Everything explained clearly without any annoying background music.

Thank goodness. Finally someone who doesn't take 30 minutes to give you 5 minutes of information! 😊

You can also re-blue parts if you want. Multiple hot bluing sessions or a hot blue followed by a cold blue gives you a VERY dark blue/black color

Now THAT was a fantastic instructional video. No BS, no silly music. Just clear, concise and unambiguous detailed information and guidance. Thank you! 👍

If I buy a bottle of the blueing liquid I just know I'll go around blueing everything

I reused the cooking oil. My fries tasted funny tho.

Your English is excellent, no need to apologize because you communicate effectively. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

You can use rust bluing for large parts, very time consuming though. You allow the part to develop a surface rust in a humidity environment or apply an acid for a quick rusting. Then dip the item into boiling distilled water for 20 minutes, the Iron Oxide will be converted in Black Oxide, bluing. Then you brush the loose black oxide off, and repeat the rust, boil, brushing step until the desired finish is reached or the part no longer rusts. This is the most durable and corrosion resistant bluing method. The easiest method is hot corrosive salt bluing in hydrous salts. You need approximately 5lbs of Sodium Hydroxide(lye), and 2.5lbs of Potassium Nitrate(preferred), Sodium Nitrate, or Ammonium Nitrate(evolves a lot of ammonia fumes initially), for every one gallon of distilled water. You need to put the water into a large cast iron, steel, or enamel coated pot, then slowly add the lye and Nitrate salt. You will need to heat the pot on a stove outdoors, and stir to dissolve the salts, the solution will be supersaturated and need to be hot to fully dissolve. Bring the pot up to a boil at 275-285°F, add more water if it gets hotter, or more lye if it boils lower. Suspend the parts by 416 stainless steel or black iron wire, immerse then in the bath for 15-45 minutes at a rolling boil, until the desired finish is obtained. Remove the parts, quench, then wash in hot running water or boil in hot water to remove any salt residue. Soak overnight in oil. This method is how firearm manufacturers blue their guns. The bath is hot and the salts will dissolve flesh, so you need to wear and apron, gloves, and a face shield to be safe, just make sure you have a gallon of Vinegar on hand, it will quickly neutralize any small spatters of chemical. You Don't want to do this indoors, the fumes will rust exposed metal in your shop if you do. And you definitely do not want to let aluminum or copper into the bath, they will destroy the chemicals and you'll have to throw the solution out.

This is one of the best DIY videos I’ve ever seen on UKposts. Straight to the point, detailed, no annoying background music. Perfect. Thank you so much!

Very nice simple demo. I just want to point out some tips that would improve it. 1) Hot bluing and cold bluing are actually two different processes even though they share the name. Hot bluing is heat polymerization. Basically the hot metal turns the oil around it into a thin film of plastic-like material. It is better than cold bluing for rust resistance but easier to mess up. Cold bluing is adhering selenium dioxide compound to the metal to protect it. However the dioxide is porous like a sponge so you need to add another layer of oil to it to make it rust proof. Drying oils are the best and boiled linseed oil is the optimum in both cases for reasons I will explain in point 2. 2) Boiled linseed oil is a so-called "drying" oil. This means that it polymerizes at room temperature slowly in a few days. This is why wood treated with it is not oily or slippery. The drying can be sped up with heat, and this oil has one of the lowest. About 100C to 150C is all you need so you risk less of ruining the metal's heat treatment (temper). As for cold bluing, the oil dries out in the pores making a polymer-dioxide composite that significantly improves corrosion protection. As mentioned above, all drying oils are good but this oil is the cheapest per quantity and available in practically any hardware store.

Outstanding video. I’ve been doing rust bluing and cold blowing for years. Did not even know about the heat bluing with regular oil. Quick, informative, to the point with good examples. Thank you

The most perfect change I have ever seen in my life, repair or rather renovation. truly beyond perfect I am a very good technician at the age of 60, but this is an out-of-this-worldly beautiful job, congratulations friends, you are great, greetings from Turkey.

Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface selectively forming magnetite (Fe3O4), the black oxide of iron. Black oxide provides minimal protection against corrosion, unless also treated with a water-displacing oil to reduce wetting and galvanic action. A distinction can be made between traditional bluing and some other more modern black oxide coatings, although bluing is a subset of black oxide coatings. "Cold" bluing is generally a selenium dioxide based compound that colours steel black, or more often a very dark grey. It is a difficult product to apply evenly, offers minimal protection and is generally best used for small fast repair jobs and touch-ups. Most common people refers to this type of colour as Gun-Metal-Black.

The voice reveal we never asked but the voice reveal we needed

I think this is the first time I have heard his voice. Clear and concise, very nice.

I didn't know the oil quench was considered bluing. That's what I've been doing for ages. Definitely picked up some tips from this video! I had no idea cold bluing was so easy! Thanks!

I've never heard his voice until this video 😳😳

One of my favourite UKposts channels. No nonsense, no terrible music sound-carpet and fascinating skills applied.

This was an awesome video!! Thank you for taking the time to make it. The narrative was clear, the videography was outstanding. I am a fan for life.

Thank you for making this video. I've been watching your work for a long time and I finally needed to do some hot blueing of my own. So glad you gave a thorough description of the preparation, process and temperatures!

This was really educational ! Hope to see more like this in the future.

I love the thoroughness of your explanations and examples! It was interesting to see what blueing looks like on polished vs sanded and sandblasted parts. The reasons for choosing either the hit or cold process was also very interesting. I really enjoyed this video!

Very clear, very complete and concise. Thank you for solving the problem I have been struggling with for weeks

Thank you for the video. Very informative and simple instructions. I have a couple projects that need bluing and now feel confident about completing them. Love the videos keep up the outstanding work.

Thank you! I've seen some guides on bluing before, but this is by far the best one, and also in depth on different results and preparations. Thank you!

Wow" A well made video for sure! I have a patience deficiency when it comes to fluff and b.s . This covered all the bases, left nothing out, no music, no bias, didn't try to sell me anything, BRAVO.

Thank you for meticulously explaining with 6 different processes compared. Very very informative and entertaining!!!

Wow, I gotta admit this is the first diy vid that was to the point, and didn't take forever to get to it. Excellent!

A very thorough and interesting lesson. I appreciate the quality of the in depth look that you took in making this video. Keep On Keepin On

Thank you for the concise info and lack of click-bait, this is what I miss about UKposts. Great work!

Almost as if it were scripted. Clear, concise, logical progression, very detailed without boring me to tears. Thank you.

Thank you for a very informative video. You took exactly the right amount of time in the video to explain bluing, you gave all the information needed, you used a human voice and you showed the difference between hot and cold bluing. Excellent video

This firmly goes into the category of things I did not even know I needed to know.

I would love to see the difference in rust resistance between a blue'd piece and a normal bit of stock

Thank you for just being clear and to the point. It's so refreshing.

Thank you very much. Very informative, clear, and concise. I wish I could apprentice with this guy for at least a year, to try to learn at least half of what you know. So much knowledge you have sir, thank you for sharing it.

I won't ever blue anything in my life, but I still can't stop watching these videos

Marvelous. All the bluing questions I've had since I started watching this channel you just answered.

My eyes see the sand blasted cold bluing as just spectacular !! Great video !!

Great job,no 30 minutes of talking bs,straight info to the point. I built my first 1911 .45ACP a few years ago from a raw cast frame and did a hot Parkerize on it,came out pretty well but not perfect,good enough for who it's for

Thank you. You've answered most of my questions about hot and cold bluing. Time well-spent.

Informative! I love how systematic you were with testing the two methods. Very well filmed and well explained too. Thanks!

I always wondered about this! So many steps of restoration are mentally satisfying, including the bluing process.

Worked in a machine shop in the 80s. We used to oil polish our steel rods. I still have some of those rods and not a speck of rust! Not easy...but one of the best rust prevention methods.

This is how a video should be done. Informative, precise, short and well filmed. I'm a subscriber.

