Blue steel screws

[Daniel MaierParticipant @danielmaier47990]

Does anyone know where to get some blue steel screws, like the ones watchmakers use in BA 10 ? I know there is plenty of instructions on YouTube how to make them, but I need quite a few and therefore try to get them ready made?

[Daniel MaierParticipant @danielmaier47990]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hello Daniel,

Welcome to the forum. I think the reason there are so many 'how to' guides is because they are so hard to buy.

Most clockmakers would say commercial screws are too rough and ready and want to polish them up before bluing as well.

Neil

[Steve CrowParticipant @stevecrow46066]

Hi Daniel

If you want to blue your own screws – which you will probably have to – you will have to find plain steel screws ie. non stainless/ zinc plated. This can be tricky.

If you are looking for cheesehead, by far the best steel BA screws I've found are from Macc Models.

I recently had to polish and blue around 40 12BA screws. It really didn't take that long. Although not quite watchmakers quality, I'm very pleased with the result. I have to do another 40 soon.

How many screws do you need to do?

If you're interested, I can tell you how I did it and maybe post some photos.

Cheers

Steve

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

Check out Clickspring's You Tube videos. He makes the screws from scratch, then polishes and blues them. You can probably start with commercial screws and use Clickspring's technique for polishing and blueing them.

[vintagengineerParticipant @vintagengineer]

Removing zinc plating is really easy. You need to make a saturated solution of white vinegar and table salt. Then drop your nuts and bolts into the solution overnight, then they come out nice and clean!

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

don't step on them

[Daniel MaierParticipant @danielmaier47990]

Thanks for your replays, I think I will end up blue this little screws myself, or go to a watchmaker to blue them for me.

[Author]

Posts