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Blueing

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7shortmag

32 Cal.
Joined
Jan 14, 2015
Messages
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I have posted on this subject in the past and received some suggestions.
Truth is, I have tried several cold blue methods and all of them were worthless.
They don't cover well and hold up even worse.

Tool Black, Prema Blue, and a coupla' other private label products that were a waste of money.

Does anyone know something that truly works?
 
For cold bluing and really good and clean in a long time.... no one product serious...
All my bluings are oxyded, brushed and boiled between six to eight times...
For the brown, you can find in cold stuff but for cold bluing steel you can't...
I know a dealer of that but it's in France and I take all by him the brown Brown Bess, the black war bluing etc (I've not the formulas)...
Don't you known a gunsmith who can sale a little bottle to you ? You don't need much for a barrel and sometimes they accept to retail you a bit...
 
I was at the Alabama kentucky Longrifle Show last weekend, A guy from Fl (Mike Raybern) had the most beautiful Kibler Colonial kits both finished and in the white. The finished rifles were rust blued and the best overall finish I have see so far. He was kind enough to explain the process to me, I had heard it before but it was nice to hear it from a guy who had done it a bunch of times.

I have done 4 cold blue finished guns, two left blue, two rubbed back to gray. The two left blue have been OK so far but they are mostly closet queens, I believe I could just about wipe the gray off the others with a rough cloth, it isn't durable at all.

My current build will be rust blued when I get to that stage.

Mike, if you read this PM me, I know a guy really interested in buying a finished Kibler Colonial or on in the white.
 
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I have posted on this subject in the past and received some suggestions.
Truth is, I have tried several cold blue methods and all of them were worthless.
They don't cover well and hold up even worse.

Tool Black, Prema Blue, and a coupla' other private label products that were a waste of mone

Does anyone know something that truly works?

Something called "Blue Wonder" has my vote. Having tried some of the others, including Blue Wonder itself, I had given up on cold blue all together. Then someone told me I wasn't getting it hot enough.

So one day a friend asked if I could blue some parts on a "Bubba" gun he had so I gave it a try. It was a chopped up Krag so nothing to lose.

I gave it a little more heat and it worked well enough to impress myself and several other hard critics sitting at our coffee clatch table. Miles ahead of anything else I've tried is all I'm saying. An old Rogers and Spencer replica has been wearing the stuff now for several years and is still looking good.
 
I know very little about the bluing/browning process. I tried to blue a barrel for a kit gun many years ago and it didn't go so well. Lack of knowledge and/or correct procedure the likely cause. My question now is, can that barrel be "browned" now or once blued Im stuck with what Ive got? Its a bottom shelf gun and wouldn't mind investing some time (mostly for the learning process) but not a lot of money.thanks
 
Ive never tried it, but I think bluing can be removed chemically. Probably with a lye or maybe very strong paint thinner. If not it could be removed with sand paper or steel wool. It could be difficult to get it looking good again though.
 
To remove bluing, steel wool was mentioned.
If you are using steel wool you need to know that it has oils or waxes on it to keep it from rusting while it's sitting on the shelf at the store.
These oils/waxes will contaminate the metal surfaces so that they will either fail to blue or the bluing will be streaky or blotched.
Although the oils can be removed with things like Disk Brake Cleaner, waxes can be very difficult to remove.
The best way to avoid this contamination problem with steel wool is to throughly degrease and dewax it using something like muriatic acid followed by a clear water rinse.
Better yet, use a fine grit black silicone carbide, wet/dry sandpaper. It is oil and wax free and it will remove the bluing much faster.
 
Ill have to do some research on the browning process to see if its something I want to attempt.
 
Would it be possible to get back on topic and come up with the best ways to blue a barrel?
 
I "blued" the barrels on this CVA 12 guage double by first browning them with Laurel Mountain Browning solution and then applied boiling distilled water to the surfaces.
This process converts the brown "rust" to black "rust". Very durable and nice looking although it is slightly rough. That gives it a black, non-reflective appearance.
CVA-12-guageWEB.jpg
CVA-SHOTGUN-001web.jpg
 
Zonies suggestion is the easiest solution I find. Start rusting with some gentle heat and bleach or acid solder flux and keep carding it until you have an even brown surface then boil in clean water for about 15 minutes and it will come out a very nice blue. Protect with oil or beeswax. Simple as that and minimum cost.
 
Use Laurel Mountain Forge rust bluing. Card between coats. I wash with soap and water and a stiff bristle brush between coats. It takes 4-6 coats. The more humid you make it, the coarser the grain. When done buff it with a super fine wire wheel. Now boil it and it will turn black. I use a piece of galvanized round end post for a chainlink fence to boil in. I buy the squeeze fit top plug. Fill with water, stick the barrel in then pull the barrel out. Now you have the right amount of water in it. Hit it with a propane torch till the water is boiling. Now lower the barrel in there with a wire through an underlug near the muzzle. Boil 5-10 minutes. Take it out steaming. It will dry immediately. Hit it with the super find wire wheel. It will be shiny and blue/black. This will not give you blue/blue. It’s blackish. Super durable.
 
Oxpho blue as mentioned is very good. Even better is Van's instant blueing. Been around a long while but is not that well known. There are some youtube videos on it's use and you can Google the name to get a supplier. I prefer hot rust blueing but I have the equipment to boil the parts between coats.
One caveat on instant blues and rust blueing. Do not polish to a high degree. 220 grit is adequate but no higher than the next highest grit.
 
Zonies suggestion is the easiest solution I find. Start rusting with some gentle heat and bleach or acid solder flux and keep carding it until you have an even brown surface then boil in clean water for about 15 minutes and it will come out a very nice blue. Protect with oil or beeswax. Simple as that and minimum cost.
What is carding?
 
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