Lampblack recipe?

[Bucks Owin]

I'd like to know if anybody has a recipe for making lampblack? "Sooting up" my front sights made of steel is done quickly with a Bic lighter but that's not the "hot" setup for sights with colored plastic inserts!

I suppose someone makes it by the bottle, although I can't find any locally. It can't be "too" hard to make is it?

Dennis

[dragonrider]

I think Brownells has something called "sight black"???? In a spay can.

[RayinNH]

Dennis, I'll check tommorrow, I'm pretty sure my father has a box of this stuff that he's had since about the 50's". If so I'll send you a small ziploc bag with some...Ray

[versifier]

Another good option is nail polish. It can be had in white, black, bright red, day-glo orange [smilie=s: , seasick green :veryconfu , or most any other color to meet current conditions. The upside to three daughters. [smilie=1:
I find lamp black is messy and comes off too easily.

[C1PNR]

I've been using a small aerosol can on my front sights for years. The can is about the size of two Bic lighters side by side, and maybe a little taller. Fits in the four-gun Bullseye box just fine. Cleans off with a toothbrush and solvent, or other liquid.

[Bucks Owin]

Dennis, I'll check tommorrow, I'm pretty sure my father has a box of this stuff that he's had since about the 50's". If so I'll send you a small ziploc bag with some...Ray


Hey, that would be much appreciated amigo! I'll be happy to buy some and send you the postage. PM me if you can find it....

Thanks!

Dennis

[RayinNH]

Dennis, I have your lampblack ready to go. I just need you to PM me your mailing address to get it off.


FYI, I wondered why someone would buy a box of soot. According to the box, it's a coloring agent for mortar. If you want mortar joints that are gray to black you just add lampblack. This is more than likely available at a masonry supply shop unless dark mortar joints are no longer in vogue. The box I got it from is at least 50 years old...Ray

[Duckiller]

If you want REAL lampblack, light a kerosene lamp and don't trim the wick, in fact turn it up. Let it burn outside overnight. Will have lots lampblack in the chimney.

[shooter575]

They make a little carbide powered soot maker just for blacking sights.I think they still make them

[Hip's Ax]

Not sure if you'd be able to use a carbide lamp but that what most folks use to blacken their service rifle sights before a high power match. I use to use the Gun Smoke lamp but then I got a Ray-Vin Super Smoker and I gave my Gun Smoke away after I used the Ray-Vin the first time! Very easy to use and its cool!

http://www.ray-vin.com/

http://www.ray-vin.com/gunsight/img/supersmoker.jpg

[Bucks Owin]

As I mentioned in the first post, flames and plastic insert front sights DON'T get along too well! :roll:

Dennis

[Bucks Owin]

If you want REAL lampblack, light a kerosene lamp and don't trim the wick, in fact turn it up. Let it burn outside overnight. Will have lots lampblack in the chimney.

I've got plenty of sooty lamp chimneys. What do you mix the soot WITH to get "paint on" lampblack? [smilie=1:

Oil perhaps?

Dennis

[doc25]

Well I've always used camphor from the drug store. It's a little white square. Just break it apart and leave it in a tin and burn a bit on the top of it. It puts out a really black soot and you won't have to put it too close to your front sight.

[waksupi]

Well I've always used camphor from the drug store. It's a little white square. Just break it apart and leave it in a tin and burn a bit on the top of it. It puts out a really black soot and you won't have to put it too close to your front sight.

If you use camphor, beware of the fumes. Camphor is basically mothballs. The fumes from the melted camphor are very toxic, according to my sister, a nurse practitioner. I learned this, when melting camphor for use in horseshoeing. For some reason, she said she didn't think I could afford any more brain damage.

[KCSO]

I use chimney soot and vaseline and it works fine. I do use a mortar and really pulverize the soot before mixing.

[Ron]

Dennis, I used to use either Birchwood Casey or Remington Site Black. Comes in a spray can and just wipes off. I prefer the Remington when I can get it. Cost about AUD$14.00 over here.

My first preference is a carbide burner ( Gun Smoke lamp ) which when water is added produces acetylene gas. When lit this produces the blackest matt black you will ever see. Great for either front or rear sites. I have a mate who uses carbide black on front sight and one of the spray ons to give him a contrast on black targets.

Regards,

[13Echo]

Way back when I shot for the 4th AD rifle team we blackened sights using a 35 MM film canister (they were aluminum then) and carbide. We punched a hole in the lid put a few rocks of carbide in the can and added a bit of water - rapidly screwed the lid on and lit the gas. Just the right sized flame and boy did it improve the sight picture on an M 14. I'm looking for one. I should have at least one squirreled away somewhere.

