Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

[Charles W. Mood]

Gents,
I have decided to blue my P53 enfield bayonet but held off when I realized I didn't know how to address the top flat of the bayonet. Do I blue straight across to the other two sides where it is easy to tell where it should be blued and what should not (i.e. a straight line across), or do I follow the lines of the bayonet so that the unblued portion forms a curved "V" torwards the socket on the top flat? Alas, I wish I could draw a picture to explain this better, but if you look at your bayonet it may become clearer...

I don't have an original to examine and the pictures of originals for sale on the internet or referenced in books have not given me the information I seek.

Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated.

Charles W. Mood
115th New York Infantry

[Jimmayo]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Here is one.

[Charles W. Mood]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Jim
Thanks, but I need to see the the top of the bayonet (exact opposite of the view you provided). Your view shows me the side where it is easy to tell where to blue.

Charles W. Mood

[Jimmayo]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

This is from memory, the blue goes straight across the flat and joins with the other two sides.

[FlaYankee]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Charles;
check this link to Geoff Waldens excellent research article. Then scroll down and there is a nice picture of an original Enfield bayonet.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1864/enf/enfauth.htm

Kindest Regards;

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

You will want to blue the socket right up to the "shoulder", keeping the bluing off the blade and below the ricasso. The bluing would ideally be done through a cold rust process to match the barrel in appearance and sheen, if you have the patience to do so. There is a "Recipe for Cold Rust Bluing" in The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (Watchdog Publications 2006). If not, at least warm the bayonet to 250 degrees in the oven and holding it in an oven mitt, quench it with the over the counter chemical bluing agent, the way you might re-blue the repro barrel bands.

It is surprising that:

1. The repro bayonets do not come this way (if not from India, at least from the vendor).
2. And that more Enfield enthusiasts do not perform this easy accuracy modification themselves.

And when you are finished, be sure to put the bayonet in the proper type scabbard with the correct frog for your impression, another much overlooked aspect of using an Enfield bayonet in a US Civil War impression.

[Charles W. Mood]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Craig
You've outlined exactly my course of action after reading the Watchdog's " The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy - Lock, Stock and Barrel". I have already purchased some Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown and Degreaser for use on my barrel, but I wanted to try it out on my bayonet first. My issue is that I do not know how to address the top side of my triangular bayonnet. The bottom two sides of the triangular bayonet are pretty much self explainatory as there is a sure dividing line from the rounded "elbow" to the flat side of the bayonet. For the top side, which is not clearly defined, would I just connect the other two sides with a straight line ( It appears that way on page 67 (upper right hand picture) of your book referenced above, or do I follow the curvature of the blade as it tranistions from a flat blade to a round elbow. If that is the case, then the transition from plain metal to blued area would form a shallow curved "V" shape pointing torwards the socket. I'm looking at an original blade for this, not a reproduction, so I would like to get this right...

Charles W. Mood
115th New York Volunteer Infantry

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

I have two P-53 BSAT originals with extant blue remaining, though both sockets are now "plum" and the bluing is straight across the shoulder on both. In other words do not follow the curve of the blood groove on what you call the "top" side. Picture this, if the bayonet is sitting in the scabbard the part of the socket showing would be blued and the part that is inside the scabbard is left bright. Use a piece of masking tape all the way around the shoulder to maintain a straight line.

I hope the instructions in "A Recipe for Cold Rust Bluing" from The Civil War Musket are reasonably clear? It is sometimes harder to describe things that are not really difficult with the part in hand. The finish is slow going requiring some patience as it's a rust process building up over time, and the heat converting the ferric oxide (rust) to ferrous oxide is what produces that deep blue/black coloration. Remember this is a "rubber gloves" project at all times from start to finish. Just keep at it until you get the color you want.

[Todd Watts]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

One problem you will have with "cold blues" is they require the metal polish to have some "grit" to hold and work on. You have to polish them to about 320 grit to get decent results. Emory paper lubed with kerosene works best this way. Wheels don't seem to leave the metal rough enough even with 320 grit compound. On the many curves and angles of the bayonet, this hand-polishing is difficult to do evenly.

When I blue them, I salt-bath blue them. To keep the blue off the blade, I wrap thick rubber tape around the blade at the edge of the socket's shoulder, which is where the originals were blued to as well from the examples I have looked at. My salts bath allows me to keep the polish level that they come with and still get good results.

[wmkane]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Todd,

Would you mind sharing what blueing salts you use? Brand or method?


Thanks,
Bill Kane

When I blue them, I salt-bath blue them. To keep the blue off the blade, I wrap thick rubber tape around the blade at the edge of the socket's shoulder, which is where the originals were blued to as well from the examples I have looked at. My salts bath allows me to keep the polish level that they come with and still get good results.

[Todd Watts]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Salts are from Brownells, specifically their Oxynate No7 brand. I have had to add their "S" solution to 1 tank to allow me to get a deeper blue on the cast parts I run across like the Enfield bands, and some bayonets. For a hot rust blue, I have found that Belgian Blue works very well, but as with the other rust blues, cold or hot, it requires a coarser grit polish like 320 to work. This means you get a deep black tone, but simply cannot get a semi-gloss tone like you can with a finer polish grit and salts. This is actually perfect for de-farbing because they used slow rust methods back then as well so they could never have achieved the gloss black that the modern repros come off the shelf with. Only charcoal bluing back then could achieve this gloss, and this method actually leaves the metal with a blue tint in the black. But this is only practical with smaller parts like the handguns. A musket barrel was simply too large to do this on a regular basis.

There are many little tricks that various parts require, and I'd be hard-pressed to share them all because I don't think about them unless I am working on a part requiring a trick. I was doing 2 bayos and some Enfield parts (Mr. Barry's to be exact) last night and had to fire up 3 tanks to do them. The bayos and smaller Enfield parts went into the soap tank and then into the salt bath at 295F. The barrel was soaped and then slow hot rust blued in the boiling water tank. From start to finish it took me 4 hrs last night. It is not a cheap proposition for the occasional bluer to fool with on my level. The only reason I can do what I do with the de-farb work is that I already had these tanks and skills from regular gunsmithing work.

[Enfield]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Charles,

If I understand the question right, either bluing pattern is correct to the period. That is, you can have the line of bluing go straight across the flat of the blade from the shoulders at the end of the neck, or you can make it so that none or very little of the blade itself is blued (which produces sort of a V in the bluing). Of the thirty or so original P53 bayonets that I have seen still with their original bluing on, there was a mix of both. There was not an exact set pattern (as with many other things "Enfield"). Certainly, the easiest thing is just carry the line straight across.

Hope this helps,

Geoff Walden

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Blueing the Enfield Bayonet Question

Whatever method you use to blue the socket, and however you handle that part of the blade nearest the shoulder (I think the consensus is that it would be best to go straight across), performing this simple modification will greatly improve your overall impression.

This is a great example of an easy and inexpensive historical feature improvement.