So, I have an old $20 crockpot.   I've always hated it because it runs too "hot" -- it always boils the shit out of whatever you're cooking, even on low.

The other day, I had the crock out and put an electronic thermometer against the "wall" of the heating part.   It showed 308 degrees.    Interesting.   Hot bluing using sodium hydroxide NaOH and alkali nitrate salts (KNO3 or NaNO3) needs 275 to 285 degrees to work "right."  I knew the stuff inside the crock would not reach the full 308 degree temperature, but I thought I could get close enough to blue steel.

I had an old Star .380 that I had home smithed.   I cut 30LPI checkering into the front strap, some vertical serrations in the back, and I reshaped the front sight to have a flat with a "dot"  hole for some luminescent paint.  The pistol was rusty and the finish was shot when I got it, so I stripped the finish off with blueing and rust remover and spent some time polishing and cleaning up the pitting.   I've been waiting for a nice day to try and fire up a bluing bath outside, but I got impatient and wondered about this crock pot.  

Bottom line, I mixed a half batch of salts (2 pounds NaOH plus 1 pound of NaNO3)+ a half gallon distilled water and set the crock to "hi" -- about 3 hours later the salts inside were finally dissolved and the solution was reading 281 degrees.  That seemed to be the wall with the heat lost through the crock and by convection.   But that's a pretty good temp for my mixture, based on past efforts.  

Anyway, I took my slide and frame which I hit one last time with the high grit sandpaper to knock off surface oxidation and put them in the mix on black iron wire.   Just dumped em right in there with the lid back on the crock pot (my lid is all glass, you wouldn't want to use one of the ones with an aluminum rim).  Hell, I didn't even degrease them.  Its such a small batch I wanted to see how bad you could abuse the salts and still get a passable job.

A hot water bath was set up on the stove and I had plenty of paper towels soaked in cold water and white vinegar around.   Actually the mixture didn't splatter much at all, and it took a bit longer than I had hoped.   But it blued that pistol perfectly.   Turned out amazing, actually.  When I dumped the parts in the hot water bath to get the caustic salts off, there was a really fine haze of red iron oxide sort of dusting all over the surface.  But underneath it was a dark, black, deep bluing finish.   I couple hits with oiled OOOO steel wool and it looks like a factory job.   Its soaking in WD40 and mystery oil today, but I'll pull it out tonight and take some pictures.

BTW:   Safety first guys:   Goggles, gloves, and a lab apron were used in this project.  You wouldn't want nearly 300 degree caustic soda to touch your skin eyes or mucus membranes.  I also had plenty of vinegar about for purposes of decontamination.   The salts look to be pretty unspoiled, they did not go to work on the glaze of the stoneware crock as its still shiny and smooth, and I put them into plastic for storage once they cooled down.   I'll use this method again, I think.

[EDIT:  After post cleaning examination, the glaze on the crock is indeed a bit frosted.  The caustic concoction is just too much for the glaze.  Possible danger area, as a broken crock mid process would be really bad]

Interesting.  Can you post a pic or two of the Star?

Very interesting.  Would love to see pics.

Old_Painless has cold-blued some guns recently and they apparently turned out very nicely, too.  

HH

Very cool.  I always wanted to learn how to hot blue.

tag for pics

+1 for pics!

Pics please.

Pics, Pics, Pics please!!

Quoted: nullbits.foxxz.net/albums/Icons/xscuseless.gif

Quoted: nullbits.foxxz.net/albums/Icons/xscuseless.gif

Yeah. No shit!

And Gonzo's been around long enough to know.

Pictures are required...

Interested in pics!

Sorry for the tease, folks.    I'm actually heading home in a few minutes, we're blizzard bound here in N.Colorado and I just sent my law office staff home.  

I'll post pics soon.

Meantime, I'll try and answer any questions you guys have about the proess.

But the most important one seems to be this:  

NO, it probably won't work in your crock pot.   They're not supposed to get this hot.   And the black oxide reaction does not occur except at the temperature range I mentioned.  

You'll need your law office when I re-wire my crock pot to achieve the desired tempature and burn my house down.

I've already printed your post

You could do it with rust-blue. Rust blue requires very little heat.

Tag for pics.

Pics or BAN!

Tag

Pics pls

Now that will make a cool dinner pic.You serving your pistol out of a crock pot. I give it a 10.

Always want to see pics!

Need pics

Quoted: Pics or BAN!

Needs a pic of Mel Brooks as King of France saying 'Hump or Death!?'

Tag for pics and hump of death.

Pics:

Some with the flash "on" some without.  The room light versus "flash" should give a good sense of how dark the bluing came out.    Remember, this was from "the white" -- stripped down with birchwood casey bluing and rust remover and polished with high grit sandpaper.

There's still some "lint" on the checkering, and you can see some of the rust colored "sluff" that has to be buffed off to get to the amazing blued steel underneath.   Inside the gun, I'm removing this layer with q-tips.  

Yes, I know my checkering is not perfect.   I had two mistakes for my "first" try.   First, I started with 30LPI which was hard as hell to keep lined up.   Second, the star has that little "lip" on the bottom of the front-strap, and that prevents use of a jig.  I used the checkering guide file and then the checkering needle file all "freehand" on this one.  

Stay tuned to this thread for the "all finished" picture once I get this sucker put back together.  

Bravo!

How cool is that?

That turned out nice!

Nice checkering job, Gonzo!

Thats hot shit!

Nice job with the blue and checkering.  

You get an honorable "Home Chemical Engineering" award.  

Nice job.

Elvis

Very nice job.

I like the checkering job


Any "before" pictures?

Sweet!

Well done.

Quoted: I like the checkering job Any "before" pictures?

Unfortunately, no.

But here's a gunbroker auction with a very similar condition pistol, only mine doesn't have the spanish air force engravings.

www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=62778136

What he said.

Quoted: Nice checkering job, Gonzo!

Not bad...

Nice checkering and nice looking blueing.

Can't wait to see the whole thing!  

What grit sandpaper?

Looks good.

I need to do that to my M10.

You know, I wish Star had not gone out of business.  They make some great 1911 type pistols.  I have a couple BMs, and aside from being a little heavy, they'd make great CCW pistols.  I wish some company would make a scaled down 1911 in 9mm that was lighter, reliable, and doesn't cost and arm and a leg.  

Nice job on the bluing.  My two BMs are very faded in the bluing department.  

Cool as hell.

We need to see how it looks assembled.

Thx.

Nice....

Outstanding!  Is this the latest progression from last summer's stove top bluing project?

I used to parkerize small parts in a cawfee cup, in the microwave....lol

Quoted: We need to see how it looks assembled. Thx.

Done!





You may not be able to see it, but I shaprened up the edges of the checkering on the mag release too.  Also, see the vertical lines I did on the back of the grip.  

The grips are Australian Sheok, from the "Gun Grip Guys" on eBay.   Its decent wood, but the mag release was "off" when they sent it, and I had to carve out the back side of the right hand grip to accommodate the magazine safety (although I'll probably run the gun without the mag safety in it.

I'm sitting here looking at this pistol, and I'm sort of amazed at it all.   Last night at about 9:30 I got a wild hair to cook a pistol in a crock pot.  I must have had the parts sitting around six months just waiting.  

Anyway, thanks for all the kind words.   Let me get to the questions:

Q:  What grit sandpaper?  

A:   600 mostly, but 1500 for a final gloss on the slab sides of the slide.   It was folded over a perfectly flat piece of plate glass so that the surface was perfectly flat.

Wow!

Nice work!