Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration

metalurgist's amongst us? Blueing

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easyroller:
thanks i will do that i want to darken up the frame without sacrficing strength as i punish that thing regularly.

darkersomeday:
i'd be very nervous of using heat to create the colouring of the welding burn, alot of modern frames are heat treated so re-heating and cooling the metal in oil would be kind of like adding or taking away from the treating process, which could seriously weaken the frame and will definitely leave the warranty invalid,

gun bluing would seem to be a good solution to rust proofing but the surface still needs to be oiled regularly to stop the oxidisation,
the easiest way to do it is "cold" bluing, you can buy it from most gun shops or buy the chemical version, selenium dioxide,
just rub it into the metal till you get the right shade,
the more traditional "hot" bluing would involve the frame being immersed in a boiling solition of potassium nitrate and sodium hydroxide,then you'd let the frame rust then boil it at a precise temprature and later scrub the rust off to reveal the blue finish underneath, you could end up having to go through this process repeatedly to achieve the right results  :daumenhoch:
both these methods would be less harmful to the strength of the frame,

copper plating and oxidizing is something i'm working on for a project at the moment,
its the "verde-gris" or "patined" effect that you get on old boilers that i'm wanting to achieve!!
the parts i'm having plated are due to be dropped off this coming week so i'll post some pics when theyre done,

as dan said nickel plating would look sweet, as long as the frame is well polished before hand :daumenhoch:

something i have wanted to have done for years is the acid etching you see on old shotguns,purdey's and the like,
i think it would only be possible to do it on the non-stressed areas of the frame, i read somewhere that the rougher the surface of the tube, the more likely it is for cracks to form , rather than the stress waves dissipating evenly over the surface of the tube,

 :D

crazy

easyroller:
hmmm ....... bit to think about there ,first off thanks for the info, looks like i might give heat treatment a miss i can't afford another knee surgery espescially not because i buggered around with me frame to make it look a little better. I am an engineering student (1st year)so i kinda understand the principles at work behind why highly polished surfaces have higher resistance to cracks and  fractures,  i am liking the sound of the cold bluing , polish it at like 10,000+? though CM says these new frames are already highly polished ,i might try it on my dagger first then if it don't turn out right i can neutralize  the frame  ( would that be nescessary?)  and matte black it again,no harm done. thanks again and i look forward to seeing your  future projects.

easyroller:
 just a quick link column to the frames that i like with the darker tubing:- http://americancycle.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=149&sort=pricedesc&id=2005    the rear on homans new bike  :- http://americancycle.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=149&sort=pricedesc&id=2435  and of course one of my frames just click on the matte raw one  :- http://www.danscomp.com/211341.php?cat=FRAMESFSD# , just for maybe any one who reads this and needs a bit of visual of what i'm gettin at.

matt:
i used to do this all the time, i owned an exhaust factory and we supplied a lot of race cans for the likes of blue flame and carbon can, using T304 stainless steel it was just a case of heat it up with a gas axe until you get the desired colour and slowly cool, as it states above this will only work with good quality steel as the molecules react differently in iron, the more iron the worse it will look.

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