After polishing/sanding, the parts are kept in a bath of denatured alcohol to remove any sanding grit as well as any residual oils. Once the bluing process begins, the parts cannot be touched with bare hands, or you end up with a permanent fingerprint in the bluing. I use chemical resistant gloves from Wal-Mart.
Pic 6 - Parts soaking in alcohol. The 0000 steel wool pad is being cleaned/degreased so I can use it to 'card' off the residual dust from the bluing process.
Pic 7 - The high tech lab. A cheap $20 toaster oven, a $20 electric hotplate, and a $4 pot.
I use "Mark Lee Express Blue #1" The process is similar to traditional rust bluing, but it makes the process go by much faster than using the traditional heat, apply acid, wait for part to start rusting, etc... For the first application of the Express Blue, you heat the parts to about 180 - 200 degrees F, apply the solution, reheat until solution is dry, apply more solution, reheat until dry, then boil in distilled water.
Pic 8 - Striker getting heated. You can see on the bearing surfaces where I lightly polished.
Pic 9 - About to apply the first application of the rust blue solution.
Pic 10 - Striker after the first application was applied. Notice the piece is discolored.
Pic 11 - First application to the bolt after heating it. You can tell that the bolt is made from a different type of steel, it rusted almost immediately.
I applied the rust bluing solution a total of three times to the pieces, reheating the parts between each application. The parts are pretty rusty.....
Pic 12 - All of the rust...
Continued next post.