6 microns, a bit under .0003. It has a Rockwell hardness of 70 to 80. It can be done in matt, satin or gloss finish.

James

I am not sure you can achieve a rust blue finish, but you can get some nice spray on finishes that do well. Watch out that whoever does the process doesn't drop your match barrels into any type of etching solution, it just ruins the lapped finish of the bore.

John

from wikipedia

quote:

Melanite is a variety of the garnet group mineral andradite. It is a deep, glossy black form containing titanium within the chemical formula: Ca3(Fe,Ti)2(SiO4)3, and is sometimes referred to as "titanian andradite".

Jeffe,
It depends on the barrel finish. If you polish your barrel it will have a high gloss blue. If beadblasted or rough sanded, it will be a dull finish. I have both.
Butch

Jeffe,
Spell it Melonite and do another search.
Butch

James:

Winchester's process back in the dark ages when they first came out with stainless was to copper plate the barrels and then iron plate over the copper. Then blue the iron.

If you could find a plating house to do this you might be able to get your real live rust blue on stainless. Reliable Electroplating in MA is firearms friendly and might be a good place to start.

Glenn Fewless

RE:titanium and melanite

Titanium cannot be coated with melanite. Anything that has been chromed can't be either. On a P7 the outside of the barrel is hard chromed and it has to be stripped off before it can be dunked.