Cold Bluing

[churchmouse]

Just got an older Rem. 788 in 22.250 from a long time friend that is slowly selling off his collection. This is a really straight shooter. Problem is that the barrel has some rough places on it. My buddy has health issues and he has not been able to maintain his guns for a while. I also got a 10 gauge side by side from him that needs some love in the same way....barrel is rough.
Question, Cold bluing. Never done it, not sure it is the way to go but am interested in the process. Pro's/con's from those of you with experience.

 

[partyboy6686]

Hit up Brett Havlin aka squirt239 here on INGO. Im sure he could answer your bluing questions.

 

[1911ly]

I have used Birchwood Casey's. It's easy to do. But it's not a very durable long tem finish. But it is easy to touch up! Clean clean clean and degrease the crap out of it is the key to a good looking finish. Hot rust bluing is next on the bucket list of bluing's I want to try.

 

[midget]

I have used this extensively: Gun Metal Bluing - Everything For Firearms - Caswell Inc

It is not the most durable finish, but it holds up about as well as normal bluing. You have to take your time and make sure you do a proper surface prep job, otherwise it won't last...

 

[churchmouse]

I have used Birchwood Casey's. It's easy to do. But it's not a very durable long tem finish. But it is easy to touch up! Clean clean clean and degrease the crap out of it is the key to a good looking finish. Hot rust bluing is next on the bucket list of bluing's I want to try.

I have dun the Gun Coat thing but never the cold blue. These 2 guns are good enough to put the effort into.

 

[freekforge]

I personally wouldn't cold blue a gun it hardly ever works the way you want it to. The only thing I use it for anymore is to bring out the pattern in Damascus knives. I have had it work good one time and that was on a mosin barrel and it was a real PITA to get it to work.

 

[Shootin'IN]

I use the Birchwood Casey cold blue this is the procedure I use.
The trick to a good cold blue is preparation, and heat but not a lot of heat.
But hot enough that it is uncomfortable to hold for a long time. (don't burn yourself)
1. You need to prep the parts to be blued, sandblast, or glass bead, everything you are going to blue.(or use the Birchwood Casey Perma Blue-Gun Blue Kit)
https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Refinishing/Metal-Finishing/Perma-Blue®-Gun-Blue-Kit.aspx
2. Clean, with denatured alcohol (if parts are real greasy clean with carb cleaner first)
Trick; when cleaning warm parts put them in a 1 gal. or 2 gal. ziplock bag with alcohol & shake (be sure you are away from any flames or heating source) blow off or shake off excess alcohol.
3.Heat, it can be as easy as putting them on an old car hood in the mid day summer sun (dark color works best).
I use a roast pan with enough water to cover parts, get it up to a rolling boil. Put in parts & let it come back to a boil. Grease or oil is a BAD thing at this point if you notice any on parts or on top of the water STOP and go back to the cleaning step.
4.Take parts out of water shake or blow water off, parts should dry quickly. Put warm parts in a thick 2gal. or larger clean ziplock bag quickly pour in cold blue(I use Birchwood Casey Perma Blue) over parts in bag, zip closed & shake turning over a few times, keep turning and shaking until all parts are covered.(for bluing gun barrels use vacuum sealer rolled bags by sealing one end of a piece of bag long enough to cover the barrel + enough to tie a twist tie around it)
5. Remove parts from bag & rinse in cold water.
6. Reheat parts in the water, at this point when you take the parts out of the water they will turn greenish brown, don't panic! this is normal.
7. Repeat steps 4,5, & 6 until you get the color you want while wet.
8. Heat parts in the water, remove the parts shake or blow water off, put in NEW CLEAN ziploc bag & coat with a good gun oil, I use Remington's Rem oil.
After soaking with gun oil keep parts in the bag & put it in a warm place for 24 hrs. Keeping all parts coated (I put the bag & all on a bunch of shop towels in the back window of the car in the summer sun.)


Follow this procedure & you will come out with a Great Looking receiver like this one.
This is my Romanian PSL receiver it matches the original color almost exactly.

