[CAUT] Tuning Pin Questions

[Ken Zahringer]

Bluing is actually a chemical treatment.  The steel is immersed in a
water-based chemical solution at or near the boiling point.  The hot
solution promotes the chemical reaction, but it isn¹t hot enough for the
heat itself to do anything to the steel.  Look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(steel) for a good description of the
process.

There have been ³cold blue² products on the market for some time.  Gun
owners commonly use them for touch-up.  As I understand it, these products
produce the same chemical reaction on the surface as hot blue, just not as
effectively since they operate at room temperature.  I always figured the
pin blue stuff that Schaff sells was this sort of thing, but I have never
used it.  I have no clue what the heck in on the nickel/blued thread pins.
That¹s a color not found in nature.

Regards,
Ken Z.


On 7/8/08 11:40 AM, "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu> wrote:

> Ah, but is that blue color on the threads of the nickel plated pins actually
> "bluing" or just a dye?Real bluing is a heat treatment, yes? I think we've all
> seen the Wurlitzer style "bluing" (a dye painted on the pins and dripping onto
> coils and sometimes plate), and I remember being able to purchase the stuff
> (probably ink). I am not convinced that tuning pins we get today are ever
> blued (true blued?) after threads are cut. So the treatment is only cosmetic,
> for the part of the pin that sticks out of the block, and doesn't affect the
> threads (hey, I could be wrong, but that color on those threads makes me
> awfully suspicious).
> I used to get some pins from Schaff that actually did seem to be "true blued"
> on the entire surface of the pin after threads were made. The threads were a
> bit deeper than what we get today. I don't know if those are still available.
> 
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
         fssturm at unm.edu

-- 
Ken Zahringer, RPT
University of Missouri
School of Music

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