Thanks when I was very young I watched my uncle do both but because of time, I have forgotten about this. So thank you for bringing my memory back 😊

Birchwood Casey also make a brass blackening fluid (comprising Selenium Dioxide aka Selenous Acid and Fluro-Boric Acid). We darken brass (or give it an "aged" or "bronze" patina) using this substance. As with steel, the part to be darkened needs to be very clean and grease-free. We usually dilute the blacking fluid at a ratio of 1:20 with distilled or de-ionised water, and suspend the item in a "plating tank". The reaction starts slowly, but acellerates. The advantage of suspending the item in a diluted solution slows the reaction and gives you degrees of darkening, so you can stop the reaction when a desired shade is reached. Also, the slower the reaction, the better the resilience of the finish. We remove the item from the plating tank and then wash in a separate tank of de-ionised water. Then, we clean off the "blackish dust" residue with a lint-free cloth. We "seal" the item with a micro-crystalline wax (Renaissance Wax is best). Birchwood Casey supply a cleaning (de-greasing) fluid as well. Also very good for proper preparation. Birchwood Casey's products are arguably the best for these metallic darkening projects. NOTE: Wear gloves and (if available) a face mask with a proper filter. Failing a proper mask, work in a well-ventillated area. While very little gas or odour is given off, the chemical constituents of the blackening fluid are known irritants and have a degree of toxicity.

Great video! Thank you. I agree with the other comments about lack of music! Big relief!

I have never thought about, nor wanted to do bluing for anything, bit I'm so glad you made this video. It was super interesting.

I was like “yeah, I’m always gonna go hot” literally right before you said why not to go hot for somethings. Glad I kept watching

Super interesting video. In cooking YT videos there are plenty of tutorials on "seasoning" cast iron and carbon steel pans. The seasoning is nothing more than the hot bluing mention here. So this changes my perspective on the best way to "season" or "hot blue" a pan using your method. I just bought a new one and will give it a hot bluing treatment and see what happens

I use cold blueing on tempered steel, like you said about hardened steel. Knife blades and firearm components are pretty much the only ones I do. I enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting.

Awesome video! I was thinking about trying this on some stuff just the other day. Got a few woodworking tools I'd like to blue for visual effect. I wish I could just send you money so would could do this full time. Your videos are the best anywhere on UKposts. A collaboration video between you and Hand Tool Rescue would be epic. Your English was excellent and your accent only makes the video cooler.

Perfect video. No nonsense, covered everything I would have wanted to know, great illustrations. I subscribed! 😎

Thank you SO MUCH for making this video. I have searched for so long for a new solution to a unique problem I have and this ..IS IT! Thanks cap’n ! Great work !

Awesome explained....i just gone back in past at my science class and remembered my teacher, great men.👍

Wow. This is cool!!! I want to get into knife making, and I never realized bluing was this straightforward! Thanks for the video!

I wish every “how to” video was made by you. Amazing Video.

Thank you so much for the video. Clear, to the point, no background music and camera on focus. Top quality! Also, thank yo so much for the comparison of the sanblasted, sanded and polished parts. The matte black of hot sandblasted part is my favourite but I also like the gunmetal color of the cold sanded part. Polished looks meh in both cases so I prefer the plain polish without bluing.

Great video! Quick, Clear, Complete and to the point....... And yes I had wanted to know for quite awhile but was too lazy to look it up. Thank you!

After I do the first treatment of cold blue I use steel wool on the whole part and give it another treatment of bluing solution for a darker and more uniform finish

As always awesome information and video, thank you!!! Also I echo other comments, amazing to see someone make a video without needing to make an hour long video out of a 6 min subject! 🙂

Nice to hear your voice. I somehow missed this video, but it's not too late. Oh, and you are the first hit on youtube when searching for bluing.

Excellent. Concise, precise and without a host of crap!

I been watching your videos , the work you do is amazing, always fixing the minimum detail. I am dentist, and I really love what you do, very precise and so beautiful results, every work is a realization of dream!! Because only in dreams we can think achieve that kind of piece of art when we think in restoration.... Thank you very much for your master classes in every step. Greetings from Mexico !

This is a great video, no nonsense and straight to the point!! Would love to see you do more of these behind the scenes videos 👍 how durable is the bluing for both types?

Thank you. Very easy to follow. I never saw the advantages to cold bluing, having only done small pieces by hot bluing but now see the need in other circumstances.

Everything you talk about or do is so interesting! I'm sad that I've seen all of your videos. I want to watch for the 1st time again and again!

Here in the Rust Belt, steel only comes in one color and it reminds me of autumn.

