how do I heat color damascus?
- Thread starter Gahagan
- Start date
EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
Heat coloring is nothing more than heating the steel to a given temp to achieve the color(s) you want. The exact temp is going to depend on the steel types in the billet. As a general rule, heat coloring will often temper the steel to beyond the usable range for a knife blade.
OK, to do it.....finish the item(s) to a very fine finish (the type of finish will dictate the hue/sheen of the heat coloring). pre-heat your oven, depending on the steel types, that could be anywhere from 375-450F, and bake the item(s) until they either achieve the color you want, or the color(s) will no longer change. My advice is to experiment with a piece of the material to figure out exactly the finish and temps required to achieve the results you seek.
OK, to do it.....finish the item(s) to a very fine finish (the type of finish will dictate the hue/sheen of the heat coloring). pre-heat your oven, depending on the steel types, that could be anywhere from 375-450F, and bake the item(s) until they either achieve the color you want, or the color(s) will no longer change. My advice is to experiment with a piece of the material to figure out exactly the finish and temps required to achieve the results you seek.
On that particular piece of steel I used Nitre Blue that can be purchased from Brownells. It takes a little trial and error to get the results you desire, but not at all difficult. It is important to get whatever you are coloring to be scratch free and highly polished.
EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
Nitre blue would be an easy solution. It's essentially nothing more than heat coloring in an oven, just takes less guess work. I will admit that Nitre blue seems to be about the most durable of the "bluing" type finishes.....but it's still rather fragile.
Keep in mind that just like heat coloring with high temps, Nitre blue will generally destroy the temper in a blade (it won't make any difference for the items you're producing)......it's "using range" is 575-650F. It's just one more of those "trade off" things that I often speak of.
Keep in mind that just like heat coloring with high temps, Nitre blue will generally destroy the temper in a blade (it won't make any difference for the items you're producing)......it's "using range" is 575-650F. It's just one more of those "trade off" things that I often speak of.
Awhile back I colored several blades made out of different content damascus. I brought it to a local machine shop to test the hardness and found that Ed is correct regarding the ruining of the temper. Some materials did a little better than others, but at best you are looking at low 50's on the Rockwell C scale.
I sell alot of blued blades to guys who don't grind their own blades and request them, but I stopped bluing the blades on my own knives when I conducted that experiment.
I sell alot of blued blades to guys who don't grind their own blades and request them, but I stopped bluing the blades on my own knives when I conducted that experiment.