Ithaca M37 Rust Blue

[Patrick L]

I acquired this Ithaca M37 in 1985 when I was 19. I was a tinkerer even then. Over the years this has been a project gun. Stock refinishes, new stocks, recoil pad(s) etc. One thing I did was cold blue the receiver. As cold blues tend not to be very durable, over the years it became a nice gray. At one point I bought a new vent barrel, so I had this gray gun with a nice blue barrel. My success rust bluing a Browning A5 barrel 2 years ago inspired me to tackle this project.

So here we can see where I was starting


The entire receiver group, trigger guard, and trigger were polished by hand to a 320 grit. I did lightly draw file a few deeper scratches.


Since the original slug barrel only had a few worn spots, I didn't polish it bright, nor some of the other small parts. The beauty of rust blue is it can be done over existing blue.

Here's the receiver/tube and the slug barrel rusting up in the steam cabinet


And the trigger guard


My boiling setup


And my carding wheel in a drill press


I think it came out quite well




I also replaced the Pachmayr pad I put on at some point with a repro Ithaca Sunburst pad


I think this little project turned out pretty darned good. I'm not a gunsmith, but I play one on TV!

[pietro]

.

Looks skookum to me !

[stubshaft]

Well done!

[HWooldridge]

Looks better than factory!

[floydboy]

Looks fantastic. How many times through the rusting cabinet did it take to get that nice finish? What did you use to get the rust going?

I bought some rust bluing off this site a few years ago to play with when I retired. If I remember correctly it was called Andy's rust bluing. Retired 3 years ago and haven't tried it yet. You've gave me new inspiration. I've got an A5 I that was my intended project. It's not in bad shape at all. I just thought if I could make it look more like new I'd try it. I really liked your photos of your equipment. If I can find an old cardboard box I think I'd be good to go.

Really does look great....Floyd

[Patrick L]

Just Brownells Rust Blue.

I was done after 4 cycles, but I got careless and accidentally hit it against the wall, put an ugly smear in the top of the receiver, so the receiver/mag tube assembly got 3 more to get rid of that, so a total of 7 for that.

[floydboy]

Thanks. Definitely gonna add this to my bucket list of things to do.

Floyd

[oconeedan]

That is beautiful! I have browned some muzzle loaders, but not rust blued anything. The beginning of the process looks similar. Dan

[LAGS]

That looks good.
When I Rust Blue guns, I soak the parts in Vinegar to remove any old rust or old bluing.
Then I bead blast the metal to give the finish a matt color finish.
Over the years I have done several shotguns in Rust Bluing.
In fact , two were model 37's

[Shopdog]

Looks sharp Patrick,you should be proud of this project. Thanks for sharing.

[Moleman-]

Thats a nice refinish!

[PTCSmith]

Just saw this thread. Outstanding job!!

[405grain]

I just saw this thread as well. Very nice rust blue. I always liked the Ithaca 37. The bottom eject is a cool feature. Your shotgun looks great.

[35 Rem]

I love Ithaca 37's. I got one new in 1978 when I turned 18 so can identify with you here. I liked it so much that I bought another one years later and they are still my favorite shotguns because of how light they are to carry. Since I don't hunt waterfowl, there is no need for 3 inch shells anyhow. Your bluing job looks great to me too by the way!

[Texas by God]

What a nice looking Deerslayer! Well done, TV gunsmith!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sigep1764]

What did you use in the cabinet to create the rust? Water pan and what to heat it?

[Patrick L]

I used a vaporizer, like you put in your child's room when they have a cold. I also put a clothes steamer in there to get things started, but I would only run that for like 3-4 minutes. That thing cranked out the steam, and you don't want so much that it condenses and drips.

[ascast]

That is very nice.

[Gav-n-Tn]

I have a M37 Deerslayer from the first year. These are perfect for lefties! Almost sold mine a few times but never did. Yours looks great!

[Rockindaddy]

Nice job on the rust blue. I have a rusty 20 Ga Model 37 DeLuxe that I hand polished and hot blued. Restoring the wood now! Lots of work. Rust blueing is even more work rusting and carding. Nice story! Now find a WWI Luger P08 and rust blue it!