Hollywood Dies Black Coating?

[beeser]

What is the black/dark blue coating on Hollywood dies? Is it possible to have it redone on dies that have light rust?

[ReloaderFred]

I have two sets of Hollywood dies, and neither of them is coated with anything. They're plain steel. The one set of .30-06 dies came with my Hollywood Senior when I bought it used in 1963. They don't look like they've ever had a coating on them....

For rusted tools, I've found that Evapo-Rust is a good product. It removes the rust, but nothing else, and it's water based. Here's a link to their page: https://www.evaporust.com/evapo-rust-rust-remover

Hope this helps.

Fred

[dudel]

Maybe someone just blued them.

[winelover]

My Hollywood Senior Turret came with a blued set of 12 guage dies. All the outer accouterments were also.147080147081

Winelover

[beeser]

winelover - So that's bluing and not some other treatment like black oxide? Also, what are the 4 dies on the turret? One of my Hollywoods only has 3 including the tallest one shown.

[ReloaderFred]

If I remember correctly, the Hollywood Shotgun Reloader our department had may have had blued dies. The last time I saw it was about 1980, and my memory may be foggy. Is it possible the shotgun dies were blued and the metallic dies weren't?

Just wondering.

Fred

[williamwaco]

Many years ago some of the upscale dies were blued. At the time, I couldn't afford them. Never remember black ones but there may have been some.

[winelover]

winelover - So that's bluing and not some other treatment like black oxide? Also, what are the 4 dies on the turret? One of my Hollywoods only has 3 including the tallest one shown.

Press belonged to my BIL's father who was killed in a motorcycle accident in the early 70's. He only loaded 12 gauge shot shells, hence all the holes require bushings for metallic cartridges. I have never loaded a shotshell in 40 years of reloading. So, your guess is as good as mine.......maybe one of the other owners of Hollywoods will chime in. Pictures were from back when I received the press.

Winelover

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have a few Hollywood dies; they are all bare metal.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Could have been blued or black oxide. Depending on the type and hardness of the metal, black oxide can go anywhere from black to purple to dark blue. It also depends on how long the part is left in the Oxide tank.

Observe the turret on Winelover's Hwood Senior Turret in post #4. Purple?

Randy

[Tracvision]

I have noticed that the shotgun dies were blued/ black oxide and the metallic reloading dies were unfinished. This seems to have been the case since the beginning. I have seen the shotgun dies chemically stripped and then re-blued before. They appear very appealing when redone.

[flashhole]

My Hollywood 45-70 dies have a black coating. I just assumed they were rust blued and boiled.

[David2011]

Could have been blued or black oxide. Depending on the type and hardness of the metal, black oxide can go anywhere from black to purple to dark blue. It also depends on how long the part is left in the Oxide tank.

Observe the turret on Winelover's Hwood Senior Turret in post #4. Purple?

Randy


The purple color can also be caused by conventional salts getting too hot, over 315 degrees F (normal temp is 292 degrees). Brownell's calls it bluing; Du-Lite calls it Black Oxide. Same thing. There are also room temperature black oxide kits on the market now but those are not the same as hot bluing/black oxide. Several years ago I got a 1911 that had a purple slide. After re-polishing and re-bluing it was a deep black.

David

[winelover]

winelover - So that's bluing and not some other treatment like black oxide? Also, what are the 4 dies on the turret? One of my Hollywoods only has 3 including the tallest one shown.

BIL came down to Arkansas for a visit. He seemed to think that the reason for the fourth die is that one is the final crimping die and the third is the initial crimp. Last time he used them, was in the early 70's, when he was a whole lot younger.:grin: Upon examination of the interior of the dies, the stems seem to reflex that.