There was a serious injury in a local shop last week. Two 'smiths were blueing a small part and one got splashed with a ladle full of boiling salts. It seems they had left out a small part from a blueing batch and were blueing it in the tank ladle with an oxyacetylene torch for heat. The ladle was held in a bench vise. After successfully blueing the part one 'smith went to remove the ladle from the vise while it was still boiling hot. When he grabbed the handle with a rag the whole vise swung round and sloshed out the contents on his buddies arm and hand. Second degree burns to the forearm and third degree on the back of the hand. The guy now has cadaver skin on the arm and had a skin graft this morning to the hand. That's what happens when you get in a hurry. You take risks and sometimes get bit.

I see several errors in judgment in this incident.

I have been bluing since 1983. Never had any problems. But I was always extremely careful and followed Bob Brownell's instructions to the letter.

My setup below:

That ugly tank full of hot caustic salts at 285 degrees F is very dangerous.

There's nothing like being in a small room with a bluing salt sauna going, while wearing a long sleeve shirt and heavy rubber gloves. I was always scared of doing it any other way.

I sold my tanks,stands,burners,thermometers and what have you to a young fellow last year with the promise to help him get them up and running when he's ready. It was time to pass it on.

quote:

Originally posted by M Pursell:
There's nothing like being in a small room with a bluing salt sauna going, while wearing a long sleeve shirt and heavy rubber gloves. I was always scared of doing it any other way.

I sold my tanks,stands,burners,thermometers and what have you to a young fellow last year with the promise to help him get them up and running when he's ready. It was time to pass it on.

Yep! My setup is on the back of the shop, just a roof. 3 open sides for lots of ventilation.

Shit happens, usually when one does stupid shit.

One of the best days of my life was when I gave away my Bluing equipment.

Sounds like when I was a teenager working in a fast food chicken restaurant.
I had just completed my training for the fryer, a long time employee was helping/instructing me on my first fryer shift, he accidently dropped a banana fritter into the chip fryer, and before I could do or say anything, he said “I’ll get it” and reached into the fryer grabbing the banana. He promptly let it go screaming “Why did I do that!” The skin was hanging from his hand and looked awful. I was flabbergasted to say the least.
He had skin grafts and pressure socks for about 2 years and made a full recovery.
He simply thought he was distracted from training me and just reached in.
I willneverforget that.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
One of the best days of my life was when I gave away my Bluing equipment.

me too -- served it's purpose -- to catchup on all the guns i needed blued or re-blued -- had both a minor fire AND a minor (smirk) caustic burn, even though i had a strong acidic wash handy -- anyway, i got my stuff done, learned alot, made mistakes, figured them out, got the backlog done...

say, i think i figured out why i switched to stainless guns

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
One of the best days of my life was when I gave away my Bluing equipment.

me too -- served it's purpose -- to catchup on all the guns i needed blued or re-blued -- had both a minor fire AND a minor (smirk) caustic burn, even though i had a strong acidic wash handy -- anyway, i got my stuff done, learned alot, made mistakes, figured them out, got the backlog done...

say, i think i figured out why i switched to stainless guns

Ha! I switched to Archery. And salt water fishing.

Have not blued in at least 10 years, one day some young energetic guy that thinks he wants to be a "Gunschmidt" will trade some fishing gear for all my bluing stuff.

I've operated a hot bluing operation of one sort or another since 1992 . I worked in a large shop with five gunsmiths of various degrees of skill for a full year. We blued almost every week. I learned quite a bit in a short time there. I witnessed some near miss accidents but thankfully nothing serious. I then blued regularly in my own shop later for a number of years. Now I am retired from working for the general public. I still operate my tanks once or twice a year depending on what projects I have going.

Not counting polishing and preparation it is a one to two day session. Hot, dirty and hazardous operation. Salts are very expensive now. I feel totally exhausted for the next 24 hours. But it is worth it when you want to restore a factory finish to its original condition. An accurately duplicated finish of a S&W or Colt revolver or a Sako Forrester rifle is mighty pleasing. Their degree of polish and finish has it's place. And there is nothing more hideous or awful looking as unskilled preparation and hot blue job.

I also enjoy slow rust bluing custom rifles too. I agree it is the most beautiful finish of all.

If we lived in Trinidad, CO we could sell our bluing equipment . The school there blues every Thursday, no charge if you are a student.

Must be hundreds of bad" stories with hot salt bluing. Here's another: A Browning A-5 magazine and receiver assembly were put in the salts...there was a live round in the magazine!

Serious injury!

Wow! Can't even imagine!

quote:

Must be hundreds of bad" stories with hot salt bluing. Here's another: A Browning A-5 magazine and receiver assembly were put in the salts...there was a live round in the magazine!

I remember reading about that accident quite a few years back in one of Brownells publications. I believe the way it happened was one individual was stripping and polishing and another was running the bluing tanks. Both of them made the mistake of not checking the magazine tube. I'm surprised neither one of them noticed the receiver/tube assembly having an odd balance and weight. At any rate the man running the tanks was blasted with hot bluing salts. At the time it was reported he had been rushed to a burn center and they didnt know if he would lose his eye sight or even live afterwards.

I remember one of my coworkers rebluing a Weatherby MK V. If you have ever disassembled one you may have observed that the floorplate/trigger guard assembly resembles blued steel, weighs the same as steel and polishes nicely just like steel. He submerged the parts in the bluing bath and noticed vigorous boiling and bubbling around that part. When he removed it all he retrieved was an insect looking exoskeleton. Needless to say he didn't make any profit that day. A word to the wise. Check all your parts with a magnet.

Yeah, when you do that you not only have to replace the part, you have to change out the salt bath. That's a larger expense in time and money. Don't ask me how I know this.

quote:

Originally posted by Craftsman:
I remember one of my coworkers rebluing a Weatherby MK V. If you have ever disassembled one you may have observed that the floorplate/trigger guard assembly resembles blued steel, weighs the same as steel and polishes nicely just like steel. He submerged the parts in the bluing bath and noticed vigorous boiling and bubbling around that part. When he removed it all he retrieved was an insect looking exoskeleton. Needless to say he didn't make any profit that day. A word to the wise. Check all your parts with a magnet.

quote:

Originally posted by Craftsman:
I remember one of my coworkers rebluing a Weatherby MK V. If you have ever disassembled one you may have observed that the floorplate/trigger guard assembly resembles blued steel, weighs the same as steel and polishes nicely just like steel. He submerged the parts in the bluing bath and noticed vigorous boiling and bubbling around that part. When he removed it all he retrieved was an insect looking exoskeleton. Needless to say he didn't make any profit that day. A word to the wise. Check all your parts with a magnet.

.

I did that about 12 years ago. Fortunately for me a friend had one he gave me to replace it.