Blackening a stainless steel gun

[Celt]

I have a stainless steel lever action hunting rifle I would like to have blackened. Has anybody successfully and safely done this at home? I would hate to send it out to be done at a cost of a couple hundred dollars if it's something that could be done at home. If so, what chemicals did you use and what was the process? Also is there any sort of seal coat that would need to be done afterwards prevent any damage?

 

[Celt]

How to Darken Stainless Steel: 3 Easy Methods for Beginners

If you want to switch things up with your gun's appearance, here are 3 easy ways on how to darken stainless steel and get that luxurious black finish.

shootingmystery.com

Reading this article the guy says leave the gun soaking in a big vat of vinegar overnight. One of my questions is does this do any damage to the stainless steel that would affect longevity, and if I simply submerged the entire gun would it harm or have any negative impact on the inside of the barrel?

 

[kev74]

How to Darken Stainless Steel: 3 Easy Methods for Beginners

If you want to switch things up with your gun's appearance, here are 3 easy ways on how to darken stainless steel and get that luxurious black finish.

shootingmystery.com

Reading this article the guy says leave the gun soaking in a big vat of vinegar overnight. One of my questions is does this do any damage to the stainless steel that would affect longevity, and if I simply submerged the entire gun would it harm or have any negative impact on the inside of the barrel?

I wouldn't do anything that article recommends.

If the gun is worth anything, have it done professionally.

I'm usually game to try anything, but trying to get a good darkened finish on stainless steel on a nice gun is not something I'd jump into.

Maybe experiment on some scraps of metal first and see if you can get a good result.

 

[Celt]

I wouldn't do anything that article recommends.

If the gun is worth anything, have it done professionally.

I'm usually game to try anything, but trying to get a good darkened finish on stainless steel on a nice gun is not something I'd jump into.

Maybe experiment on some scraps of metal first and see if you can get a good result.

If i did try it myself id certainly practice on scrap ss first. I also wouldnt try anything without serious research first.

 

[S&W Fan]

I wouldn't do anything that article recommends.

If the gun is worth anything, have it done professionally.

I'm usually game to try anything, but trying to get a good darkened finish on stainless steel on a nice gun is not something I'd jump into.

Maybe experiment on some scraps of metal first and see if you can get a good result.

If i did try it myself id certainly practice on scrap ss first. I also wouldnt try anything without serious research first.

Also keep in mind that the Scraps that you practiced with would have to be the same grade of stainless used to make the gun. I would think the success of doing it with Vinegar would have to Depend on its % of vinegar concentration as well.

 

[S&W Fan]

You might want to look into this process as well. I’ve read mixed reviews about the room temperature kits but YMMV

Black Oxide for Stainless Steel | Black Oxide | Electrochemical Products, Inc

Want to buy black oxide solutions for stainless steel? EPi offers Insta-Blak SS-370, Insta-Blak SS-370 Gel, Ultra-Blak 407, and Ultra-Blak 407-L for stainless steel.

www.epi.com

 

[spat]

I would go to this guy for any unusual metal finishing I want to do at home.

But for a single firearm it's probably cheaper to send it out.

Caswell Inc

caswellplating.com

Still, he has a lot of very cool solutions. I think a black hard chrome 1911 would look awesome.

 

[Xae289]

I don't know man, I'd get it done professionally unless it's a gun you really don't care about, which doesn't seem to be the case. Imo, that article had some junk-level advice and I think his methods would lead to junk-level, bubba-fudd results.

Soaking it in vinegar probably won't do anything, and if it does, it won't look good based on the acid corrosion I've seen on stainless steels.

I'd send it to get it professionally blued or cerakoted. If I really wanted a low-cost option, I'd get one of the vinyl gun-skin wraps.

 

[Celt]

Anyone know anything about this guy upstate Ny?

GunBlack | Black Oxide and Manganese Phosphate

 

[Cavalry]

I have had very mixed results with the "cold" blackening offered by many sources out there. Pretty much they suck.

I know the guy who wrote this recipe, he is an organic chemist, but yes this works. If you dont know what you are dont doing with these chemicals dont even think about trying this out.

Base formula (grams)
Water ....... 1000 g (1 liter) Distilled, do not use tap or softened water.
NaOH ......... 600 g (Sodium Hydroxide)
NaNO2 ......... 25 g (Sodium Nitrite)
Total ........ 1625 g

• This solution will boil at around 280°F.
• You have to have it at boiling before you put parts in it.
• It is very alkaline and very hot so be very careful.
• You can get caustic burns from it very fast, so be very careful.
• Heavy rubber gloves, a rubber apron and a face shield are recommended.
• It is best if you do this outside in an open environment.

The pot you use has to be stainless steel; also anything that goes in the pot
has to be steel or stainless steel. Any aluminum or zinc will kill the bath and
brass and copper are not good for it either. 304 stainless aka 18-8 stainless
steel is just fine that is what I used. 316 is better but you likely will only see
the difference in your wallet.

