Thermal Bluing Steel Watch Hands

Flame bluing, also known as heat bluing or thermal bluing, is a traditional watchmaking technique for treating steel parts, such as hands and screws. Nowadays, these hands and screws can be industrially blued by heating them in an oven en masse or through chemical means. That's no fun. In this video, I'll show you how to blue a set of steel watch hands step by step with a naked flame - the way it's been done traditionally.

(Of course if we have to be historically accurate, we'd be using an alcohol lamp - but a gas torch is more convenient and doesn't affect our appreciation of flame bluing)

Bluing is a delicate process influenced by many factors. We'll go through each factor and detail what to do and what to avoid. By the end of this video, you should be well equipped to heat blue your own set of blue hands.

P.S. The exact temperature for bluing depends on the steel alloy composition. The chart shown in the video is based on the steel hands included in our kit. If you're bluing something else, the temperature needed may be different.

Key content timestamps:
▶ 00:00 - Introduction
▶ 00:31 - What is flame bluing
▶ 02:08 - Setup
▶ 03:14 - Preliminary practice: applying heat evenly
▶ 03:58 - Hand Preparation part 1: surface finish
▶ 04:30 - Hand Preparation part 2: hygiene
▶ 05:13 - Heating
▶ 08:34 - Creative use of flame bluing

Watchmaking tools/equipment required for this video:
▶Flame bluing kit : https://shop.diywatch.club/collection...

Related videos:
▶Watch hand installation Part 1 Hour and Minute:    • Watch hand installation detailed guid...  
▶Watch hand installation Part 2 Second hand:    • Watch hand installation detailed guid...  

Join us to explore the possibilities of at-home watchmaking! We are working on everything from assembling/modding watches, regulating movements, and even bluing your own steel watch hands at home!
▶At-home watchmaker's shop: https://shop.diywatch.club/
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Happy watchmaking!