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black oxide carriage bolts with smooth head?
jasonbar:
Keep in mind that some black oxide bolts end up rusting & looking terrible--I'm not sure what the factors are: humidity, abrasion, quality of coating...?
Just something to keep in mind.
-Jason
MaximRecoil:
If you can't find them, you can always make them yourself. Raised text or markings on the heads can be removed by putting the bolt in a drill like you would a drill bit, and spin the head against sandpaper. Start with course sandpaper and then go finer until you get the smoothness you want.
Black oxide is also known as "bluing" (mainly in the gun industry), and there are a couple of ways of accomplishing that. The easiest way to do it yourself is to get some "cold blue" like is used for touching up the blued finish on a gun. The best cold blue solution is Oxpho-Blue from Brownell's - link.
Hot salt blue is more durable and is the way it is done professionally. This isn't very practical to set up at home, but a local gunsmith may be willing to drop some bolts in the tank for you while bluing a gun or something.
Bluing/black oxide takes on the smoothness of the metal it is applied too, so you can control what it will look like by prepping the metal. You can get anything from a deep polished shine to a course matte black finish. For bolts, I think somewhere in between looks right, i.e., a satin black finish. Satin black is how most factory black oxide bolts that came on arcade machines were.
whammoed:
--- Quote from: MaximRecoil on September 25, 2009, 09:10:10 pm ---
Black oxide is also known as "bluing" (mainly in the gun industry), and there are a couple of ways of accomplishing that. The easiest way to do it yourself is to get some "cold blue" like is used for touching up the blued finish on a gun. The best cold blue solution is Oxpho-Blue from Brownell's - link.
--- End quote ---
I've done this and was unhappy with it. It is definitely inferior to a true black oxide plating. If it comes down to it I will have some done professionally, or source the bolts and offer them for sale on my website.
whammoed:
--- Quote from: jasonbar on September 25, 2009, 08:26:30 pm ---Keep in mind that some black oxide bolts end up rusting & looking terrible--I'm not sure what the factors are: humidity, abrasion, quality of coating...?
Just something to keep in mind.
-Jason
--- End quote ---
True under the right conditions it will rust, but I have had machines where everything has rusted: painted, powder coated, zinc plated, etc. When it comes to bolt heads I prefer black oxide.
MaximRecoil:
--- Quote from: whammoed on September 25, 2009, 09:23:03 pm ---
I've done this and was unhappy with it. It is definitely inferior to a true black oxide plating. If it comes down to it I will have some done professionally, or source the bolts and offer them for sale on my website.
--- End quote ---
You used "cold blue"? If so, what brand did you use? When I say that Oxpho-Blue is the best, I mean that it is the best by a significant margin. However, hot salt bluing is superior to even the best cold blue of course, and that is a true black oxide finish; it is the way manufacturers and gunsmiths do it (cold blue is a true black oxide finish too, it is just not the best application method).
Is there a gunsmith in your area? If you want to sell them, I would imagine you could get a bunch of them blued for not all that much money. A typical handgun is about 3 pounds and isn't terribly expensive for a basic blue job; 3 pounds worth of carriage bolts is a lot.
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