I have a pot that holds about 5 gallons. I mixed up a little over 3 gallons of
solution, if you cannot covert well. Here is my 3 gallon mix.

Component ... Amount
Water ........... 3.0 gallons
NaOH .......... 15.0 pounds
NaNO2 ........ 10.0 ounces

You can buy the Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Nitrite on amazon.

If you are doing a number of batches the water will boil off. You can add
more water, but be VERY CAREFUL. The bath is going to be >280°F. Water
boils at 212°F, so add cold water slowly you will hear it boiling as you are
adding it. If you add it too fast or add warm or hot water you could have it
flash to steam and end up wearing most of your very hot very caustic bath
and be heading to the ER and ICU for steam and chemical burns.

Submerge the parts you want black oxided until the color you want is achieved
you will need basket for smaller parts and you can use iron or stainless wire
to attach to larger parts. You might need to move the wire to get complete
coverage.

Also have 2 or more buckets of cold water handy for rinsing and cooling off parts.
Rinse the parts in the buckets and keep the same order. The first bucket will get
a bit alkaline after doing several batches.

 

[S&W Fan]

I have had very mixed results with the "cold" blackening offered by many sources out there. Pretty much they suck.

I know the guy who wrote this recipe, he is an organic chemist, but yes this works. If you dont know what you are dont doing with these chemicals dont even think about trying this out.

Base formula (grams)
Water ....... 1000 g (1 liter) Distilled, do not use tap or softened water.
NaOH ......... 600 g (Sodium Hydroxide)
NaNO2 ......... 25 g (Sodium Nitrite)
Total ........ 1625 g

• This solution will boil at around 280°F.
• You have to have it at boiling before you put parts in it.
• It is very alkaline and very hot so be very careful.
• You can get caustic burns from it very fast, so be very careful.
• Heavy rubber gloves, a rubber apron and a face shield are recommended.
• It is best if you do this outside in an open environment.

The pot you use has to be stainless steel; also anything that goes in the pot
has to be steel or stainless steel. Any aluminum or zinc will kill the bath and
brass and copper are not good for it either. 304 stainless aka 18-8 stainless
steel is just fine that is what I used. 316 is better but you likely will only see
the difference in your wallet.

I have a pot that holds about 5 gallons. I mixed up a little over 3 gallons of
solution, if you cannot covert well. Here is my 3 gallon mix.

Component ... Amount
Water ........... 3.0 gallons
NaOH .......... 15.0 pounds
NaNO2 ........ 10.0 ounces

You can buy the Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Nitrite on amazon.

If you are doing a number of batches the water will boil off. You can add
more water, but be VERY CAREFUL. The bath is going to be >280°F. Water
boils at 212°F, so add cold water slowly you will hear it boiling as you are
adding it. If you add it too fast or add warm or hot water you could have it
flash to steam and end up wearing most of your very hot very caustic bath
and be heading to the ER and ICU for steam and chemical burns.

Submerge the parts you want black oxided until the color you want is achieved
you will need basket for smaller parts and you can use iron or stainless wire
to attach to larger parts. You might need to move the wire to get complete
coverage.

Also have 2 or more buckets of cold water handy for rinsing and cooling off parts.
Rinse the parts in the buckets and keep the same order. The first bucket will get
a bit alkaline after doing several batches.

Interesting. Once all parts are rinsed and cool do they need to be polished ?

 

[Celt]

I have had very mixed results with the "cold" blackening offered by many sources out there. Pretty much they suck.

I know the guy who wrote this recipe, he is an organic chemist, but yes this works. If you dont know what you are dont doing with these chemicals dont even think about trying this out.

Base formula (grams)
Water ....... 1000 g (1 liter) Distilled, do not use tap or softened water.
NaOH ......... 600 g (Sodium Hydroxide)
NaNO2 ......... 25 g (Sodium Nitrite)
Total ........ 1625 g

• This solution will boil at around 280°F.
• You have to have it at boiling before you put parts in it.
• It is very alkaline and very hot so be very careful.
• You can get caustic burns from it very fast, so be very careful.
• Heavy rubber gloves, a rubber apron and a face shield are recommended.
• It is best if you do this outside in an open environment.

The pot you use has to be stainless steel; also anything that goes in the pot
has to be steel or stainless steel. Any aluminum or zinc will kill the bath and
brass and copper are not good for it either. 304 stainless aka 18-8 stainless
steel is just fine that is what I used. 316 is better but you likely will only see
the difference in your wallet.

I have a pot that holds about 5 gallons. I mixed up a little over 3 gallons of
solution, if you cannot covert well. Here is my 3 gallon mix.

Component ... Amount
Water ........... 3.0 gallons
NaOH .......... 15.0 pounds
NaNO2 ........ 10.0 ounces

You can buy the Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Nitrite on amazon.

If you are doing a number of batches the water will boil off. You can add
more water, but be VERY CAREFUL. The bath is going to be >280°F. Water
boils at 212°F, so add cold water slowly you will hear it boiling as you are
adding it. If you add it too fast or add warm or hot water you could have it
flash to steam and end up wearing most of your very hot very caustic bath
and be heading to the ER and ICU for steam and chemical burns.

