I am putting the interior of my 533 back together and was short a couple of the black screws that will have their heads exposed. Instead of painting, I decided to try to 'Blue' them. The results are outstanding.
The one at the top is the untreated, brand new #8 x 5/8" screw. The one on the right is an original screw from the car for comparison. The other six are freshly treated / blued. Not only the right color, but bluing helps reduce corrosion.
The basic formula is:
4 Tablespoons Peroxide
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
1 Teaspoon non-iodized Salt
Distilled water.
Really? I've always just painted them, sometimes with light sanding, but you can't get in the phillips head, and paint chips off. I take it bluing is a chemical process vaguely like anodizing and is more rugged than paint and doesn't chip?
Mike W. wrote: Jan 04, 2024 9:03 PM
Really? I've always just painted them, sometimes with light sanding, but you can't get in the phillips head, and paint chips off. I take it bluing is a chemical process vaguely like anodizing and is more rugged than paint and doesn't chip?
Yes, a chemical reaction to the surface of the steel. So, nothing to chip. Per the video, you do it a couple cycles, which I think I ended up doing maybe 5 or 6, but it only took about 20 minutes tops, and I was multi-tasking. Even after watching the video, I was skeptical, but it worked perfectly. I think the key is to clean them well with brake cleaner before starting. I didnt do this, and it took a couple cycles to start things working due to stuff on the surface of the screws.
You can also use cold gun blue, it comes in a little plastic bottle and can be found at gun shops and probably many sporting goods stores. A third method for bluing metal parts is to heat them red hot and then dip them in motor oil, although I'm not sure how this would affect the strength of a screw. Note that cold bluing isn't necessarily impervious to corrosion...in a protected environment (like inside a car) it should be pretty durable but may require periodic reapplication and oiling.
I know process names aren't necessarily exactly what they do, but I see the term bluing and think, blue. Actually my first thought was Dykem blue, great stuff when you need it, but even as many weird projects as I do I don't keep it on hand.
But this, the picture looks black. What color is it? Black, very, very dark blue, or what?
I would say they are black. For reference, I had the six new ones and the original, and I accidentally mixed them up before taking the picture. I had to look at the way the phillips cross was cut to figure out which was the original. So, if you think the original interior screws are black, then these are black.
