surface rust on sight blade

[brettb75]

I have a very nice colt police positive special that is probably 98%. The only problem is a slight bit of surface rust on the front sight blade. Ive never done any bluing of any steel, so my question is what should I do. I could sand the area until I get to about 1200 grit and use touch up blue but I dont know how well it holds up . Any help will be appreciated

[timspawn]

Oil and super fine steel wool, will not remove the bluing. I have done this many,many times. Just don't go nuts with it.

[pworley1]

+1 on what timspawn said.

[Nueces]

Roll up a tight wad of 0000 wool and grasp it in a forceps or tweezers, then do as advised above with oil. Do a little at a time, just gently scratching off the rust.

I treated a rusty triple lock this way, left it on my desk and worked on it a little bit at a time. It took a month, but the revolver had been reborn.

Very rewarding work.

[Petrol & Powder]

All of the above is sound advice.
If the rust is minor the goal is to "go with what you got" and try to save the existing bluing.
If the rust is a little more serious then you may want to use cold blue on the cleaned up, dry, OIL FREE, sight blade. When cleaning it up remember less is more. Confine your efforts to just the sight blade.

[country gent]

Work it with steel wool (0000) and a light oil wiping clean often to check progress. Work withlight pressure and even strokes. You might try backing the steel wool with a wood popcycle stick, this helps to keep edges sharper and squarer looking. You really dont want a bright high polish on the actuall sight blade as glare will become an issue then. Most cold blues work well on small parts . If possible remove front blade and dip into soulution on a thread or small wire. Polishing and applyuiung til matching shade is obtained.

[brettb75]

Thanks for all the info guys. I believe ill be able to get it done. Ill post pics when finished