If done right it is durable too. Here is a picture of a old Mossberg 5500 I blued two years ago. I use it in spot shoot competitions sliding it around on tables & shooting rests, the finish still looks good.
This was a pawn shop purchased gun it was so beat up I talked the guy down to $90 because the bluing on the barrel was gone.

Good Luck with your bluing jobs!

 

[88E30M50]

I like the Oxpho Blue from Brownells. The key is getting all of the oil off when doing the cold blue. I've done a couple of handguns and a 410 shotgun and all have turned out nice. I currently use the cotton ball method of applying the cold blue and that can lead to spotty results but I've found that I can even things out by sort of scrubbing wet cold blue in with 000 steel wool. The biggest downside of cold bluing is that it's not as durable as other types of bluing. But, it can still work well and may be appropriate for a lot of projects.

This is a crappy phone photo but it gives an idea of what a cold blued Rock Island came out like:

 

[ghitch75]

if your going to use the guns get them hot blued.......the cold stuff just can't take a lot of wear......

 

[engineerpower]

Check out rust bluing, it's not that much more work to get the premium bluing finish.

There are multiple good recipes out there for the rusting bath, I'll be doing a hydrogen peroxide/salt bathe with a Type 53 in the near future. Once it's got a good layer of rust, you card it off with steel wool and a brass brush, and boil. Rinse, lather, and repeat.

 

[88E30M50]

Do you card, then boil? I had thought rust bluing was a boil then card process. I could see where carding first makes a lot of sense though.

 

[churchmouse]

I have looked at the oxpho product. I am also going to watch a friend do a procedure that requires the boiling process.
Did not realize how many products/procedures there are.

As to use, the Remington will get use but not on a regular basis. Coyote from a posted up position. Getting a bit older so chasing game is not a favorite pastime.
10 gauge will get shot but most likely not see any more hunting.

 

[engineerpower]

Card, then brush.

Rust expands to fill a much larger volume than the original iron/steel did (hence rust welding threads) and isn't the surface you want. It's rough, lumpy, porous, and weak. When you card the rust, it takes off all the loose stuff, and you're left with the layer actually formed on the surface of the underlying strata. When you boil, that's what gets converted.

 

[roadrunner681]

I have looked at the oxpho product. I am also going to watch a friend do a procedure that requires the boiling process.
Did not realize how many products/procedures there are.

As to use, the Remington will get use but not on a regular basis. Coyote from a posted up position. Getting a bit older so chasing game is not a favorite pastime.
10 gauge will get shot but most likely not see any more hunting.

i would defiantly go hot bluing then my mosin that i cold blue would not hold up in the safe the finish has faded after just 4 years i would say thats my inexperience in bluing thats has caused that but still i haven't used it that much.

 

[trailrider]

I tried cold blueing on an old shotgun. Didnt care for the results for the amount of work preparing. I wouldn't personally do it again.

 

[engineerpower]

I just inventoried my safe, and pulled out my first rifle which I'd completely reblued the metal about 13-ish years ago with the Birchwood-Casey cold blue formula. It looks nice, and could even pass for a factory finish, but I have no doubts that usage beyond sitting in the back of my safe would wear it off. I blued a blade with the same stuff, and it didn't take much for the shine to show through.

 

[Bounty Hunter]

I use Van's Cold Blue. Did a H&R 12 gauge and a Winchester 30-30 with it. They had been stored in a hay mount for years and in bad shape. They turned out great. It is cheap and simple to use, and easy to touch up. I had never used it before, but was very impressed. Preparation is key, no matter what you use, but this stuff works great.

 

[churchmouse]

A friend is doing a hot tank Prussian blue process on a few guns he has been working on. I will be assisting him and learning the ins and outs. From what I have seen of the ones he has done it is a good deal. I will see what it is about in a week or so.

 

[1911ly]

A friend is doing a hot tank Prussian blue process on a few guns he has been working on. I will be assisting him and learning the ins and outs. From what I have seen of the ones he has done it is a good deal. I will see what it is about in a week or so.

Get some pics if you can. That would be great!.

 

[ghitch75]

who's your friend?