DIY Gun Re-blue

[mscher]

Anyone have any suggestions on materials to do a decent re-blue on a shotgun?

I have the Birchwood Casey stuff, but it does not seem to really darken the metal. This barrel had rust on it at one time, so most of the original blue is gone.

Not worth a professional re-blue and not looking for a 10+ finish, just want it darker, than with the cheap BC/Walmart blue kit.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: DIY Gun Re-blue

Hmmm.....I had good luck with the Birchwood Casey kit, from Walmart as well. I bought a Remington Model 29 for 100 bucks off a coworker. It had next to no blue on the barrel and had the wood varnished with a brush. I stripped the wood and refinished it....Anyway back on topic. The cold blue worked well for me. I had to do it several times. After, I finished, I oiled the metal and reoiled every day for so for a few weeks. The oil seem to "soak" in the metal and brought the blue out. It turned out to be a pretty sharp gun.

 

[BF]

Re: DIY Gun Re-blue

I've never tried to do a major re-blue with the cold blue... just touched up a couple. Appearance wise it seemed to work OK, took a couple applications though. What I didn't like was that it didn't seem very durable. The bluing was gone from the muzzle and any edges (from rubbing the soft case) in no time.

You might check with a local smith... if you have it stripped and just bring it in for a hot blue I don't think it's expensive. I priced it out here, but I don't remember what it was... something like $40 (??)

 

[Splat]

Re: DIY Gun Re-blue

I did a total reblueing onmy P89 after I put it in a sonic cleaner to clean it. It took all the blueing off the aluminum frame.

The only problem I had was making sure ALL the oil was gone before starting the blueing prosess.
Oil on the metal will inhibit the reaction with the metal to make it turm dark.

Bill

 

[corm]

Re: DIY Gun Re-blue

Hi,

Spray it down with brakekleen or 90% rubbing alcohol.
You have to get all the grease & oil off. You may have to rub it down with 2000 grit wet or dry sand paper to get some clean metal to show. Do not do any cleaning after sanding or you will contaminate the surface again.
When using cold bluing it is helpful to heat the parts up some to activate the bluing better. Also you can even out the process with 0000 steel wool, degrease the steel wool with thinner to get it clean before you use it. You can also apply the cold blue with it or a brown paper bag each will give different results. It just depend on how you want it to look. I have used brown paper towels too but they fall apart quickly.
Brownells or Midwayusa have a much better selection of cold blue to choose from. They may even have some how to do info on their sites.

We do not do any bluing any more as it has passed its usefulness. We Duracoat everything these days. So the only thing you have to clean is the bore and chamber. www.lauerweaponry.com is where I work now. We ship it world wide to foreign military and private people alike. The US Dept of Energy, DOJ and all branches of our Mil use it.