Cold Blue an entire rifle

[cheese1566]

Working on an old Remington 514 22S/L/LR rifle as a winter project to be eventually used by my daughter.

The barrel was in rough shape with minor rust pitting. The interior of the barrel is in great shape. Experimenting with some wet-dry paper and steel wool, the minor rusting I don't think will be a problem.
I have done some various parkerizing in the past but really don't want to try hot bluing salts for this little rifle. Most other parts are OK and can be salvaged with oil and steel wool. (Except the bolt. It needs a weld touch up and regrind. Someone did a poor fix in the past when the bolt handle fell off...)

I was debating whether to save work and sandblast the barrel down to hide the areas of minor pitting and then cold blue.
I was also thinking of taking my time and doing the proper metal prep procedure of using different coarse papers to smooth out the steel.

How well does cold blue work on entire barrels and small receivers?

Anybody try it over light sandblasting?

20118 20119

[ammohead]

cheese,

I have cold blued an entire rifle in the past. It will probably work to your satisfaction. Of course it won't be a show piece, but show pieces are wasted on children, and less anxiety when dings and scratches happen. Use a good quality cold blue. Get some cotton pads like for cosmetics or you could cut up old white cotton socks into 2-3 inch squares. Put the patches in a small bowl and cover with cold blue. Use them one at a time to apply the blue. Don't dip them back in the solution. When they loose their bluing strength discard them and pick up a new one. This way you won't dilute the solution and you will get better results.

Have fun.

ammohead

[fourarmed]

Be aware that some steels take cold blue better than others. One thing that helps is to dab on the cold blue generously, then rub it with steel wool. Something about that will accelerate the process. Brownell's Oxpho Blue is pretty much the gold...or rather blue...standard of cold blueing. To produce a really rugged finish with cold blue, sandblast the surface first. It produces a matte black finish that really lasts.

[two dogs]

rust blueing is pretty simple

[Lee]

My thread produced this recommendation, a couple times. Ah well, ya picks yer poison. But the responses I got from some who did it claim it can be done, and the results, while not showroom, are very good, nonetheless......Lee


http://www.vansgunblue.com/


P.S. I ordered a small bottle of Van's. If it doesn't work then I can blame Cast Boolits for my screw-up. It's the American way! Some one else is always responsible for my error!!

[stubshaft]

Back in the late 60's early 70's gunsmith Tommy Bish wrote a book called home gunsmithing and all he used was cold blue. I personally couold neveer repeat his success but it did produce some pretty pieces.

[GabbyM]

I cold blue my rifle replacement barrels with Brownell's Oxpho Blue .
Not as durable as hot blue but with a 243 the bore wears out so fast I don't worry much about the outside. It can be touched up with a wipe. Set next to factory Remington rifle you can't see the difference from five feet back.

by sand blast do you mean glass bead blast? Bluing that surface would give you a mat finish.
Would look OK but would mark up easily. If you have any pits in the metal a mat finish would hide them better. A die grinder powered felt fob with polish compound makes short order of polishing gun steel.

With a cold blue it will look much better the next day after curing over night. I just use a single application but you can polish apply blue then repeat three times or so for a mirror finish. I've never felt the need for that much shine. With a single application then a single touch up application will cover mars. That's my theory anyway.

You'll need fine grit emery paper an four ought steel wool for metal prep. 0000 steel wool also for rubbing in the cold blue although I don't bother with it. I oil the bore with a mop before starting then run a solvent patch down it when done.

[largom]

Many, many years ago I cold blued an entire mauser rifle. Don't remember what bluing I used but it turned out very good. The metal must be VERY clean before you start. I also heated the metal slightly and then rubbed the bluing on until the metal cooled, then polished with 4-0 steel wool. Did about 6 applications and it turned out very well.

I recently did another mauser that was deeply pitted on the outside using Duro Coat filler and spray finish [sold by Midway]. Bead blasted the metal, sprayed on the filler, when dry sanded with fine paper. This filled the pits. I then applied 3 coats of the spray on matt black finish which is a two part epoxy mix. I was very well pleased with the results but it is a black finish not blue. Stated to be highly wear resistant.

Larry

[R.C. Hatter]

:coffeecom I have successfully blued several .22 rifles and single barrel shotguns with Brownells Oxpho-Blue over the years. The secret is to have the best polishing job you can manage on the parts, the parts thoroughly de-greased, and I usually use three applications of the Oxpho-Blue. Let the final application cure a day, then oil.