There's also rust bluing. Lower temperatures (

Thanks! This is so informative! MY roommate rusted my cast-iron teapot and this was suggested. I need to hot blue it, and this video pretty much just confirmed what I thought I needed to do! Thanks a ton.

I use cold bluing on most holes I drill on finished steel to prevent rust. And to retouch my firearms. I didn't know anything about hot bluing, thank you!

I like how the sandblasted piece looked more than the others!

Large parts can be heated in a kitchen oven to the achieve the required temperature. The size of quenching bucket becomes the limit to size. Parts should have a consistent thickness to avoid warpage. Some phosphate-based "rust converters" can be used also, but actually need an even layer of red oxide to form first.

I agree, the sandblasted looked the best (both hot and cold). It would be great to use this for furniture hardware. Merci vielmal!👍🇨🇭

Hrs of knowledge in a simple explanation!

Tool and Die maker here: I use the hot oven temp blueing on my parts because of the lack of chemicals involved. I just don't like handling chemicals. Also, this is not limited to black with the oven temp, you can get different colors based on the type of material and temperature and cooling process. Sometimes I'll go blue, gold, black, etc.

This is the best video, thank you my man, I’m restoring my dads old shotgun and this helped loads.

First time hearing you talk! I like the sanded and sandblasted hot bluing the best. Hmmm. I want to try this on some old golf wedges I have but really don't have the tools to heat them up. Maybe I'll give it a go though. Actually looking for your recipe for removing patina from steel, so rewatching a lot of your videos and they're just sooooooo relaxing and therapeutic as always. Thanks!

You've answered so many questions I had from watching your videos and similar channels. Thank you.

That's almost the same as seasoning a steel pan for cooking, just as a much smaller scale (i.e. the layer is usually a lot thicker for cooking) and the oil is important for cookware (no cold bluing). It does give a significant rust protection but it's mostly used for non-stick properties.

In the firearms sense, "hot blue" is normally associated with a molten salt process. What you're doing with the oil is normally called oil "blackening" vs "blueing" to distinguish the two processes (and the oil finish tends to look brown-black vs blue-black which is pretty clear in your video).. Another less common method that involves mild heating is "rust blue" where parts are placed in a heated, moisture-rich atmosphere to deliberately cause a coating of very fine rust to form. This is time consuming and normally only done these days for antique firearms restoration..

I am hooked on the sandblasted look! Thanks for the video, well done!!

The sandblasted pieces looked sweet as hell to be fair, and that's the process I'd use if I planned on utilising this technique. Great video man very informative.

Great video’s, compliments about that! I learn a lot every time and love the fact that there’s no annoying music! 👍🏻. My questions: * which blueing is more resistant against wear and rust? Did you try that out or can you test that? * I would like to see the machines and favorite materials/chemicals/programs you use, I would certainly appreciate a workshop tour video! 😉 keep up the good work !

For hot blue I use extremely old & dirty motor oil. I really like the effect and coloration I get and as stated, it’s extremely cheap. Really informative video.

A brilliant, well explained video without the annoying background music. Thank you very much for making this video & sharing it.

Thankyou for sharing your experience and knowledge on the topic of Bluing of metal.

Oh my god he's got a voice. :-x I was not prepared for this. I think I need a minute ^^

sand blasted looked the best, i need to buy myself a sandblaster

Thanks for the super informative video, I always wondered why you would pick one option over another but now I know!

Very useful information about bluing steel. No youtuber can't discuss this before.❤

Kudos, very well explained with a lovely Swiss accent.

Yay :D we don't only make new ones we also make new colors :D. I really enjoyed the iron restoration I try not to miss a video been here since day 1 :P. We've come along way since that car jack :D

Great explanation of the process for blueing metal.

Straight to the point. Excellent. Bravo!!!

Excellent! The cold blueing reduces the risk of causing hydrogen embrittlement, essential to avoid and mandatory when handling critical firearm components.

"Harden ned" Thanks for the info man. I think I'll be hot blueing every bit of metal in my house today.. quarantine got me going crazy.

A most excellent explanation and comparison of the 2 methods. 👍👍👍

Another fantastic informative video. I love what you are doing. It is something of a family event when you post a new video. We all sit around the pc and watch. thank you for providing us with quality family time.