My 940 deserved better than what was on it, and with my heathen Amish watchmaker being stacked up, I thought I'd try it solo.

How'd I do?

Wow, great job! Did you use a solution, or heat?

Looks too perfect - especially for a first try. Unless you tell eggsactly what you did, I won't believe you did it.

Outstanding job of bluing Eric! You also need to get a proper "spade" seconds hand, something like this.

Ancient Chinese Secret, Mike.

It's idiotically simple - some 12,000-grit emery cloth made by 3M and careful supervision over a small oil lamp. Don't forget to buff out the minute hand hub when you're done with the heat.

Ed, I put the seconds hand back on my Bunn after I blued those too.

Great Job Did you put them in a brass pan to keep the heat even. I guess I'll need to try a few.

Unbelievable. Beautiful hands.

Nicely done!

They're absolutely gorgeous, Eric. Would you mind explaining in more detail how you did it? I assume you used the 3M 12,000 grit emery cloth to polish the hands prior to heating them. How, exactly, did you heat them over the oil lamp? Did you use a pan or something to even out the heat and keep from burning the fine parts? I assume you came back with the 12,000 grit afterward to polish the hub.

I've toyed with the idea of bluing some of my hands for some time, so a step by step how-to would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Great job Eric....you should be proud and they really set both dials off....both are beautiful and really look great!

Everyone will want to send you their watch hands now for re-finishing....are you ready..?

Regards,

Jerry

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes, so bring 'em on, Jerry.

Christopher, you'll have to experiment with heat sources and transference media. My first effort was holding the hand directly over the gas flame on the kitchen stove - too hot, too fast. I tried copper plate, steel wool, and a bed of brass filings in a warming pan over different lamps, lanterns, and flames. The hands cannot be too pitted, or they'll never reflect the light properly. My best advice is thorough polishing, followed by slow heat with lots of babysitting.

Fantastic looking hands Eric. You must have the patience of a saint!
Let us know if you plan to do this as a side to your other endeavors.

You can be my test case, Ed. Send me a couple of pairs in reasonable condition that you can live without in a plastic dial case or something similar and I'd be willing to try.

Where do you find 12,000 grit emery...or did you mean 1,200? Beautiful job.

12,000 is right, Roger. I got it at an auto-parts store that supplied collision shops.

I have done some heat bluing of watch hands in the past. Since I've been involved in glass working for a long time, I have found the kiln to be an excellent tool for this. The one I used has an opening in the front of the fire brick through which the hands, suspended on a thin stainless steel wire, were introduced into the preheated interior. With the aid of a light, the process, which takes place quickly, can be observed and the hands simply removed to room temperature once the desired color is obtained. The few times that I did this, the results were excellent and since the hands don't physically come into contact with anything but evenly heated air, the color of each hand is consistent from the tip to the hole. Another benefit of using a kiln is that the pyrometer gives an accurate reading of the inside temperature. If I remember correctly, the first color you will see is straw which happens at around 625f. Next is deep plumb at around 650, then deep blue at 675. Any hotter and you get light blue, light aqua, and then back to white....at which point you have probably used too much heat! But the process can be repeated by simply re-polishing to bare steel. If you want to try bluing hands yourself over an open flame, listen to Eric and be very patient because if a steel watch hand is severely overheated, irreparable damage will occur and you'll be stuck using a blue Sharpie to give it color.

William

Thanks Eric...also William for the additional info. This is something I'm going to try sometime. The results are very impressive.

Eric,
I went through the few old hands I have and they are rusted and pitted. I do not believe they would clean up very well. But you can bet I will keep your offer in mind for future reference.
Thanks,
Ed

Eric, any chance that you might have befor and after pictures of them?
Thanks,

Regards,
Larry

Sorry, Larry. I didn't think they'd turn out as well as they did so I didn't bother.

I want to do some testing on my own with a kiln to blue some extra hands that I have here, and will post the results soon, but in the meantime, here is a link to someone else's findings. HERE

William

Here is one of the worst hands I could find: a 16s Hamilton hour hand. It was fairly pitted, and I spent about 20 minutes sanding it by hand - no Dremel or buffing wheel.

The second frame shows a decent level of polishing. Admittedly, I could've spent more time, but this was just for a fast show-and-tell.

The final photo shows a usable hand that should pass muster on most watches. The lighting is pretty harsh - just a single filament bulb.

Here's that same hand stapled to a piece of shirt cardboard in the same setup that I would use to photograph watches.

Notice the color through the remaining pitting (which could be removed with further work). This was all done over an open flame.

Well, no matter what tools are used, you simply can't argue with results. Nice job Eric!

William

I sent Eric a set of very rusty hands to see how they would turn out. Hamilton hands are hard to come by, so Eric's work on these is appreciated. A very nice job on a very sorry set of hands.
Thanks Eric!

Before:

After:

Is it correct that instead of "blueing" or oxidizing the above hands, what is being done is the process of "tempering" the metal in these hands which at different temperatures they turn a different shade or color

I am asking because, as usual , I am somewhat confused

Also if the hands are being tempered instead of blued, will the hands be more brittle afterwards

Nice job !!

regards,
bb

Tempering is probably a better term, Buster.