Wyoming Armory Precision Firearms in Cody, Wyoming offers custom bone charcoal color case hardening (color case hardening) for all types of firearms, from vintage 1885 rifles to modern semi-automatic pistols. We supply some of the top firearms manufacturers, gunsmiths and knowledgeble gun owners in the United States and the world with exemplary quality and prompt service at fair prices. Note: not all firearm parts are suitable for color case hardening. Contact co-owner George Dillman directly with any questions.

Color Case Hardening Overview - Video Transcription

My name is George Dillman. I'm one of the co-owners of Wyoming Armory Precision Firearms in Cody, Wyoming. Wyoming Armory is a custom gunsmithing shop where we build custom firearms, but one of our specialities is tradional bone charcoal color case hardening.

From the earliest guns that were made in the 10th century 'til the mid-late 1800s, firearms were made of soft materials out of necessity. Of course the earliest ones were made out of bamboo. Then they began to use bronze, later iron and iron became the accepted norm for metal to build firearms from.

But iron was soft, it was ductile and it was not wear-resistant. So in the 1600s, a process was developed to harden the outer surface of the iron. It was called case hardening. It involved packing the iron in a high carbon material such as charred leather or charcoal, heating the material and iron up. The carbon in the high carbon material would move into the outer surface of the iron and it would turn it into a hard substance or hard case over the soft iron in the middle.

After steels came into common use in the late 1800s, it no longer became necessary to color case harden the firearms. But, because of the traditional vintage look of it, it's in demand today. And, in fact, Wyoming Armory bone charcoal color case hardens Big Horn Armory's Model 89 and Model 90 receivers as well as we do things such as CZ75 pistols, we do 1911s, we've even done a Colt Python, and of course we do bone charcoal color case hardening on restoration projects to restore the original colors on those firearms.

One of the difficulties of color case hardening modern steels though is that modern steels already have a high carbon content. So, here at Wyoming Armory, we have developed some special techniques that get the tradional colors on modern steels.

The process of bone charcoal color case hardening involves taking the part and packing it in a combination of wood charcoal and bone charcoal in a stainless steel crucible. Then that package is placed into a high temperature furnace. It's brought up to a high temperture and held there until the carbon migrates from the charcoal into the outer surface of the steel. That leaves the beautiful colors.

It's then taken out of the furnace, dumped into a cold water quench, and the change is instantaneous. When you pull it out of the cold water, you see the beautiful color pattern on the steel.

If you would like to have your parts, your firearm color case hardened here at Wyoming Armory precision Firearms please don't hesitate to contact us.