How to gun blue?

[Diggerdog]

I have taken a 440C blade to a mirror finish and thought that I could blue it. The liquid just beads up and does nothing. Should I try a paste or a different blue or is it not possible to blue this blade? Thanks for the help. Dave

 

[Gryffin]

440C is a stainless steel; cold blues won't work at all. I think there is a hot-blue process that can darken stainless, but it's not something you could do at home!

 

[Shmackey]

Not even regular hot-bluing in a tank will blue stainless. There are processes to darken stainless, but not real bluing.

Bluing really doesn't seem like an ideal finish for a knife blade anyway. It scrapes up very easily and needs attention to make sure the steel doesn't just flat-out rust (the orange kind).