Blued dies

[troyboy]

Why do suppose no one blues dies anymore? The thought to blue mine while working them over has been an idea for a while now. What are your opinions?

[EDG]

I think the RCBS dark toned dies are much better looking than the bright dies. It might be silly but color case hardened dies would look really cool. My favorites though are a set of Eagle dies that were painted with some sort of chemical resistant flat OD green. They look like some sort of military hardware.

[Bayou52]

My oldest die set is a Redding 30-06. Probably 40 years old. It's blued. All others are not.

Bayou52

[country gent]

My mecham bushing sizing die and 40-65 rcbs cowboy die set are case hardened finish.

[rpludwig]

all my dies are RCBS, in good shape, i keep em oiled, with the exception of a few Herters which I recently unearthed after 50 years...they're chromed, and still in like new condition...maybe George was onto something!

[T-Man]

I have a black iron pot that I mix up a dose of Brownells bluing salts in and hang all my dies on wire wrapped on a dowel and run them through the bath. Then a final dip in an oil bath.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Sending a batch to the plating house for Black Oxide treatment would be a good way to deal with this issue. I would recommend the plater use Wax Dip as the final operation as opposed to oil dipped.

Waxing black oxided parts is a far superior anti corrosion treatment than oiling them. It lasts a lot longer and it isn't greasy to the touch and you don't get oil on everything.

Randy

[T-Man]

Excellent idea...I got me a project for tomorrow now :)

Sending a batch to the plating house for Black Oxide treatment would be a good way to deal with this issue. I would recommend the plater use Wax Dip as the final operation as opposed to oil dipped.

Waxing black oxided parts is a far superior anti corrosion treatment than oiling them. It lasts a lot longer and it isn't greasy to the touch and you don't get oil on everything.

Randy

[fguffey]

I have chisels that have been blued, I have Texan dies that are black with a flat finish, no rust. I have Lee dies that that were given to me by someone near Dulac. I ask why. He said it was all about sleep, he said on cool humid nights he could not sleep because of all the noise the Lee dies made when rusting.

F. Guffey

[troyboy]

F. Guffey that is the quite humorous. Will get a chuckle for a long time to come. I would prefer some sleep as well, hence the question.