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Cold Bluing. Your Thoughts.

2K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  QKShooter 
#1 ·
The last time I tried to do any "cold bluing" was 40 years ago on a shotgun barrel and I made a mess of it.

I understand that chemicals and the process itself has improved since then.

I am thinking of touching up my two new "ladies" in some of the places that are totally bare.

Gun Firearm Revolver Trigger Starting pistol
Firearm Gun Revolver Trigger Starting pistol

click image to enlarge....

These are going to be "working girls" and since I got both for a very resonable price I do not want to send them away to the high end refinishers (it would be nice but finances dictate otherwise).

I can follow directions and my handyman skills have improved somewhat over the past four decades.

Any thoughts or recommendations on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

OS
 
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#8 ·
+1 on the Oxpho Blue, I have used it to completely blue two guns and to touch up others. The biggest thing is to make sure the metal is thoroughly de-grease the metal, I generally use acetone but you must blue immediately or it will rust. Sometimes it may take two or more applications to match or get the depth of blue you want just do a quick wipe down with acetone before each application.
 
#5 ·
Your new girls really do look great without any makeup. Some folks seem to have good results from cold blue but I never did. The touch up spots always looked blotchy and rapidly wore off. I've given up on effective cold blue but I haven't tried any in some time.
 
#6 ·
Cold blue takes a bit of skill and craftsmanship. To do a truly proper job, I think you'd need to strip the entire gun down and start over. If they were mine, and I truly wanted a working gun... I'd do duracoat.
 
#7 ·
Good to know. I've often thought about buying one of those old rusty guns at a gun show for little of nothing and trying to clean it up. I figured I'd disassemble it, sand all of the rust off, polish with a dremel, then attempt to re-blue the gun. Unfortunately, I just can't seem to find the time for such a project. It would be fun, though.
 
#9 ·
Eaglebeak has what I am looking for correct.

A little makeup for the girls.

I would love to get a professional refinishing job on them but as I said that's not in the cards at least for now.

I would be paying almost as much for the refinishing plus overnight shipping back and forth as I did for the guns.

Brownell's looks like my next stop.

OS
 
#12 ·
In the meantime buy a package of very fine steel wool. Like 0000 extra fine.

Be careful that you don't contaminate your bottle and it stores forever. You can use cotton swabs as applicators but don't dip used ones back into the bottle.
Always use a new swab every time you dip.
Apply it...and then steel wool it pretty hard.
Believe it or not...rubbing with the fine steel wool will not scratch your existing bluing.
It's a much softer steel than the gun steel.
Then repeat the applications as many times as is necessary to get the color nice and deep.
Buy the smallest bottle if you're just going to do little touch-ups.
It goes a long way.
 
#13 ·
Ordered OXPHO Cream Bluing and degreaser from Brownell's and will pick up some 0000 steel wool from the hardware store.

Also watched their video on cold bluing.

I have some time on my hands now and I am going to give this a try.

If things go wrong I have Robar's phone number.....LOL

Thanks for the advice from everyone.

OS
 
#14 ·
Be sure that once everything is degreased...DO NOT touch it with your fingers. Use rubber gloves to keep the oils from your skin off of the gun.

I use Vans myself. I keep a large bottle on hand for cold bluing threads jobs and touch ups. It works great.
 
#15 ·
I'll have to check out the VANS.

I have a complete 1911 that I cold blued with OXPHO blue. It actually looks pretty doggone decent and I did a really good pre-polishing job on it.
It does show "holster wear" quicker than a good HOT blue (in the usual areas) but, it touches up very quickly and easily.
 
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