[SEL] More on Parkerizing, bluing, blacking, & browning iron

[John Culp]

> If you want to try out the blacking solution you can make up a
> quarter of a cup in an iron tin can like a Campbell’s soup can (not
> aluminum!) using a tablespoon of lye and a like amount of potassium
> nitrate (saltpeter)

And the easiest way to get potassium nitrate (which has been severely 
restricted in availability by the homeland-security types) is to go to 
a farm store and look for stump remover. Pure potassium nitrate, it 
fertilizes the bacteria and fungi that rot wood when you sprinkle it on 
a stump. Potassium or sodium nitrate is preferable to ammonium nitrate 
for the hot "bluing" because it produces little noxious fumes, but the 
first two have been restricted because of their utility in making black 
powder (and ammonium nitrate sales are more closely scrutinized these 
days, too.)

I think it's a sad day for America that our governments (states and 
localities are in on it, too) are widely restricting access to 
legitimate materials that MIGHT be misused by someone with criminal 
intent. (Either by legislative action, or simply by having detectives 
go around to stores to "enlist their voluntary cooperation in fighting 
the drug menace.") It's being done with pseudoephedrine, lye, muriatic 
acid, paint thinner, denatured alcohol, ammonia solutions stronger than 
the weak household ammonia, and anhydrous ammonia. All of these can be 
used in making "meth," but not everybody buying them is making "meth." 
But the current presumption is that you're an illegal drug manufacturer 
until proven otherwise.

John Culp
Bristol, Tennessee, USA