Color Case Hardened

I have an old gun that I have removed a considerable amount of pitting from the surface. The original frame would have been color case hardened. The workings of the gun will not be functional for they are too badly worn, so I would like to put it in a wall display. My question is, is there a simple way of giving the frame the case hardened color without all the chemicals and expense of the normal process?

I do not think so, but maybe someone else can shed more light on this for you. Good Luck and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You and Yours.

Here's a link to Brownells PDF instructions to their Color Case Hardening Kit http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/learn/INST-531.pdf

There is a faux finish using ink that is fragile and impractical for shooters but might be good enough for this wall hanger. It appeared on some Rugers.
At the moment, I don't know of a retail source...sorry.

OKFC05 said:

There is a faux finish using ink that is fragile and impractical for shooters but might be good enough for this wall hanger. It appeared on some Rugers.
At the moment, I don't know of a retail source...sorry.

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This is something like I had heard of at one time and would be what I would like to use. Maybe someone will be able to direct me to it. Thanks a bunch.

I've tried all sorts of stuff when I was young when it came to the home black smithing. You may try to reference some black smith's or their books.

If your not going to use the gun you might wanna try building a really nice fire using hardwoods get coals going really good and then pack the part in a steel box covering the part completely on all sides or use charcoal packing and smoke it up until it's red hot then quench in used motor oil. Keep in mind your gonna need a really large fire and possibly a way to force some air on the coals to get them really hot to shorten the time.

Then again it may be as simple as throwing the part on the coals with fresh pieces of wood getting it hot enough to quench in oil.

Don't take my word on it though ask more questions, whatever you do have fun doing it.

Hey maybe all you need is an artist and some special painting techniques.

Found another link to the actual process Good info. Color Case Hardening

Metal Effects® Reactive Metallic Paints

Here they talk of using cold bluing method

All the color case methods I've read involve the use of highly toxic chemicals, like cyanide, to produce the color.

Now, if the metal is polished in the white, spot heating with a torch will produce local coloring to be followed by a quench. Don't know if this method would allow you to do the whole frame or if the various colors would bleach/run during the process.

The traditional method of 'pack' hardening using charcoal will in most cases only yield suitable colors if bone charcoal is used in about a 1/3 ratio with the wood charcoal. Altering the ratio will alter the colors somewhat as will the time, temp and quench.

You'll need about 1450F and hold it there for about 2 hrs. Quench needs to be quick w/o the air coming into contact with the parts as they dump into the water. It's quite a fuss when that contents hits the quench water!

All sorts of different quench formulas exist and yield results so one isn't necessarly better than another as long as it works.
Some are aggitated with air bubbles, some have small amounts of chemicals added to enhance the colors, some are heated to approx 90F, some room temp,,etc. or a combination of these.
The heighth of the fall of the parts from the 'box' to the surface of the quench also effects the colors and hardness.

What you do not want is warpage and that is something that is very easy to do to the parts unfortunetly and only experience in the trade will help avoid it and also produce the colors everyone likes to see.
Technique, repeatability and experience is the key to what is actually a very simple process.

Cyanide hardening is an easier process in that it is much more predictable and quicker to do. The parts are placed into molted cyanide (usually possasium cyanide) and allowed to 'soak' for a bit and then quenched. The color pattern is somewhat different than the bone/charcoal method and is easy to see between the two but is acceptable to many. It was used by Remington for many years.
Almost never done outside of highly regulated industrial sites anymore because of the extreme danger of the ingedient. It was at one time a common blacksmiths hardening technique in some areas.

FWIW..It was also common at one time to put a small amount of the same potassium cyanide into the hot salt bluing tank in order to reblue double barrel shotgun barrels. It was said that the cyanide blocked the action of the caustic blueing chemicle on the soft solder that held the ribs & barrels together.
I saw many sets redone this way and to be truthful I never saw one come back for repair but I've heard of others done this way that did come apart. I do know the residue around the blueing room was deadly as one of the local cats wandered through it, stopped to lick it's paws and never made it out the door again. Nasty stuff for sure.