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manchie390
anyone have a recipe for a fairly simple & inexpencive way of hot bluing? i have just one handgun i want to reblue & i'm one of those hardheaded just gotta do it myself kinda guys - i tryed the cold blue route too many times in the past - thanks

rick
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Comments

13 comments

Date Votes
  • Xracer
    Have you tried http://www.bluewonder.us/ ?
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  • powdersmoke
    Sodium Nitrate and Caustic soda in boiling water. Leave item til prefered blue tone is reached. Or just buy the Hot Blue kit from DGW, I believe it contains these ingredients. Hard to buy Sodium Nitrate these days

    I won't use Blue Wonder.

    fc3cdbfd.gif

    When you wrestle a 'gator, there ain't no good end!!

    "Molon Labe!" Spartan General-King Leonidas
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  • trstone
    Sodium nitrate, check....Caustic Soda, meaning sodium hydroxide, right? And mixed with water in what proportions? And served to the gun at what temperature?

    I think Midland Scientific here in Omaha will sell me NaNO3 without too much fuss....I might try this some day.
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  • rhmc24
    Blue Wonder????????? Just had two more flops trying to use it. Had a 1911 slide down to bare metal, 500 wet or dry finish, tried Blue Wonder per their written instructions, per their video instructions plus humpteen other variations and never got anywhere close to a decent job. Tried it as a touch up on the receiver of a '97 Winchester (made 1955) and messed up the original finish. Took a lot of effort and some Brownells cold blue to get it looking OK again. Blue Wonder cleaner is a good product but their blue is too unpredictable.
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  • barto
    I gotta agree with rhmc24- the blue wonder blueing kinda sorta sucks.
    Three tries, three failures. (and yes, I can read)
    [V][V]barto

    Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.-JFK
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  • OleDuk
    manchie, if you can, get yourself a copy of Roy Dunlap's book Gunsmithing. It has a formula in it using ammonium nitrate and sodium hydroxyide. The proportions are 2.5# of the first and 5# of the second per gallon of water; haven't used it myself but I want to try it someday. You need to read what's in the book.
    Good luck,
    OleDuk
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  • 101AIRBORNE
    manchie390,
    Have to agree with OleDuk.
    Blue wonder is a paint job and Cabella's will not use it again in their master catalog. POS. Hot blueing requires a great deal of money.
    Brownell's is my choice. Perhaps a "rust blue" will work for you. Their oxpho blue does a great job-cold blue. $.02 101
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  • deputydon
    Brownells web site has blueing instructions for viewing in PDF format at the following URL. [8D]

    http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/Instructions.aspx?p=312

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    When they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
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  • 101AIRBORNE
    deputydon,
    Thanks for posting the site. Brownell's is first rate. 101
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  • powdersmoke
    1 part Sodium Nitrate(Chile Nitre or Chile Saltpeter), 2 parts Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide) and two parts water by volume. Do not mix in an Aluminum pan. Mix and boil in a steel or enameled container. Boil gun parts at 280-315 degrees for best results. Boil until desired color is obtained. Pistols can be blued on the kitchen stove. (If your wife doesn't kill you) This solution will eat holes in your clothes and strip paint. Don't know what it will do to formica. Wear a rubber apron and rubber gloves, thick ones.

    DGW sells a "Classic American Rust Bluing Solution" #LA1112 that contains these chemicals (I believe) for $32.75

    [?]I didn't know that Ammonium Nitrate could be used as suggested above. I wonder if that means that a suitable amount of Potassium Nitrate could be used?[?]

    Again, I won't use Blue Wonder.

    fc3cdbfd.gif

    When you wrestle a 'gator, there ain't no good end!!

    "Molon Labe!" Spartan General-King Leonidas
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  • manchie390
    many thanks to all - going to experiment with suggestions & i think i'll stay away from blue wonder!
    thanks for all replys

    rick
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  • 4570marlin
    I have also tried blue wonder with mixed results. On the barrel of an old mauser the bluing worked ok but on the action I worked with it for over two hours using the instruction and video with bad results. What is the best way to preb the metal for cold bluing?
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  • trstone
    I admit, I've had trouble with Blue Wonder too---if you'll recall from a previous reply, I said I had trouble with bluing a replacement bolt-handle. Did everything I could to follow instructions to a "T"---cleaned the bolt-handle with the gun-cleaner, did the shtick with a hair-dryer set on "HOT", hit the metal with the bluing agent (along with frequent shaking of the solution) over and over again, and the overnight treatment with the (ha-ha) "developer", then the gun-oil---and the frigging stuff just rubbed off again. I give up.

    I'll go back to tedious applications of Brownell's Oxpho-Blue, which works a LITTLE better than Birchwood-Casey Horsepee....
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