Heat-coloured hands

I thought this would be of interest.

http://www.tz-uk.com/pics/tempering-...s-of-steel.jpg

Eddie

I think this comes under the heading of 'stuff I once knew but have now forgotten'..........original blued hands look great on an old watch, nowadays the faux vintage stuff is usually painted to get the same look. Still a nice look on the right watch, though.

Interesting... is there similar reference to how chemical coloration works?

Sent from my PH-1 using some kind of voodoo[emoji572]

The hands on my Archimede are either painted or done chemically, I'm not sure which. They changed to heat bluing after I bought my watch from SC so I thought I'd ask about changing. Would have had to send the watch to them and pay €150. I declined.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-NShX6MV-M.jpg


Here's how Mr. Smith does his, one of the 30+ skills he learned from Mr. Daniels . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3LtmR0115E

Cool. Thanks for posting. Blued hands are off the scale cool imho

I've blued hands, Eddie. Or at least tried. I never got a really even finish. More down to lack of practice than anything, I guess.

Best wishes,
Bob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rfrazier

I've blued hands, Eddie. Or at least tried. I never got a really even finish. More down to lack of practice than anything, I guess.

Best wishes,
Bob

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Try the Rainer Nienaber method.

Quote:

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Rainer Nienaber blues his own hands in small batches. His technique is interesting, he places the steel hands on top of a metal trough of brass filings over a burner. The brass gives an equal heat over the entire surface so that the hands blue evenly. Depending on the length of exposure, different colours can be produced, even a rich burgundy colour.

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Eddie

I once commisioned a heat treatment oven for aircraft aluminium alloys, and the process from start to finish was painful beyond belief.

If only i knew of Rainer's methods back then to achieve such an even temperature spread throughout the oven, it would of saved me months of petty squabbling with the chief engineer and the oven provider.

Ah the good old days, when i could remember roughly the temperature an ingot of most commonly used metals was in an oven or furnace just by looking at it. It's either dementia or alcohol induced memory loss setting in :neutralskull:

I'm a 590 degree fan.

This may also be of interest. 'Clickspring' on YT has hand-made a skeleton clock and explains the process of heat bluing - hands in this case, but he also heat blues all the screws. Actually there are worse ways to spend an hour or so than by watching the whole series. Great stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhjiIPohUyw

When I temper my knives after quench I end up with a lovely bluey purple