charcoal blueing /barrel material

[bob in the woods]

I'm building a cherry stocked fowling gun, and was planning on charcoal blueing the barrel.  It is an Ed Rayle barrel and I was wondering if the material he uses would require any special consideration when doing this ?   I have done this before with barrels made of 1137 but I don't think this material is the same. It files differently, i.e. seems tougher.

[galamb]

Bob, I have a note that Ed has been/was using 8620 steel.

That was a couple years back (after he switched from 4140 due to availability issues).

Beyond those notes I have no idea where it falls in hardness compared to other steels commonly used.

[E.vonAschwege]

Bob,  
    I noticed you said you're building a fowler - I'm pretty sure that charcoal bluing the barrel will likely heat it up past the point of your soldered barrel tabs melting off.  I'm not 100% certain though, perhaps others who've done so can chime in? 
-Eric

[Ryan McNabb]

There are silver solders that melt at over 1000 deg F.  You won't get the barrel that hot, or you shouldn't.

Call Ed and see what he says about his barrel being laid in a wood fire and whether it would hurt anything.  I can't imagine it would.

[bob in the woods]

The reason I asked, is that there were problems with M14 components years ago  [ 8620 ,heat treatment ,cracking etc]

[Ryan McNabb]

Right, which is one of the problems of mixing crude techniques with more advanced materials.  People scoff at 12L14 but it's dead soft and something we can work with in our Neanderthal shops.  Ask Ed for his input on the steel he used and what temperatures it can be taken to without rendering it unsafe.  Anything else is guess work.  If he thinks you should talk to a metallurgist there are some here that will chime in, if they can still type after years of banging their heads against the wall...