I can't find mine and I was planning on doing a little wood work in the garage tomorrow.

Does anyone have a recipe they use or should I forget about it and wait until I can order some.

Terry

If you just happen to know where an oil lamp is, fill it with turpentine and run the wick out until you get an orange flame with black oily smoke. It will do an outstanding job. You may never want to go back!

Hobby Lobby would have a lamp or you could cobble something together from parts at home.

I've heard of doing the same thing with acetylene but never tried it.

A decent blacking can be made with carbon black powder and engine oil. Mix the powder and a couple tablespoons of 30-weight together and then soak cotton balls with it in a small plastic container. Then, using a small parts cleaning brush or similar--I use an old shaving brush--dab the cotton balls, transferring the color to your brush. Works pretty well and is cheap.

Thanks guys! Looks like I'll get to play wood butcher tomorrow after all! I'd heard of the lamp idea before but didn't really want to buy one. I do have some carbon powder though!

Terry

You can sometimes find prussian blue at some auto parts store, usually the ones with a machine shop.
-Don

terry you can make your own soot lamp for about $5. just go to walmart & buy a pack of oil lamp wicks & a bottle of lamp oil. it comes to about $5. find a small glass jar & cut a slit in the top for the wick, pull about 1/8" or slightly more of the wick up through the slot. put about 1/2" of oil in the bottom of the jar & have at it.

Cant believe noone uses the following:

Construction Black Marking Crayon. Tool department at Home depo.


Cheap$, Not messy, Simple, Easy as hell to use, Transfers to wood good but isnt messy no smears.
Dont have to keep reappling it, stays on the metal but doesnt get all over your hands or work bench when removeing or handleing barred action.

I tryed a bunch of stuff and the Big crayon method works way better for me

thalo blue
water soulable
paint store for pennys

If I remember correctly, Terry, you have some bone black you used to finish stocks?

Mix that with a little paraffin oil.

Voila!

flaco

Before trying the commercial stuff for this, I used a pilfered old lipstick. It works just as well for inletting, and does not deposit oil spots or black stains which are difficult to remove........

A Zippo lighter will work fine or I always kept a candle to smoke metal parts for fitting.

This is so easy ...go to a cement plant, cement finisher, etc....get a pound of LAMPBLACK...mix it with any old oil you have around. Let it set up until it's a bit hard...you now have a perfect inletting black....squirt a small amount of oil onto the hard "brick" that has formed, use a fairly stiff brush to apply the THINNEST coat possible...almost transparent! This will show ONLY the high spots.


The commercial "inletting black" is pure crap...way too thick...used this for about 40 years...Kurt Haase showed me...Don't even consider lipstick...it's way too thick.

"Smoke" for metal is good, but I prefer a mixture of diluted acid and copper sulfate...this puts on the thinnest coat of copper possible...you'll know exactly the high spots...more precise than Prussian blue by a long shot

By the way, a pound of lamp black will last you the rest of your life!

Duane,
How much oil? and how long to let the mix sit till it "cures".

anyone try those 'Expo" markers they use on white boards.

I'm the worst person there is when it comes to woodworking, but decided to put a VZ24 with a #3 Douglas barrel into a Boyd's JRS stock and forgot to get any inletting black.

Ended up using dishwashing detergent. Just put a thin coat on the metal and fit it into the stock. It'll mark long enough for you to note the high spots but sands out easily or just evaporates if you get it where you didn't want it.

hth

But how do you get that dry powder to stick to the metal?

A lot great ideas.

Thanks,
Terry

Duane

quote:

"Smoke" for metal is good, but I prefer a mixture of diluted acid and copper sulfate...this puts on the thinnest coat of copper possible...you'll know exactly the high spots...more precise than Prussian blue by a long shot

This is very interesting. What acid do you use? What ratio of acid/copper sulfate do you use. How do you "smoke" your parts with this? Do you have any problems with your parts rusting?
Thanks in advance.

The tip on thalo blue is great. It is a dye, not a paint. It is used to add pigment to color paint. It stays moist for extended periods, brushes on easily and marks very well. I Got some from Home Depot, no charge. It wipes off with a moist cloth. Good stuff. Oh yea, it comes in other colors, not just blue.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty Marlin:
Duane,
How much oil? and how long to let the mix sit till it "cures".

Maybe the best bet would be WD 40....solvents evaporate quickly...just make a thick paste at first. I have two "pot's" One I'm using, the other is "setting up"