Barrel Bluing at Home.......
My son got an old .22 single shot that was really rusted. He got all the rust and finish off, but can't find anything to work on the re-bluing. Is there something that will work, and is inexpensive? Thanks for your help!!
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Unless you use one of the cold blue products, it will involve nasty chemicals. Same with parkerizing.
Have you considered a spray on finish? Duracoat, AlumaHyde, etc.0 -
Partisan-I had real good luck with an old Montgomery wards rifle and some Oxphoblue brom Brownells. I used a hair dryer to get the barrel warm and the oven at 250 degrees when I got tired of the hairdryer. I used naval jelly to remove the old blue and acetone to clean it up for bluing. Looked real nice after about 4 trys.-Mike 0 -
For small simple jobs that I don't want to bother with the tanks, I have used the birchwood casey paste bluing kit. Start by removing all your bluing, and then pollishing with xxxx steel wool. after you got your pollish where you want, degrease with acetone, or a good brake cleaner. Then here is the really important part...soak the barrel or parts to be blued in really hot water....to boiling if you can. Make sure you have a clean cotton cloth with your bluing paste ready to go, and when you pull the parts out of the water, it will dry almost instantly. Rub your paste on briskly and evenly, and not to thin. Wipe it off, and if the results are to light, back into the water, and repeat untill you get what you are looking for. Let the parts cool off, then wipe off, with a cloth with a light coating of oil. I hope this works as well for you as it has for me. I have gotten some real spectacular results, as the heat opens up the pores for the blue to sink in. It seems to be very durable also.
Best
EDIT 1:
FWIW, the ingreedients in hot bluing, and cold bluing, are basically the same, only varying on what shade, and depth of color you are looking for. The difference, is the cold bluing is more concentrated, and hot bluing is a solution, that is mostly water soluable/based. The process of hot bluing, in not so much meant to get the solution hot, but to immerse the parts, and get them up to temperature also. The heat opens the pores in the metal to get better penetration, for a more durable finnish, while being immersed, gives consistancy without being patchy or spotty.
When using cold bluing materials, if you heat the metal, and give it several applications, and stay away from re-introducing oils untill done, it does basically the same thing as hot bluing, but only with a more concentrated formulation. This is the best way for the amatuer who does not want to have to have to deal with the hastle of tanks, IMHO.0 -
my favorite cold blue is oxpho blue cream from brownells. just follow their directions. it lasts longer than other products i used. 0 -
Partisan;
I'll second the Oxypro blue creme from Brownell's. Best I've used of anything on the market. Only other approach is Pickelston's Rust Blue and you need a tank and a lot of patience..
Paul
Mountain Magic Gunsmithing0 -
I use the paste and hot water treatment for home bluing. Instead of hot water I have a bissel hand held steam cleaner. Useful in all sorts of other projects like cleaning car parts/barbeque tools etc, about 90.00. Use distilled water, clean cloths, latex gloves to keep bluing paste and remover from skin, and change gloves in between steps to prevent skin oil from contact gun metal.
Any oil on metal will prevent bluing paste from chemical reaction. Polishing and metal prep will have a great degree on your results. Like painting a car...prep...prep.0 -
the oxpho-blue works good with a warm barrel...i also wipe blue on with fine steel wool, let dry then repeat till get the color i like ..trick is prep & lots of hand work...twice i have run in to an old barrel that wouldn't go the way i wanted... i suppose it was a different type of metal 0 -
Thanks to all!!!! You guys have an answer for everything!![:D] 0
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