[44man]

I use Oxpho-blue now but a long time ago I bought some blueing called US Barrel Blue. I used it for smaller parts like revolver frames and parts and it looked like a good hot blue job.
Parts were put in boiling water and the bottle was also hung in the water. Take out the part and swab it with the hot blue solution and put the part back in the water. Card between coats and do as many coats as needed.
Does anyone know what happened to this product?
Has anyone tried Oxpho-blue on hot parts?

[leftiye]

You can rust blue with Laurel Mtn. Forge browning. Brown and then boil the piece for a couple of minutes - it will turn black. No need to glass bead blast, the browning will make a mat finish for you. Swab it on then DON"T TOUCH IT for 24 hours, then swab again &etc. three days is enough. On chrome moly steel it makes a more plum color, mild steel = brown brown (not rust red). Same goes for other steels, the effectiveness of cold blues really varies with the alloy.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup i allways heat the part to about 200 degrees in the oven first. I dont know if it helps or not but it doesnt seem to hurt/QUOTE=44man;823485]I use Oxpho-blue now but a long time ago I bought some blueing called US Barrel Blue. I used it for smaller parts like revolver frames and parts and it looked like a good hot blue job.
Parts were put in boiling water and the bottle was also hung in the water. Take out the part and swab it with the hot blue solution and put the part back in the water. Card between coats and do as many coats as needed.
Does anyone know what happened to this product?
Has anyone tried Oxpho-blue on hot parts?[/QUOTE]

[Beekeeper]

Cheese,
Over on surplusrifle.com forum there is a complete writeup by someone named Popeye about doing a cold blue job.
I have used it several times with great results.
Make sure your metal is clean(squeeky clean) or you will get a mottled effect.
Ihave a 71/84 mauser I did and it has an almost patina effect as I did not get the metal completely clean.
Left some wax on it from the buffing.

Jim

[cheese1566]

Here it is so far.
Last night I sandblasted with DuPont Starblast. I didn't have any Brownell's Oxy so I tried some Birchwood Casey that I had on hand. I figured I could always reblast and try it again.
This is with 4 applications according to directions and the saturation with oil. I don't see much mottling (which hopefully the ones I see are next to the stock!).

Of course, it will be a matte finish since I started with a blasted finish.

The stripped stock is in the rear. Another light scrub with Formby's Refinisher and steel wool to knock the grain down after the steaming and she'll get a few coats of Formby's Low Gloss Tung Oil. I hate sanding stocks and figure I'll let the stains, dings, and scratches let her tell her story for years to come. (Hence the matte finish, didn't figure a lot of time and energy to buff the steel for a high polish bluing job. Wouldn't match right in my opinion. Can't polish a turd!)

20305

[Doc1]

My experiences with cold blue, admittedly only for touch ups or barrels, has been inconsistent. I have had much better success with parkerizing. Have you considered trying that? The chemicals are cheap and pretty safe and I find it easier.

Best regards
Doc

[cheese1566]

Yep. I have done Brownells Zinc (then gunkote over that) and my own homebrew manganese park solution. I posted my experience on the homebrew here a while back. If I could get a super dark park with my homebrew recipe, I would have considered it in this case.
:-)

[cheese1566]

Here it is all done. My brother-in-law was surprised at the redo.
Before/after:
206082060920611
Special thanks to 357maximum for donating the trigger guard!!!
Stock: Formby's furniture refinsher & Formby's tung oil
Metal: Sandblast w/DuPont Starblast & 3 applications of Birchwood Casey cold blue

[Multigunner]

Since the local water supply has a lot of minerals and distilled water isn't easy to find, I wash the metal down after each application using dollar store rubbing alcohol which is mostly distilled and pobably deionised water with a little alcohol.
I've also used Hydrogen peroxide which is almost all water and what isn't breaks down into water. Main thing is there aren't any of the chemicals found in tap water which screws up the finish.
Instead of steel wool for carding I use some old upholstery synthetic hair padding.

I don't try for a mirror bright shine, and when fine sanding to a 600 and sometimes 1000 grit I rotate a barrel or round receiver rather than polish lengthwise. This seems to hold the solution to the steel better.

Smaller parts I dip and then soak in ballistol and wipe clean, several times.

[wv109323]

My son-in -law found a Win. 67 (less the bolt) for $29.00. He gave it to me. The barrel was pitted in places. I started with a file, removed the pitting, worked the barrel/action down with progressively finer sand papers.(stopped at 800 grit) I degreased every thing and used Birchwood Casey Casey cold Blue. I did preheat the metal to about 150 degrees(with a propane torch) to make sure all the oil was gone. I applied multiple coats of blueing while the metal was hot.
The stock had "Jack" stratched into one side,dirty grimey and a 1/4" hole goughed into the pistol grip.I stripped it down with E_Z strip. I worked the walnut stock down and finished it in boiled linseed oil. My son-in-law refused to believe it was the same rifle when I was finished. It also surprised me. I never did find a bolt for the rifle.

