1. That is exactly what our question was over 4 years ago. Everyone seems to be using propane or natural gas rather than electricity to operate their black oxide tanks including us, must be the best way to go, right? We'll, NO, it seems. We were like everyone else, too busy trying to making a living to stop long enough to think of a faster and better way.
  2. What is the cost difference, what’s less expensive to operate? Good question and one we examined ourselves in depth.  For an example, suppose a Gunsmith is running a black oxide tank using propane pipe burners for heating the tank.  If they are using a usual 5 gallon propane tank, they can usually get about 8-10 hours of heating time on that one tank.  If the cost to fill the propane tank is about $13.75,  which is based upon $2.75/gallon, that equates to about $1.38 per hour, assuming you get a 10 hour of heating time.  Now, assume you are running an electric system using a 5500 Watt element.  If you run the electric element for 10 hours, the element only kicks in between 40 and 50% of the time, due to the high efficiency of running submersible heaters rather than below tank gas burners.  So, at 5500 Watts for 10 hours that comes out to 55,000 Watts / 50% “On-Time) = 27,500 Watts.  To calculate the cost, you would need to take your 27,500 watts and divided that by 1000, which gives you your Kilowatts, which is 27.5 kWh.  Now, most of the United States is running about 7¢ per Kilowatt (kWh), so that would be 27.5kWh x 7¢ = $1.93 for the period of 10 hours or about .19¢ per hour.  We’ll that is roughly about a 700% savings in operating cost, not too bad on that front.  DRILL BABY DRILL, Oops, different topic...
  3. Time is valuable for me and I don’t have time to mess with Bluing for hours, Exactly, neither did we which is why we would schedule one day of the week or two days of the week to dedicate to the black oxide.  When using gas heaters you have to light the burners and wait between 45-60 minutes for the salts to reach operating temperature.  With the BI 400 system running 220 Volt power, you have about 15 minutes and you ready to go.  When running bluing salts with gas heat, you have to constantly monitor the heat and water, making sure that you don’t overheat the bluing salts, making it impossible to be interrupted with customers or distractions.  But, when running an ICS ™ Control, the salts cannot overheat.  The maximum temperature is programmed; it prevents the salts from going beyond its programmed upper temperature setting.  And when using the BI 400 System, it automatically adds water, so you never have to do anything other than put parts in and take them out.
  4. Great, but what happens if I get distracted with a customer and forget about the tanks being one? No problem, the ICS™ Control is completely self-monitoring. It will continue to keep your salts at the precise temperature and water addition.  If you forgot to take out your parts in 15 minutes and they got left in for 30 minutes, won’t hurt a thing, they will be just fine.
  5. I have customers who bring in their handguns to be fully inspected, tuned, adjusted and then reassembled, but I don’t make much money at it, but need to too keep them coming back. We have the answer.  You probably don’t even consider offering a quick Bluing service to their options because it’s too much time and trouble in starting up your bluing tanks to do a simple job.  But with the ICS™ Control, while you are disassembling the handgun, you can simply flip the ON switch and the tank will be ready in 15 minutes.  When you’re done with the cleaning and adjustments simply place the handgun frame and parts in a basket and place in tank.  In 5-8 minutes, your customer’s handgun is perfectly black and ready to oil and assemble.  You just put about 5 minutes of extra labor into the job and you can charge $50.00 or more, and your customer will be ecstatic, since you can provide same-day or even same-hour turn around.  Imagine, posting a Sales special on your door offering such a quick turn-around, you will be pleasantly surprised as the extra business you can bring in, specially during these difficult financial times.
  6. I build custom knives and have at times hundred of hours into them, I hate handing them over to some local black oxide shop to do the work, with the chance they will damage the knife. We fully understand your concerns. You now have the capability to do it in-house in matter of 20 minutes after you flip the ON switch.  And you will also have the blackest finish you have ever seen using our Midnight Black™ Signature salts.
  7. We are large black oxide processing facility, how does this system benefit us? How many times have you had a custom that needs a rush order for a small batch of parts or you have had to work on the weekend to process a hand full of parts which you have to do to insure your customer relationship?  Who wants to crank up the “Big Tank” just for a couple of parts, nobody, but with this system in 15 minutes you are ready to go.  No muss, no fuss and you and your customer is happy.
  8. Does your machine shop deal with job shop parts that require black oxide finish, but you are looking at $65.00 or more minimal charge for a single part? You’re not along, many shops deal with this everyday and with the ICS™ Control, you no longer have to loose that money.  You can provide a faster turn-around time to your customers as well as a better management of your shop time, while saving money.

 

We initially started with the need to improve our black oxide process to provide a higher quality finish to meet our customer’s demands. What we realized that there is many, many folks who could utilize a small batch black oxide system next to their existing larger system or simply wish to have the ability to do small batches of parts in a very quick, efficient manner. From major black oxide processing plants, firearm manufactures, gunsmiths, tool manufactures, hobbyist, knife makers, jewelers, fastener manufactures and so one can all benefit from our system. We hope to continue to grow Black Works into the mainstream of the industry, to become the industry leader in small to medium size black oxide processing systems.

 

 

All of our systems are made here in the United States. We are very proud to produce a high quality end-consumer product by American labor.

We have worked very hard to maintain all of our manufacturing processes here in the United States. We will continue to do so as we grow. We will not deviate from our founding principles that we all should strive to produce our products here in the United States. We feel we have proven that one can be competitive in the marketplace without having to import our goods.