Posted on 01/27/2019 9:01:09 AM PST by OldSmaj
Trying to protect a snake killin' gun with cold-blue solution.
OH! BTW, if you do use Cerakote I cannot stress enough using a valved safety mask and eye protection. I even use surgical gloves when coating firearm parts. Its potent stuff which is why it sticks to firearm parts so well.
Ever heard of salt blueing? It’s basically rust, with small crystals. Supposed to produce a nice finish if done with care.
I did on an old Ruger standard pistol, looked like crap. Later, used my dryer motor-powered aluminum polishing rig, and it got real nice. Everyone thought it was mirror-polished stainless. I learned polishing doing all the a!uminum on my ‘83 KZ750. Not that I’m a perfectionist or anything, but I don’t like my toys ugly... :)
I’ve had very good luck with “Oxpho-Blue” from Brownells.
Its really a “graying” solution but works well. I also use it like a “shoe polish” on used firearms to blend in any scratches or wear spots. Follow directions on the label.
I did a shotgun barrel completely with it after a bead blast and it worked very well.
That’s the best method if you are going to do lots of parts over time. My setup cost almost 1500 bucks. It aint cheap to do it right.
I've been around a Gunsmith friend of mine that has experience with it...it always seemed to be kinda involved, as far as the procedures.
But I like it...I'll give it a try.
Thanks.
I have my father’s 12 gauge. Painted 65 years ago. No flaking.
He probably has all the tools you need then. A Cerakote kit costs about 60 bucks (and believe me, you can do more than one firearm with it if you mix the whole kit; I try to schedule finishing’s so I don’t waste). It really is not that involved. Like I said previous. Strip the firearm down; de-grease and sand blast. Look for any oily parts and if none, paint it up and cure it.
At any rate, let us know what direction you go and how it turns out. Lots of gun nutz on this board.. ;)
Best of luck..
Maybe someone cracked the code.
I cold blued an old rifle many years ago. I had good success. I think the most important part is completely stripping the old bluing off and use super fine emory cloth then steel wool to remove any rust.
No success. Got moisture rust on the bluing of a Makarov pistol years ago. Several attempts to refinish it were futile. Finally gave up.
I refinished a .22 rifle whose barrel had a good deal of surface rust. I used steel wool and a mild sandpaper, oiled it occasionally and went over it repeatedly over a period of weeks. I blued it, hit it with the steel wool, and blued it again until the finish was like I wanted.
I’m a big believer in just thoroughly cleaning with solvent, then washing with a good detergent and thoroughly drying.
Then painting with engine paint.
The metal must be CLEAN.
Some would advise primer.
But you’re looking for function, not pretty.
No terrible luck, found a guy that did traditional bluing cheap, came out great and still looks good 25 years later.
If it is just a “knock-about” gun, I would use Duracoat. Anytime I reblue a gun, I completely remove all old bluing. I’ve had great success with the Duracoat Rust and Bluing Remover.
The last gun I blued, I stripped the bluing and reblued with cold-bluing. Turned out great!
I did a quick experiment with Glyptal a little bit ago.
I used a reducer and sprayed it on after taping the interior and plugging the barrel.
It has to cure, but I can already see that it's a much better protection than the cold-blue would ever be.
But, you're right, it sure as heck ain't pretty.
The trick is proper degreasing—getting ALL the oil out of the metal’s pores.
Once you succeed in that, most any of the popular stuff works just fine. I have tried many.
I reduced it with some Spies-Hecker reducer, sprayed it with just my little 4 oz airbrush, and, amazingly, it looks like it's going to be a real success!
It has to cure for 24 hours, but it's nice and even, uniform and it's flashed to a greyish-blue.
I reduced it to the point that it wouldn't fill in the roll-stamping.
Not that I want to preserve the roll-stamping, but that's my bench mark for how thick I think any thing of that nature should be.
If that works to any positive degree, I have some other things that are going to get that treatment.
Hand tools, some small implements, etc.
I'll let you know.
Thanks for the input.
I use Tal-strip.
It's effective to the point that if you leave a treated piece of metal around for a more than a couple of hours, it'll flash rust just from what moisture is in the air.
Short of boiling in acetone, I think it's probably about as effective as anything else.
Thanks for the input.
Go old school rust blueing. Brownells has it. Takes patience. You lightly clean it down every few days with 0000 Steel Wool, degrease and reapply. Takes weeks, but is a nice finish as long as you prepped it well enough. Ceracote is an option, too. I like the bake finish, I find it more durable. I use the cheap airbrushes from Harbor Freight, work great.
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