Hot Bluing in Socal?

[deoxys987]

Hey guys,
I'm having a really cool and Interesting AK built out of state (Hungarian AK-55 that's 100% matching and I'm doing a partial re-weld and keeping the front stub of the original receiver.) The builder I'm using doesn't do hot bluing and a correct finish is hot blue. Any recommendations for a place in Socal that can hot blue? I'd like to avoid having to ship it as insuring the package for full value is costly. I found a place in Laguna that can do it but it's about an hour each way for me. I'm located in Rancho Cucamonga. Are there any places in the Inland Empire that do hot blue? Parkerizing/cerakote just don't do this rifle justice.

['ol shooter]

Will O'Hara in Corona does beautiful bluing and black oxide work. He may not be taking any new work in but you can give him a call. He is a pleasant fellow to do business with, but he is not cheap. I also do not know if he will do long guns.

951-371-4971

[RickD427]

You're very likely to have a color mismatch, and a poor finish result, if you try to hot blue over a welded area.

[G-forceJunkie]

Yup. Even parkerize will probably give you several shades. I would plan on parking it then ceracoating it. AK's are supposed to be painted anyways.

Your very likely to have a color mismatch, and a poor finish result, if you try to hot blue over a welded area.

[M1NM]

AK's are supposed to be painted anyways.

Find a powder coater or buy a Harbor Freight kit and stink up the wife's oven.

[HibikiR]

Yup. Even parkerize will probably give you several shades. I would plan on parking it then ceracoating it. AK's are supposed to be painted anyways.

I think paint was introduced when they went from milled AKs to stamped AKMs so a milled AK would be blued.


Since the weld might be problematic concerning bluing, you could try Duracoat's Durablue.

[deoxys987]

Will O'Hara in Corona does beautiful bluing and black oxide work. He may not be taking any new work in but you can give him a call. He is a pleasant fellow to do business with, but he is not cheap. I also do not know if he will do long guns.

951-371-4971

Thank you! I'll check with him.

[deoxys987]

You're very likely to have a color mismatch, and a poor finish result, if you try to hot blue over a welded area.

I've seen a few of these hot blued, and usually there is a bit of a mismatch with the blue but usually isn't too bad, though I'm sure it depends on how nice the Bluing job is too

[deoxys987]

Yup. Even parkerize will probably give you several shades. I would plan on parking it then ceracoating it. AK's are supposed to be painted anyways.

I don't think parkerizing will really do it justice. The rest of the kit is hot blued so I'd rather have a correct finish

[deoxys987]

I think paint was introduced when they went from milled AKs to stamped AKMs so a milled AK would be blued.


Since the weld might be problematic concerning bluing, you could try Duracoat's Durablue.

Correct,
I can't say I've heard of duracoat durablue. How close does that look to hot blue?

[HibikiR]

Correct,
I can't say I've heard of duracoat durablue. How close does that look to hot blue?

Probably not close enough to fool anyone up close.

https://aces8scustomguns.com/uploads/3/4/8/6/34864218/8648660_orig.jpg

"DuraBlue Receiver with High Polished Standard Hot Salt blued Barrel" per the source of the picture.

Looking at reweld jobs on old submachineguns like the PPSh, the weld might actually not show after bluing. If on the off chance that your experience doesn't match other examples, then you could go with Durablue as your plan B.

[deoxys987]

Probably not close enough to fool anyone up close.

https://aces8scustomguns.com/uploads/3/4/8/6/34864218/8648660_orig.jpg

"DuraBlue Receiver with High Polished Standard Hot Salt blued Barrel" per the source of the picture.

Looking at reweld jobs on old submachineguns like the PPSh, the weld might actually not show after bluing. If on the off chance that your experience doesn't match other examples, then you could go with Durablue as your plan B.

Sounds good. Hot blue is definitely plan A!

[deoxys987]

Will O'Hara in Corona does beautiful bluing and black oxide work. He may not be taking any new work in but you can give him a call. He is a pleasant fellow to do business with, but he is not cheap. I also do not know if he will do long guns.

951-371-4971

Looks like Will doesn't do hot blue on this sort of thing, just the guns he builds. He referred me to Danforth in Riverside but I've heard hit and miss things with them.

['ol shooter]

Will did a black oxide finish on a Series 70 slide for me, came out beautiful with a semi gloss glow.
As he says., it's all in the prep.
If you have a good prep, consider giving a Tech Plate a call.

https://www.techplate.com/

They do black oxide and many other surface finishes.
They have been at it a looong time, and do excellent work.
Look at this hard chromed Gold Cup they did for my gunsmith for me in 1979. This is it today:

No peeling, flaking or freckles, just solid craftsmanship.

[ar15barrels]

I've seen a few of these hot blued, and usually there is a bit of a mismatch with the blue but usually isn't too bad, though I'm sure it depends on how nice the Bluing job is too

After your reweld is all done, have the receiver normalized and heat treated to around 40 Rockwell C.
Re-doing the heat treat will give an even hardness through the whole receiver which is what should help to keep the bluing more consistent.

The dramatic differences in color after welding is due to the welded area having a dramatically different hardness after welding.