Oxpho blue

[44man]

I needed to blue the loading lever on an Old Army. Someone took it to white. A used gun my friend bought.
I washed it with Dawn and hot water. I dropped it into boiling water, took it out to dry a few seconds and swabbed Oxpho blue on it. The color came right quick and three applications made it match the barrel perfectly, looks just like a hot blue job. No spots at all.
I have wanted to try it for a long time and it sure works. I got a real deep blue.

[joatmon]

Nice to hear that. I've got a large bottle that I need to try out soon on a couple of mex actrions.
AARON

[Blackwater]

You did it right, 44. It's by far the best "cold blue" I've ever used, and the heat you gave it is part of the "secret" in using it, plus the multiple coats. Good job!

[oldred]

Oxpho is definitely waaaaaay better than ANY other cold blue on the market! I do both rust bluing and hot bluing but I keep Oxpho around for touch-ups and some small jobs, it may not equal rust/hot blue for durability but it is fairly tough and seems to become even more durable over time.

I just wish I still had my Old Army to use the stuff on!

[Hickok]

Oxpho Blue is #1 for me also when it comes to cold blue.

[Jim_P]

I've used Oxpho on touch-up with good result. Never a whole action. But I'm restoring a .32 Colt Police Positive that might be a good candidate. Was originally nickle but it's so worn by the time I get it smooth, it's not going to matter.

[FrankG]

I use a HF cheap heat gun to warm the parts to where I just feel them radiating heat when my hand is passed above them . Works super .

[DougGuy]

I mix liquid and paste Oxpho Blue together 50/50 and get an easily and quickly spreadable yet "clingy" viscosity. I heat up freshly reamed and lapped cylinders in a toaster oven until I can almost not hold them in a paper towel and it works great. Doesn't harm existing bluing.

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK,,, I have used this stuff on and off for years and it never gave me what I wanted.

HOWEVER!!! I never used the boiling water and I never heated the parts.

I guess another try is in order.

Randy

[oldred]

OK,,, I have used this stuff on and off for years and it never gave me what I wanted.

HOWEVER!!! I never used the boiling water and I never heated the parts.

I guess another try is in order.

Randy

It really does make a difference!

Still it is cold blue so it's not going to be on a par with rust or hot blue in either appearance or durability, however it can indeed produce respectable appearance qualities and seems to hold up fairly well on all but high wear areas. I don't think I would do an entire firearm with it since rust bluing is only a little more trouble and the results are "orders of magnitude" more durable! It is however REALLY good stuff for those small areas that a person might want to repair without resorting to a complete tear-down and reblue, for that purpose I simply wouldn't want to be without it in the shop and I'm a person who disdains most cold blues and consider them a waste of time and money, Oxpho is a notable exception!

[slohunter]

Oxpho is an exception. Just redid an old 30-30 Win and made an old idiot scratch disappear. Heating is definitely the way to go.

[HangFireW8]

Oxpho is good stuff. As with all metal finishing, surface prep is essential for good looks. Not just smoothness, opening up the surface by removing oxidation and then treating with Oxpho immediately (before it oxidizes again) allows the cold blue to be the passivization agent.

Heat makes the other cold blues work well, too. I just saved a rusted sling swivel by wire brush, heat and Van's 44. It came out nice and dark.

[Hickok]

Some years ago, I had some stuff called Jenolite Kold Black, and it was great cold bluing. I believe it came from England. Never could find any more of it.

[fourarmed]

I did a 721 Remington trigger guard once. Sandblasted if first, then Oxpho Blue. Produced a beautiful matte finish that still looks good years later.

[Lance Boyle]

I picked up a used marlin 39A peanut with a badly done barrel mounted scope job. 4 poorly done drilled and tapped holes, not in a straight line. The one nearest the receiver only held the screw because it was so far out of line. I annealed the screws (tossed the mount and 3/4 scope aside). Screwed and pounded them in to form into the holes. Then filed and sanded them smooth down to barrel metal. Below two holes are filled and two with the screws in them yet untouched.

[ETA- sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures]



Buffed it with sand paper carefully to keep the lines parallel with the original barrel turning. Buff a bit with steel wool. I think I cleaned with alcohol. Then the Oxpho.



Turned out well enough for me.

[Frank46]

Some steels will take the oxpho bluing better than others. Redid a marlin 336 mag tube and came out looking like a factory job. Butt plate on a BSA 12/15 martini was another story. Even the big gun companies sometimes have problems. My Colt Trooper MKIII has a purpleish cylinder, some Ruger #1's have the action different than the barrel.Frank

[Ragnarok]

Oxpho-Blue is definitely good stuff. As mentioned above it takes better to some steel than others. I just 'touched-up' a S&W 1500 rifle that had substantial blue loss on the barrel/action...rust pitting in a few spots(from small to large!). A big touch-up job as I Oxphoed about 90% of the barreled action and the bolt knob too. Did very well and looks so much better than it did with a rusty barrel!

Another pretty decent cold-blue is 'Van's'. Van's liquid will do a good tough blue on most steel/iron like Oxpho-Blue will. I've heard '44-40' cold blue is pretty good too. I keep Vans and Oxpho-blue on hand and if one doesn't work well on some part or other usually the other one will.

[Huffmanite]

While I consider the Blue Wonder cold blue product to produce a better finish, more often than not, use Oxpho to cold blue a rifle.....generally with good results. Prefer the creme version of Oxpho. Have seen a rifle barreled action that was dipped in Oxpho by a gunsmith. The Oxpho finish on it was quite outstanding.

[Hickok]

Lance, that was an outstanding repair!

[Lance Boyle]

Thanks Hickock. You'd have to look real hard to see the circles of the swaged in screw plugs. Thankfully they took the oxpho pretty equal to the barrel steel. Most folks would never know the repair was there.

I was looking for a marlin 39A for a few years and kept finding them with screw holes either in the barrel like the one I picked up or tapped on the side of the receiver. I picked up the one I had, figured maybe I'd get away with pulling the weaver scope mount and maybe getting lucky with some plug screws like you see on the top of bolt action big game guns. Nope no such luck, was about as ugly as puke. The one thing they didn't do was go too deep. IIRC I picked up the rifle for $325ish adjusted down for the scope mount mod. It was worth it for me for a lever .22 that I could actually take to the field without worrying about getting her wet chasing squirrels.