Question: Gold plaiting/Bluing

[golden forge]

I have a project in mind, and for something different, after engraving I have been thinking plaiting the removed background in 24k. The pice would be engraved on mild steel, so I was thinking after the plaiting hot bluing it so all of the high areas would be dark blue. I was thinking it would kinda have a negative type look to it. :thinking:
So here is the question, does anyone do this and does it work, or does the Nitrate bluing take the plaiting off during the hot bath?
Does it sound doable, or am I looking at starting a war I'm not gonna win? :beatup: If this topic has been covered in the past, please forgive me, and I'll keep looking.
David.

 

[jpatter]

I am not sure about the bluing, but you will have to pre plate the piece with a special plating for the gold to stick. You might could mask off the area with the bluing then plate.

Jpatter

 

[Chapi]

I have nitre blued mild steel with gold inlay and there wasn't any trouble, but I can't advise on whether plating would act different.

 

[rod]

David,

If you look at some of my posts, I cover gilding flare cut with 24 k gold plating. Essentially since all cuts are below sea level, one could think of this being gilding of the lower level. I published the technique in the Engraver mag.

That was gilding of silver. You will be seeking to plate an alloy of the element, iron and carbon ... steel, and my first guess is that blue-ing would be a complication, however a few practice cuts on steel will let you know what will or will not work. Gold needs copper plating of the steel first, and a nickel light plate before gold plating, as this , on silver anyway, is recommended as a firewall to prevent gold atoms migrating off the surface and going deep.

I will stand corrected by those of us with more direct experience of gilding steel ...

best

Rod

 

[Roger Bleile]

David,

I think your idea will work. It is quite common for commemorative firearms to be decorated with selective gold plating then hot blued. Often the purchaser thinks they are buying a gun that has flush gold inlay but the gold is only on the surface and could be easily worn off but for the fact that commemorative guns are almost always kept as "safe queens." To accomplish your objective, after completing the engraving and background removal, you could gold plate the entire gun then polish the plating off the top surfaces, like Rod does, then hot blue. The only problem with that would be that any shading cuts will also hold the gold plating which may or may not look good against the blued scroll.

Here is a link to a 175th Anniversary Colt SAA done in the style I referenced above: http://www.coltsmfg.com/Portals/0/panels/Colt-175th.pdf

Roger

 

[golden forge]

Thanks all,
Rod, I looked up your post and it was definitely along the lines of what I was thinking, sadly I do not get the engraver mag yet .
I have the copper and nickel solutions to go under the gold so thats not a problem. I do some plaiting of small gun parts for a couple of friends who are gunsmiths, mainly screw sets, triggers, that sort of thing, so luckily its given me a little experience trying to get the stuff to stick .

Roger, Iv'e not quite convinced myself to start cutting guns yet, Still have that fear of "oops,,,oh S**T now what" so it would be something a bit smaller to start. I do think your advice about shading cuts is something for me to ponder about. Maybe engrave the pattern, plait, shade, and then blue? I see more practice plates and experiments in my future. :thinking:
David.

 

[Roger Bleile]

David,

I was think that you wanted to do this technique on spurs, buckles, or something along those lines. Your avatar made me think you are a bit and spur man.

Roger

 

[Marrinan]

Roger, Your a very knowledgeable fellow in the gun embellishment business. Have you any idea on the process that this selective plating goes through in the "factory engraved" commemoratives. Do you suppose they are laser or acid cut, filled with copper (fused or amalgam) , then maybe pen plated? Might they be laser or acid outlined cut or even CNC then just pen plated. Colt seems to truly trying to create a real collector piece in limiting the production run.

I know that most of these don't hold their value. Most sell on the secondary for less that a plain SAA or long gun. I know that if they are even removed from original packaging the value tanks. Seems to me that there is a gun embellisher in Rapid City who specializes in creating these type firearms for counties, clubs etc. and wondered if you had any idea about the process. Thanks for any insight you might want to share. Fred

 

[golden forge]

Roger,
For my career I have been a jeweler, however when the price of gold went up, my customer base went down, and thats when I decided to start learning to use my gravers for something other than setting stones. At this point I have expanded into making Vaquero/Cowboy silver,engraving shift knobs for hotrods, still trying to create some fine jewelry, making items for medieval re-creators, and even braiding rawhide when I have the time during the winter. I guess like many craftsmen these days, if I have a customer who wants it I'll try to make it. Heck right now I'm getting ready to cast a hollow pendant for a recently widowed long time customer who wants to put some of her husbands ashes in it. It's a little bit morbid in my mind, but hey it's what she wants, and is willing to pay.
I have made a few pairs of spurs and a bit or two along the way , and would like to do more of that sort of thing. I grew up on a small horse ranch, and spade bits and silver kinda stuck with me I guess.
Oh and my avatar is a photo that a cousin-inlaw took of me a few years ago, and my wife and I just thought was a good one.
David

 

[silverchip]

You might be able to mask off the area and engrave,then selectively pen plate it??

 

[golden forge]

Silverchip, I have always used fingernail polish as a mask for plating, would you recommend something different?

 

[silverchip]

Not sure if there is something else, maybe some kind of varnish like used for etching?? Asphaltum varnish thinned out to paint on with a fine paint brush??? I always used FNP fro masking off when using a pen plater but don't know why AV wouldn't work too. I think Barry Hands recently posted a blow by blow on etching and saw a lot of similarities.The other thing to think about is clear scotch tape and a fine point of a scalpel.If you burnished the tape on you certainly have a good enough seal for pen plating.