touching up a blade with gun blue pen

milandro · 2nd March 2022, 01:51 PM

I have touched it up with a different product than gun blue and it looks a lot better now.

The question for me remains whether it would be any better with gun blue

David · 2nd March 2022, 04:41 PM

Well, that isn't anything that i would do personally. You say "I like it and it is what it is anyway". If that is the case you should leave it as is. I have never heard of coving up pamor because you don't like the look if the bright spot. So what you are asking seems very strange to me.
I cannot tell much about this blade from this close up. Can you provide a photo of the entire blade?

milandro · 2nd March 2022, 05:12 PM

I was asking a strictly metallurgical question limited to the use of gun blue, as I stated in post 1
never mind, thanks

David · 2nd March 2022, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milandro

I was asking a strictly metallurgical question limited to the use of gun blue, as I stated in post 1
never mind, thanks

Well Milandro, we are a forum of keris collectors, not metallurgists. You can't expect to ask a question like this without some head scratching on our part.

A. G. Maisey · 2nd March 2022, 10:03 PM

Purely metallurgical?

OK.

I own & use a number of firearms, and have owned rifles for seventy odd years and during that course of time I have needed to touch up firearm bluing more times than I can remember.

In my experience cold blue, I normally use Birchwood Casey, will only act on ferric material, it will not darken nickel plating, thus I do not believe it will darken pure nickel on a keris blade.

However, an artist friend tells me that nitric acid @ 50% dilution will darken nickel, you need to get the nickel a bit warm, +/-50C, soak the nickel for up to 30 seconds. She is an artist, and she does SOAK the material in the dilute nitric acid, not paint it on.

Frankly I would not touch nitric acid with a 40 foot pole, it is very nasty stuff, and my belief is that it would be impossible to isolate the effect of the acid so that it only touched the nickel in the blade leaving the ferric material untouched. I think the fumes alone would be sufficient to adversely affect the rest of the blade finish.

To be clear:- I am not recommending the use of nitric acid for anything, least of all to attempt to alter the appearance of this blade under discussion.

milandro · 2nd March 2022, 10:17 PM

thank you for your, to my point, answer, after looking at several videos on Youtube , and reading this, I’ve decided against it.

A. G. Maisey · 2nd March 2022, 11:04 PM

Very wise I think.

2nd March 2022, 01:51 PM	#1
milandro Member Join Date: Jan 2022 Location: Netherlands Posts: 492	I have touched it up with a different product than gun blue and it looks a lot better now. The question for me remains whether it would be any better with gun blue Attached Images Last edited by milandro; 2nd March 2022 at 02:04 PM.

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2nd March 2022, 04:41 PM	#2
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,218	Well, that isn't anything that i would do personally. You say "I like it and it is what it is anyway". If that is the case you should leave it as is. I have never heard of coving up pamor because you don't like the look if the bright spot. So what you are asking seems very strange to me. I cannot tell much about this blade from this close up. Can you provide a photo of the entire blade?

2nd March 2022, 05:12 PM	#3
milandro Member Join Date: Jan 2022 Location: Netherlands Posts: 492	I was asking a strictly metallurgical question limited to the use of gun blue, as I stated in post 1 never mind, thanks

2nd March 2022, 10:03 PM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Purely metallurgical? OK. I own & use a number of firearms, and have owned rifles for seventy odd years and during that course of time I have needed to touch up firearm bluing more times than I can remember. In my experience cold blue, I normally use Birchwood Casey, will only act on ferric material, it will not darken nickel plating, thus I do not believe it will darken pure nickel on a keris blade. However, an artist friend tells me that nitric acid @ 50% dilution will darken nickel, you need to get the nickel a bit warm, +/-50C, soak the nickel for up to 30 seconds. She is an artist, and she does SOAK the material in the dilute nitric acid, not paint it on. Frankly I would not touch nitric acid with a 40 foot pole, it is very nasty stuff, and my belief is that it would be impossible to isolate the effect of the acid so that it only touched the nickel in the blade leaving the ferric material untouched. I think the fumes alone would be sufficient to adversely affect the rest of the blade finish. To be clear:- I am not recommending the use of nitric acid for anything, least of all to attempt to alter the appearance of this blade under discussion.

2nd March 2022, 10:17 PM	#6
milandro Member Join Date: Jan 2022 Location: Netherlands Posts: 492	thank you for your, to my point, answer, after looking at several videos on Youtube , and reading this, I’ve decided against it.

2nd March 2022, 11:04 PM	#7
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Very wise I think.