This goes out to the metalheads in the FWW community…
I’m having trouble locating machinist’s bluing to buy. I’ve tried the google and the ebay without any success.
I don’t need much, just a small can – enough to keep in the shop when I want to do the initial lap on the bottom of an old user plane. I’ve always used a Sharpie, but I’d like to try covering a larger surface a little quicker.
Any leads would be appreciated.
Replies
Here you go. Link
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Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
~ Denis Diderot
Original Poster here.DGREEN, Great! Funny enough even though I was going to place an order for them for something else over the weekend, I had no clue they sold the layout dye. I've never seen it in their catalog. Thanks for the heads up...Edited 2/26/2009 12:42 pm ET by Woodworking101
Edited 2/26/2009 12:43 pm ET by Woodworking101
Many items they only list on line, printing and franking costs being what they are. Other stuff is store only and yet other stuff still is only in the warehouse.They stock some limited items, too small for listing but needed by locals on a regular basis. Call Henry with a specific need, you might be surprised. I needed some rust paper for plane wrapping - they didn't "stock" it, but they had reams of it in back. Not a booster, just an old client.Boiler
You need to look at machinists supply sources.
http://www.mcmaster.com http://www.use-enco.com http://www.wttool.com
http://www.mscdirect.com
Another option is to use a 1/2" wide tip felt marker.
I believe the gunsmith supply company Brownells sells it they have a website as well as a huge catalog. Nice people and great screwdrivers.
Troy
Last time I bought a tube (tends to last a long time) it was at the local auto parts store.
Seal and 101:
There are two different forms of this stuff and since seal mentioned the word "tube" I suspect he means the thick greasy stuff which is used to highlight proud/tight/uneven areas-and is the right stuff for using with a surface plate when you want to locate the high and low spots on ye olde plane bottombe, or want to mate surfaces closely together.
The other stuff is like ink (well it is ink), is liquid and I think the main ingredient is meths or similar plus the blue dye.This is what you scribe on. It is not reliable for lapping purposes, neither is the Sharpie- and that is all I am saying because there will be a bun fight orchestrated by those who have been using it in this way.
However, since the lapping of most plane soles is more an exercise of deception rather than accuracy of an engineering standard, what I have said could just be taken as six of one and half a dozen of the other.
I am off to Cuba now, or wherever the new rendition venue is located.Philip Marcou
Someone in the Neanderthal forum at SawMillCreek.org wrote some lengthy articles with lots of pictures on restoring user planes and chisels. He advocated one specific bluing agent - Brownells Oxpho-Blue (http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/productdetail.aspx?p=1072).
I was so impressed I bought some, but I've never used it so I cannot offer any verification. HTH.
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
Those little containers of the thin dye tend to separate and turn useless after a few years. I would get the smallest container possible. Also comes in aerosol ( haven't used that yet ).
Aerosol makes me think I am about to inhale vaporized cobalt blue and die. Pun sort of intended.
The cool guys that fit precision ways on metal machining tools use the thick stuff like Philip said. Then rather than sand they use scrapers that they push like chisels. I have no hands on but there are some old articles in Home Shop Machinist or Machinist's Workshop magazines. They are refining a broaching machine.
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 2/28/2009 6:43 am by roc
Rocky,
The aerosol stuff is useless and expensive-not good for repeated small applications but okay to cover large areas. Don't bother with it.Philip Marcou
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