[Wayne Smith]

Cheese,
Over on surplusrifle.com forum there is a complete writeup by someone named Popeye about doing a cold blue job.

Jim

Small world, Jim. Popeye is my brother.

[largom]

Cheese, Looks great! One of my greatest joy's is taking an old neglected firearm and giving it new life.

Larry

[357maximum]

Came out looking nice........I am glad the triggerguard worked for you.

[johnlaw484]

I have reblued several complete guns using Mark Lee #1 and then using Oxpho Blue over the top. It gives a beautiful finish that rivals any hot I've ever seen. Both products are from Brownell's.

[Iowa Fox]

I think we all get those given to us for free projects. I've had pretty good luck with Vans, I warmed the metal first then applied with an old toothbrush. Good enough for me.

[82nd airborne]

I cold blued a sporterized 96 mauser 9 years ago, now the bolt handle and other places that recieve contact are shiny metal again, time to redo it. it did look good when it was done tho!

[sheepdog]

when I cold blue I bake the parts in the oven and boil the blue and apply hot with salt added. Works great, gets much dark and sticks better.

[shotman]

sheep dog Is right heat metal hair drier works if you dont have a big oven
the salt needs non Iodize and not much Brownell has a good one and get the SS wool too

[jburris2001]

I reblued an old winchester 12 guage with birchwood casey blue kit, it turned a black chrome looking. Not blue by aany means

[Just1Mor]

Just remember to degrease the steel wool. I tried Purma Blue and was getting terrible streaks and finally figured out why, IDIOT. So i set up hot blue instead and if you have a little smarts you can do a nice job very easy. Hard work is the metal work, I had to strike the barrel and then sand, final polish degrease like hell and blue.

Note: Simple hot blue solutions dont like copper so scrub the bore like you never have. Thats what went wrong my first time, not too long ago.

[Bret4207]

Those wishing to get a good cold blue job are encouraged to read all the Brownells "Gunsmiths Kinks" books. Pretty much everything is covered in there. You HAVE to remove any and all traces of grease or oil, even a fingerprint will mar the job. Warming helps and so does multiple applications polished down.

You can get a decent job with cold blue, it just takes time.

[Big Dave]

Fifty odd years ago I helped my dad with some cold blue jobs. He used Minute Man cold blue, Have not seen it since i don't know when, Anyway we heated the metal by running hot water over it till it dried almost instantly then swabbed on the bluing and left it set for about half an hour. Looked really ugly by then. Wash off with more hot water and finish with oil rub down. Made a really nice home done blue job. Still have a sporterized Krag done this way and it still looks pretty good.

[Stevejet]

The only suggestion I can offer, after reading all the good information above is, after surface preparation of the barrel and receiver (bead blast or Naval Jelly stripping) the metal parts be handled with latex gloves (pretty cheap precaution) and the metal be swabbed with nail polish remover (acetone) prior to blueing application. Then, be sure to observe to blueing solution "dwell time" before rinsing with water. The manufacturer does know best. Works for me!

[mac1911]

I have used Oxpho-blue from brownells. I have only done some pretty sad looking 22s.
All I can say is I think a lot of people give up before it really starts to work.

I would plug the barrels with cork or rubber stoppers. I built a small tray from rain gutters and used end caps on each end. I would toss just enough oxphoblue in to cover what ever part I was working on. let it sit for a bit then rub rub rub. When I felt nothing was going on or it was blotchy I would hit with some fine sreal wool, dunk and repeat,dunk and repeat dunk;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;. It takes a while to get a decent finish. All the guns I did looked 100% better even the worst cold blue jobs.

[waksupi]

I have used Oxpho-blue from brownells. I have only done some pretty sad looking 22s.
All I can say is I think a lot of people give up before it really starts to work.

I would plug the barrels with cork or rubber stoppers. I built a small tray from rain gutters and used end caps on each end. I would toss just enough oxphoblue in to cover what ever part I was working on. let it sit for a bit then rub rub rub. When I felt nothing was going on or it was blotchy I would hit with some fine sreal wool, dunk and repeat,dunk and repeat dunk;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;. It takes a while to get a decent finish. All the guns I did looked 100% better even the worst cold blue jobs.

Full immersion is the best with Oxphoblue. Leave in for 30 seconds, rinse, buff with paper towel, and repeat as necessary. Rinse, final buff with 0000 steel wool, and oil. Leaving it over 30 seconds per dip, will give cloudy, or blotchy results.

