How to get rid of that cold blue/black smell

[Topfmine]

When using cold blue that usually contains a copper selenium deposit the smell takes some getting use to, it gives me a headache and you can smell it on your hands for days even. Anyone know how to get rid of the smell, may be using another chemical to counteract it.

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[WarPig1976]

Reminds me of burnt hair,,,yuck!!
Wear surgical gloves to keep it off your hands.....

[Topfmine]

Reminds me of burnt hair,,,yuck!!
Wear surgical gloves to keep it off your hands.....

It would be nice to get rid of the smell completely.

[WarPig1976]

Wear a respirator. The stink is the stuff doing its job.
We should all use the proper PPE whenever working with chemicals or lead or heat. PPE= Personal protective equipment.

[vintage hunter]

It would be nice to get rid of the smell completely.

I don't think there is a way to get rid of the smell completely. You just have to let it wear off on it's own. Even years later it's possible to detect cold blue by rubbing the metal for a couple seconds and giving it a quick sniff. Ever been to a gun show and spied people doing that?
And BTW, mixing chemicals is never a good idea. Some combinations will produce toxic fumes that could be deadly.

[Peter Laidler]

There's no chemical way to get rid of the smell according to my chemist friend who looked at this some time ago onm behalf of someone else. It is inherent in the make-up of the mix. To be honest, in metallurgical terms, it's nothing more than a dye really so you get what you pay for! But there are metal refinishers that will dip a complete large body into a chemical that will take it back to clean white steel. From there it is processed through a chemical bath that gives a crisp new black finish. Absolutely brilliant. Probably not as tough as the standard bead blast and phosphate then oven bake paint but that's not comparing like with like but it comes a VERY close second in my humble opinion

[Topfmine]

I am certainly not a lover of this cold black process, not only does it have this smell on guns that have been done in the past and present but is not very durable. I have used the witches brew ie hot black salts which spits and burns like the devil, I think they have even played with the formula with the salts as I have seen quite a lot of so-called hot blues and blacked guns purple.
I prefer parkerizing or phosphating, such an easy process it's a joy to work with, that's why I am trying to get my hands on this pre dip black phosphate solution.
If you see my other posts, I find that metal finishing company's over here in the UK are genuinely unaware of this product and yet it seems to be popular in the US and Canada even India. All I have found so far is that one company does a black satin stain which is basically a paint that you apply after phosphating.
If I could find what the formular is I could get it made up. I have been told its is a grain refiner ie to reduce crystallization of the phosphate finish not sure how it would make it black as I have used it myself. Is there an alternative to cold black and hots salts these days, I wonder what's new in the finishing world, again most probably won't be able to get it in the UK.