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Bluing aluminum

mikecarol63
Hi again; I' refinishing my rifle, and am having trouble trying to do some bluing. The stock is ready for my sealer filler, and I thought while the stain is drying, I'd try rebluing the trigger guard and the drop floorplate. Not working very well.The floorplate looks like cast steel, but there is a rub mark on it that looks like copper coming thru. The trigger guard is aluminum, and not taking the bluing at all. I'm using the Birchwood Casey bluing paste, and am very disapointed in the results I'm getting. What could I be doing wrong? I'm following the directions very closely, but the results on both are NOT GOOD at all. 1st, can I blue aluminum? It was blued from the factory but got all nicked and scratched up. Same with the floorplate. Thanks in advance, Mike
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • dfletcher
    You can't blue aluminium - I learned that the hard way about 40 years ago, wondered why the receiver of my Ithaca 72 wasn't responding to well. You'll need aluminium blacking, it's made by Birchwood Casey. Problem is, the stuff does a lousy job. Mottled, wears off quickly and in general looks like crap.

    My suggestion would be some sort of spray on finish such as offered by Brownells or Midway. You can get spray on & (oven) heat cure or spray on only. Much as I'm not a fan of those types of finishes I guess they do work well and are much better looking than anything else you're going to get on your own by blacking.

    Edit: forgot to mention the stove paint. Rustoleum sells a flat black that works well as does engine paint.
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  • andrewsw16
    High quality wood stove paint, cured in my kitchen oven (not TOO hot though), gave a pretty good matte black finish.
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  • Ned Fall
    Don't try to blue aluminum parts, especialy with hot bluing salts. The salts will dissolve the aluminum. Believe me, I had it happen. They are several way to color aluminum. It can be electro plated, it can be painted or Brownells sells stuff to color it.
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  • XXCross
    The parts that are aluminum were probably anodized originaly. If you want it right, that is the only way to go.
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  • Bman74
    Very expensive
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  • Hawkshaw
    mikecarol63---Alumahyde from Brownells. HAWKSHAW
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  • Justjump
    Anodize is the correct method. we had a place out of phoenix do an aluminum pistol frame. Think it was around $130 at the time
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:can I blue aluminum?

    Not with any chemical process that blues steel or iron. At best trying that is a total waste of time. At worst, it will etch/ruin the aluminum you try it on.

    Traditional gun-bluing involves the conversion of raw iron/steel to black iron oxide.

    Needless to say, short of mythological medieval alchemy, no amount of chemical conversion is going to turn aluminum into iron oxide! It simply can't be done.

    On the other hand, if you want to give aluminum the APPEARANCE of traditional bluing, that CAN be done in a variety of ways.

    The best way is to anodize and oolor it, though that's not easily done at home.

    Second best would be to PAINT it blue/black using any one of a number of products. Brownell's "alumahyde" is a pretty good one, and I'd start there.
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  • Bill DeShivs
    Aluminum can be color anodized at home if you want to go to the trouble of doing it. Google it. Painting may be a better option for one gun.
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  • wpage
    +1 on painting.
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