[Molly]

FWIW, I found a cheap and easy refinish when I picked up a Stevens SBS (12x12) that was mechanically sound, but it had barrels that were badly pitted outside. I cleaned the loose rust off with a brush and Naval Jelly, and saw that the pitting was deep, and it was going to be a real job to refinish it the 'right' way. I thought "Well, it's never going to be a presentation grade piece anyhow, it's going to live behind the seat. All I need to do is keep it from rusting."

So I got a can of spray black, flat gloss paint at Home Depot, and hung the barrels in the air with a bit of wire, so it could swing and rotate freely. Then I gave it several mist coats as they twisted. I didn't put it on heavy, just enough to give it a black coat without running. I used multiple coats instead of trying to get it done in one pass. The result looked surprisingly good. I couldn't see the pits unless I searched hard for them. I decided it looked nice enough to go to a little more trouble, so after the black paint had dried a couple of days, I recoated it with some flat clear polyurethane aerosol from the same place. Again, multiple thin coats did a very nice job. You want to put on just barely enough to make a continuous film. After it had dried overnight, it looked darn good. I got busy and just left it drying for a few more days, and when I went back, the polyurethane had hardened like mad! It couldn't be scratched with a fingernail. My fingernail just slid over it like it would a hot blued gun. Yeah, you could still find the pitting if you looked close, but you had to look pretty darn close. From a few feet away, it looked like a new gun! My stepson decided he just HAD to have it, and it's still doing fine, several years later.

I didn't set out to make a new type of finish, but for refinishing a 'beater' when you don't have hot tanks, this is really worth a try. And if you don't like the result, you can strip it off with some paint stripper or sandpaper, and redo it some other way. One nice thing is that the type of metal underneath doesn't affect the color. (BG) If I ever do it again, I'll use a little bit of body filler to fill in the deep pits, and smooth it out with fine sandpaper before coating. It should make a finish that looks and almost wears like hot blue.

[powhs]

I had bad luck with cold blue rusting so I use flat or matt black spray paint. Let the gun set in the sun and get warm then paint. Its fast/easy and looks good. Will last for years.

[buckweet]

boy am i glad i found this thread .. good info ..
bought a used Winchester 30/30 .. needs to be blued .
i thinks I'll try it.

[flounderman]

Use the Mark Lee rust blue and you will never use anything else again. It can be completed in a couple of hours and looks professional. All you need is a single boiling tank.

[oldred]

Use the Mark Lee rust blue and you will never use anything else again. It can be completed in a couple of hours and looks professional. All you need is a single boiling tank.

+1 on the Mark Lee!!!!

The "Express Blue" type rust bluing is so easy it just doesn't make a lot of sense to do a temporary blue that won't look very good in the first place (compared to a real blue) and will wear quickly. This rust blue not only looks like a high end professional blue it's about the toughest wearing blue/black finish a gun can have.

[Clark]

I watched my father do a cold blue 51 years ago.

Cold blue is never going to be quite as good as the real thing, but the results can vary from 5% as good to 95% as good.
I used to be on a kick that Dicropan was darker, but Oxpho blue lasted
longer, so I would put Dicropan on first and get it down in the micro
valleys, and then run Oxpho on the micro ridges.

That trick makes dark and long lasting cold blue, but it only works on
steels that take both cold blues well.

If you can find this stuff, get some, and you will broaden what you can
do besides Oxpho and Dicropan.

http://www.g96.com/products/gun-blue-creme/#


You will need:
1) Towels
2) Paper towels
3) Kleenex
4) Hot running water
5) 3 dedicated tooth brushes
6) Motor oil
7) Oxpho blue: liquid works better, cream is easier to use
8) Some other darker cold blue
9) Liquid detergent, like SIMPLE GREEN

G96 gun blue cream.
Get the part hot and soapy, and scrub it with a tooth brush.
Rinse and dry without getting finger prints on it or letting it cool down.
Scrub on the dark cold blue with a tooth brush for a minute.
Get the part hot and soapy, and scrub it with a tooth brush.
Rinse and dry without getting finger prints on it or letting it cool down.
Scrub on the Oxpho cold blue with a tooth brush for a minute.
Apply oil lightly without rubbing off the Oxpho blue.
Leave overnight.
Get the part hot and soapy, and scrub it with a tooth brush.
Rinse and dry.
Rub oil on it.
Wipe off excess oil.

Repeat until dark and durable enough.

For whole barrels, spin them in the lathe to rub in the Oxpho.

With barrels, put a rubber stopper in the muzzle and breech to keep
liquids out.

Hair dryer or heat gun can warm parts.