A Question of Water

[Theditchman]

I have been slow bluing rifles and pistols with great success for the last year and I have always boiled in distilled water but now with the corona virus I found a dire shortage of it

I have a water softener on my house and I was wondering if tap water treated and soft would be the same thing.Does anyone know if it will work the same as distilled water
Thanks

[fiberoptik]

Maybe rain water [emoji97]??


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[Greg S]

What about Reverse Osmosis water. I thought that was supposed to remove everything. Well, I. A time of need, you can always make it.

[rancher1913]

just make your own distilled water.

[waksupi]

I use steam, with plain tap water. Just finished another barrel, came out beautiful. I'm using a section of stove pipe sitting in a pot of boiling water, sheet metal cover with wire hooks to hold barrels. You only need an inch or so of water. Screws and such can be hung on a string from another hook. 20 minutes does it.

[mooman76]

Do you have a dehumidifier? Basically distilled water.

[Theditchman]

Some good ideas....Waksupi...do you think you could take and publish a cpl of pics of your rig...thanks

[Gaseous Maximus]

I use steam, with plain tap water. Just finished another barrel, came out beautiful. I'm using a section of stove pipe sitting in a pot of boiling water, sheet metal cover with wire hooks to hold barrels. You only need an inch or so of water. Screws and such can be hung on a string from another hook. 20 minutes does it.
Interesting. I have a friend who does basically the same thing and his jobs are beautiful.

[Theditchman]

I'm definitely interested in using that method

[sharps4590]

Your soft water is going to have salt in it. Basically a water softner just swaps a salt molecule for a calcium molecule, as I understand it. It definitely isn't distilled. Distilled should have no minerals in it, right?

[LAGS]

Lucky I had bought a few gallons of water weeks ago ,(not because of the virus) , but just because I have a bunch of barrels to blue.
But my wife works in a grocery store , and I can find out when more water is coming in, ( plus her employee discount ).
But my Tap water in Az seems to be Ok for everything but the last two boilings if you pay attention and look for spotting and lightly buf it out right after boiling.
But if the supply of distilled water dries up completely, I will make a Still out of an old pot and some tubing.

[mazo kid]

I have always used water from our dehumidifier. I have several gallons saved up. Might have to try the steam method though.

[waksupi]

Some good ideas....Waksupi...do you think you could take and publish a cpl of pics of your rig...thanks

My computer is down at the time. Do a search, I think I posted it before.

[LAGS]

Just a suggestion.
We Boil the distilled water when we are Rust Bluing.
I might try putting a Cover over my boiling tank that has a tube that leads out to a Condensing coil that drips into a container to collect the boiled off water.
That way you can collect the steam and reuse it.
That will cut your cost on the water , or save you from having to go look for more water.
You are already using the energy to boil the water , so why not use that same energy weather it be Gas or Electricity to collect up what you are boiling off.

[LIMPINGJ]

http://www.rustblue.com/about/instructions/
Good description here.

[Theditchman]

waksupi....how many times do you rust and steam a barrel? I do mine 6 to 10 times

[Winger Ed.]

If you have a old school pressure cooker, and some tubing or hose to condense the steam, you can make your own distilled water.

[waksupi]

waksupi....how many times do you rust and steam a barrel? I do mine 6 to 10 times

That's about where I end up. I did have one recently that was good after four, but that is unusual.

[LAGS]

I rust my barrels at least 4 times just to get them blued evenly.
But I have to do them at least 6 times to get a Good Finish.

[lrdg]

Air Conditioner water.

[Wayne Smith]

Google a woodworker's steam bending box. It's much the same thing.