Submerge the parts you want black oxided until the color you want is achieved
you will need basket for smaller parts and you can use iron or stainless wire
to attach to larger parts. You might need to move the wire to get complete
coverage.

Also have 2 or more buckets of cold water handy for rinsing and cooling off parts.
Rinse the parts in the buckets and keep the same order. The first bucket will get
a bit alkaline after doing several batches.

Awesome write up, and frankly with all thats involved there, it would be better for me to send it out to a pro unless I was going to do this as a hobby.

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

Is bluing stainless a thing? Any examples? I thought that you needed higher carbon content to blue. That's why the old revolvers blue so readily and deeply. I would think you'd have to rough it as well. Stainless tends to be highly polished and wouldn't accept the blue very well. If people are indeed bluing stainless I don't think it will ever look as nice as non stainless guns.

 

[S&W Fan]

Is bluing stainless a thing? Any examples? I thought that you needed higher carbon content to blue. That's why the old revolvers blue so readily and deeply. I would think you'd have to rough it as well. Stainless tends to be highly polished and wouldn't accept the blue very well. If people are indeed bluing stainless I don't think it will ever look as nice as non stainless guns.

It’s similar to bluing but it isn’t. When you “blacken” stainless steel it comes out more of a matt black type of finish. like this Smith and Wesson Factory black stainless steel model 686 .

 

[meketrefe]

How to Darken Stainless Steel: 3 Easy Methods for Beginners

If you want to switch things up with your gun's appearance, here are 3 easy ways on how to darken stainless steel and get that luxurious black finish.

shootingmystery.com

Reading this article the guy says leave the gun soaking in a big vat of vinegar overnight. One of my questions is does this do any damage to the stainless steel that would affect longevity, and if I simply submerged the entire gun would it harm or have any negative impact on the inside of the barrel?

I guess anyone can write any BS about anything these days.
-Paint is going to be a problem as you cannot apply to the entire gun.
-Heat is an absolute no no as it would take a huge amount of heat to just slightly change the tone and at that point the alloy could be damaged and gun ruined.
-Vinegar is great for salads. What a joke.

So options that you have:
A) powder/cerakote is a durable finish and it needs to be prepared and done properly.
B) Nitrocaburazing. This is possibly the best process and is achieved with a carburazation process that gives additional hardness to the steel and then (Ferritic Nitrocarburizing) and while they do this they can apply a parkerization method that is both very durable and pretty whether is melonite or tenifer. Think like a glock finish that is very popular and most people like.

I prefer B vs. A but it is also a matter of knowing what SS. type do you have as there might be certain parts that are different alloy and might yield different results even they look the same as polish SS. This is where the cerakote comes in that is a pretty popular powder coating brand.

Other than those you are talking about rubbish. tradional QBQ canot be done with SS with great detail and expect the same results as some of the beautiful bluing in carbon steel.

If you want to do this yourself on a budget and have an oven to cure the powder the option A would be the way to go and even for that there is some expense in advance or find someone who does it well w/o being too expensive.

 

[Celt]

Its an 1894 marlin and with the pins, screws, hammer,lever etc, i think paint/cerakote isnt a viable option thats why Id like to chemically turn the Ss either dark gray or black.

 

[Celt]

It’s similar to bluing but it isn’t. When you “blacken” stainless steel it comes out more of a matt black type of finish. like this Smith and Wesson Factory black stainless steel model 686 .
View attachment 114463

Thats nice, a matte finish is preferred for me.

 

[Shoots100]

If you just want to dull the shine on your hunting rifle, you should just have it bead blasted.
If you want to do some type of coating on it in the future, their going to bead blast it first, as the coating sticks better when applying it to a bead blasted surface.

 

[meketrefe]

Thats nice, a matte finish is preferred for me.

you need to know the steel so you can get uniform results. A manufacuturer can control that before the build the gun but otherwise
it can yield mix results and is not going to be like a BQB. So make sure of that first or you might end up with a 4 tone/color gun depending on the steel.

 

[Celt]

Bottom is a photoshop.

 

[Cavalry]

Is bluing stainless a thing? Any examples?

One of the few examples I can think of off hand is blackening the gas cylinder on a Garand. Its different that traditional bluing salts, but the outcome is similar.

 

[Cavalry]

Interesting. Once all parts are rinsed and cool do they need to be polished ?

Polishing will remove or damage the black oxide. Typically whatever level of work you put in before bluing/park/blackening is what you get out in the end. I am far from an expert, but I have dabbled in parkerizing and black oxide enough to be dangerous.. I gave it a bad rap earlier, but I also have some birchwood blackening solution (industrial version) for quick jobs. Its no where as durable as hot process and does not like high carbon steels but if you need a black finish in 60 seconds its great.

 

[S&W Fan]

Thats nice, a matte finish is preferred for me.

You would probably be much better served at this point to just have it cerakoted. It is a very durable coating on stainless and comes out looking very much like blackened stainless.