Gun Blue ... goes bad???

I have some bottles of gun blue ... 4 different brands ... that I haven't touched in a while ...

I took them down tonight to do some cold blue "touch ups" ... and I noticed ... that they went ... I guess ... BAD?

I have two bottles of Clean bore Black Magic ... both were bought at the same time ... One is clear ... the other is light blue ... but it has some "crystals" in the bottom of the jar ... like something settled out and became hard.

The big bottle of Brownells Oxpho-Blue, Birchwood Perma Blue, and Van's Instant Gun Blue all have gone brown and rusty looking ... when I open it up and take some out ... there is a brown ... something ... like rusty particles ... floating in it ... every bottle.



Does this stuff have a "shelf life"?


I went ahead and used it on a couple of spots that nobody would see ... It looks like it still works ... It hasn't eaten anything away.


...yet.

T

Just had an idea ... I have a bottle of Birchwood Aluminum Black.

Its done the same thing.

???

T

Did you contaminate them somehow? I have a two year old bottle of Oxpho Blue that is still the same semi-clear light blue color and it's going on two years old despite having less than a 1/4th of the bottle left.

It seems weird that they are all that way. Something must be up.

Are they somewhere near other chemicals that might be somehow reacting or in some extreme temperature area?

Are they somewhere near other chemicals that might be somehow reacting or in some extreme temperature area?

Come to think of it ... that might be it.

While I was moving from NFJ to NoGa this stuff did get stored for a while in a non-temp controlled warehouse. I bet they did go through a couple of cycles of extreme temps ... heat AND cold.


They are all in their original containers ... the lids were tight ... nothing seems to have evaporated or leaked. I've never mixed this stuff with anything.

One of the bottles of Black Magic, the one with the crystals at the bottom, had never been opened.

Hot and cold probably did it.


T

A call or email to the tech department at Brownells should get you an answer, 641-623-5401, 800-741-0015.

One thing that has worked for me is to never insert anything in the bottle except a clean q-tip. If i need to redip, I use a new q-tip.

One thing that has worked for me is to never insert anything in the bottle except a clean q-tip. If i need to redip, I use a new q-tip.

I only use Q-tips ... but never thought redipping could be a problem. Thinking about it ... I guess its a good idea not to redip.

One way or the other ... I never dipped anything into the unopened bottle. That's the one with the crystals at the bottom.

Its gotta be the heat/cold cycles. Were they were they probably got cold enough to almost freeze.

All of them ARE old too. I bought them when I was up in NFJ. Thats almost 6 years now.

I wouldn't have thought this stuff would go bad ...

Don't mean much ... its cheap enough. Just curious is all.

I was gonna toss it ... but have thought better of that ... I HATE wasting anything.

I've tried it on some nail sets and old punches, chisels and some jigs and tools I've made ... it seems to work OK ...

I'll probably just strain it all into one glass bottle ... and keep using it on tools and stuff I don't much care about ... but don't want to rust.

I'll get a new bottle for touch ups.

T

I can speculate that the crystallization could be from a saturated solution undergoing temperature changes, but I haven't experienced it. I have had it turn color on me and drop rusty sediment when I double-dipped.