Jerry Liles

[Bucks Owin]

Won't these "carbide burners" melt plastic insert front sights? Eg S&W's?

Dennis

[KCSO]

No you are just smoking the sight not cooking it. Go easy and don't have the sight in the flame. I use carbide from the carbide cannons.

[fourarmed]

Another sight smoking trick (not for plastic sights) that can come in handy in a pinch is simply to light a piece of masking tape. It produces a very sooty flame.

[454PB]

Whatsamatter with using a Sharpie or Marks-A-Lot? It can be cleaned off easily with a little Gun Scrubber.

[Dale53]

I MUCH prefer the use of an aerosol sight black. The Sharpie does not do nearly as well. It is too shiny in my opinion. Whereas the aerosol is matt black and doesn't reflect - gives a much better sight picture.

FWIW
Dale53

[NucEm]

After a search i found this link for making your own lampblack:http://www.jcsparks.com/painted/recipes.html#Lampblack
I use my Zippo for the open sights and i dont use the clean fuel, for my taste i use petrol with a few procents oil in it but i dont have any red or white or..whatever inserts (hate them)
In the army on the shooting range we used the patch that we removed any grease and oil from the barel with, and it produced a fine soot thanks to the army grease .
We did a lot of demolition work and we also soon find out that the the plastic explosive (similar to yours c4) produced a fine black smoke when ignited with a lighter:) But nowdays, i have to use my zippo:coffee:

[Finn45]

Simply the best method from the old days is to soot sights with the smoke from burning birch bark. No need to cook the sights with flame, no shine at all, no oily appearance like you might get with zippo's and other fuel burners, just dead black sights fast. No durable of course, but clean it and soot it again when ever necessary. Okay, if you don't have birch wood around it could be a problem... This is one of the oldest mold cavity sooting methods as well.

[Bucks Owin]

You guys....:roll:

I already KNOW soot works good, that's what I use one steel sights, just a plain old match or Bic lighter. I'm hunting for a "paint on" or "spray on" or "rub on" or whatever to get the same flat black appearance on front sights with a PLASTIC insert.

Sharpies, paint etc is way too shiney in bright sunlight....

FLAMES MELT PLASTIC! (As I explained in the first post [smilie=1: )

Dennis :Fire:

[KCSO]

I think you are missing the point you are sooting the sight not cooking it. The flame is way below the sight, if you do it proper you can soot your hand without burning it. Especially with a carbide burner and you get a lot of soot and it rises well. I sooted my M19 red ramp till I shot out the gun and never ruined the sight.

[Bucks Owin]

I think you are missing the point you are sooting the sight not cooking it. The flame is way below the sight, if you do it proper you can soot your hand without burning it. Especially with a carbide burner and you get a lot of soot and it rises well. I sooted my M19 red ramp till I shot out the gun and never ruined the sight.


Hmmmmm....

I have a "melted appearance" on the orange front sight of MY Model 19......

Dennis

[357maximum]

Bowflage

It is a flat removaeable spray paint for bowhunters not wanting to permanently "ugly" their bow up. I used it on a custom recurve for years, it is durable enough to stick, but comes off with mineral spirits real quick. Haven't seen it in awhile, but then again I have not looked either.

[RayinNH]

Dennis, ask mama for one of her mascaras. I just looked at one my wife has. A black stuff in some sort of carrier. It even comes with an applicator brush. Wipes of with a paper towel too...Ray

[Molly]

I'd like to know if anybody has a recipe for making lampblack? "Sooting up" my front sights made of steel is done quickly with a Bic lighter but that's not the "hot" setup for sights with colored plastic inserts!
I suppose someone makes it by the bottle, although I can't find any locally. It can't be "too" hard to make is it? Dennis

Sorry I found this thread so late, but there's a very easy, simple and cheap answer to your problem: Lambplack is a widely used paint colorant, and you can get it by the bag from most any paint mfg if three's one in convenient range of your place. If not, go to the nearest paint store with a little baby food jar (Clean!) and ask the clerk that tints the paint to give you some black tint. You can get it in water base or solvent base. I'd recommend the solvent, but the water is more common. Brush it on with a matchstick. It should dry to a low gloss dead black surface for your sights.

[scrapcan]

if you have an acetylene/oxygen torch setup you have the carbide lamp you need. light the acet, no oxygen, and let it black a small piece of metal. then transfer the soot from metal, either with a carrier or dry, to the sight. but alot of the other methods above are the proper way. I keep threatening to buy a carbide lamp, there are two of them that have never been used and a 1lb can of carbide all for a pretty good price. But then I think, I have the torch in the garage, just collect a little and use that.

[wills]

You can buy it
http://www.naturalpigments.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=480-50S