Cold Blueing

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middy

Joined
Jun 3, 2005
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I have a new Cold Steel Trail Guide which is made from their Carbon V steel. Since it's not stainless I figured it would look cool and improve its corrosion resistance if I used a cold-blueing pen (the kind used to touch up the blued steel of firearms) on the blade.

Has anyone done this before? Is it going to affect the edge at all, making it soft or brittle?
 
middy said:
Is it going to affect the edge at all, making it soft or brittle?
Click to expand...

If you use it on the very edge it will degrade the sharpness but this will be restored with sharpening.

-Cliff
 
If you've never cold blued a larger piece of steel before, you might want to try it out on a piece of scrap first. To have any luck at all, you have to get the metal absolutely clean. Even then a lot of cold blues are streaky.

Personally I wouldn't do it. Most cold blues contain copper sulfate. The finish is usually kind of dull, and they leave a lingering rotten egg smell that would probably get into your sheath. And the blued finish is going to get looking real bad, real quick, just from use and sharpening.

I've heard that 'Blue Wonder' gun blue is better than other cold blues. Expensive, but nearly as good as a hot blue. Maybe check it out if you decide you really want to do this.
 
Cold blueing is very simple to apply to any non-stainless blade. The problem with the pen will be not being able to get an even coat. I would suggest getting the liquid. WalMart or any gun shop would have it. Birchwood Casey is a brand that comes to mind. I've done several knives with cold blue. To get better penetration preheat the blade in hot water thus warming up the blade. Apply a coat as even as possible, dip in cold water to neutralize the chemical. Buff with 0000 steel wool. Do this three times for a nice even coat. When you're finished, simply resharpen as usual. With heavy use, the blueing will wear off, but you can always reapply as necessary or leave it with a worn look for added character. :) Most if not all blade coatings will wear off with heavy use.
Scott
 
You can't have it clean enough. Use the liquid several times until you get the darkness of the color blue you like. If you don't like it when done just take some emery cloth and sand the blue off. It will take some effort but not too much as the blue doesn't penetrate that deeply.

Can you send us a picture when finished? I'd be curious to see how it comes out. I might try it on mine.
 
Owen Wood is somewhat of an expert on cold blueing of Stainless Steel. In fact, he has a patent on his process.

He is a Guild member, lives in the Denver area, and I'm sure he would be happy to assist.

sal
 
middy said:
I have a new Cold Steel Trail Guide which is made from their Carbon V steel. Since it's not stainless I figured it would look cool and improve its corrosion resistance if I used a cold-blueing pen (the kind used to touch up the blued steel of firearms) on the blade.

Has anyone done this before? Is it going to affect the edge at all, making it soft or brittle?
Click to expand...


I have blued a few blades, I used the Birchwood Casey liquid. It works pretty good but comes out streaky in places. I did a fairly old swedish bayonet blade and it came out streaky in a few spots. I did an Israeli bayonet from the 70's that came out dead on perfect. My guess is that it depends on the steel. The pen applicator seems like a bad idea to me. I would go with the bottle and dauber.

BC sells a whole gun bluing kit with degreaser rust & blue remover and Blueing liquid for about $25 bucks.
 
Thanks for all the advice. You guys are great!

I like this place, I think I'll stay. :)
 
Keep in mind that unoiled blued steel will still rust nicely. And cold blue is not the same chemical process as hot blue. If you can remove the scales/handle so you have just the blade, you might be able to get a local 'smith to put the blade into a real bluing tank.
 
I would not use a pen on a blade like this. It may (and probably) will streak too much (make it uneven). I would suggest you buy the bluing paste instead. Also make sure you clean the blade of ANY OIL really good first (use degreaser than alcohol). Also you may try heating the blade with a hair dryer first to help the bluing take to the blade. Then when you are finished rinse the blade off good and coat it with oil and let it sit overnight.

However, it would be good to try it on something else first. Remember though, every peice of metal can take the bluing differently, so you may (and very well) get different results.
 
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