What are your thoughts on cold bluing compared to standard bluing as far as durability is concerned. Also who makes the best Cold Bluing product that most anyone can use.
I am wanting to blue a few of my beater rifles and am not really wanting to drop hundreds on bluing them. I am looking for an affordable long lasting finish that looks half way decent. I am not really wanting to go the painting method (duracoat or similar).
What do you all have experience with and what has worked or not worked for you?
What are your thoughts on cold bluing compared to standard bluing as far as durability is concerned. Also who makes the best Cold Bluing product that most anyone can use.
I am wanting to blue a few of my beater rifles and am not really wanting to drop hundreds on bluing them. I am looking for an affordable long lasting finish that looks half way decent. I am not really wanting to go the painting method (duracoat or similar).
What do you all have experience with and what has worked or not worked for you?
Thanks.
I've done the Birchwood Casey system on my model 94 Winchester. It came out fairly good. Here's more on that system: Birchwood Casey - Tru Temp®
The feeding tube blued just fine but I learned that the alloy steel in the receiver of the model 94 Winchester would not take bluing other than by the "rust blueing" system. Currently I'm having the entire gun reblued by the rust blueing system by fellow G&G member Steve Bowers. I'm anxious to see the results.
I concur with Oxford. Some steels do better than others, and initially they might look pretty good. In the long run it should be consider a temporary solution to a bigger problem.
If you want instructions for using Birchwood Casey you have to get them online. They don't come packaged with the products. But they are great at answering emails fairly quickly. I just ordered a bottle of Brass Black and there was nothing with it other than saying it was known to cause cancer.
__________________ Sitting at the corner of awesome and bombdiggity.
Try the Brownell's web site and search "cold blue." They sell all of the brands I've heard of and there are plenty of reviews to help guide you. I've tried most of them and always go back to Oxpho Blue or 44/40.
But let's face it, cold blue isn't much more durable than a permanant marker so keep it well oiled after your done.
Try the Brownell's web site and search "cold blue." They sell all of the brands I've heard of and there are plenty of reviews to help guide you. I've tried most of them and always go back to Oxpho Blue or 44/40.
But let's face it, cold blue isn't much more durable than a permanant marker so keep it well oiled after your done.
dz
This is what I was wanting to hear. If it isn't that much better than a marker than maybe I will explore other options. I don't want to keep having to touch up something every time I take it out.
Basically, no cold blue product can match a hot blue job when it comes to durability or good looks. However, I've found Brownells Oxpho Blue and Blue Wonder's cold blue to be fairly durable and more often than not, provide a decent looking blue job. But as someone else wrote, depends on the metal you are trying to blue. Been my experience you can get a decent cold blue finish on a barrel most of the time. But on the receiver its a 50-50 chance of it takeing a decent finish. Barrel metal is softer and takes cold blue better.
I've 'cold blued' a few guns over the years. I didn't have trouble until lately. I guess it's the difference in the metals. And, yes, heating the barrel in the oven or with hair dryer, etc. does help a lot. I have an old Stevens .410 that my wife gave me for Christmas, 1968. A 'relative' borrowed it and really messed it up. It was maybe 1 or 2 years old. I sanded the stock and used boiled linseed oil on it. It is still in fair shape considering that it's been about 40 years. I sanded the barrel to bare metal, cleaned it with alcohol, and applied the bluing. After a minute or so, I rinsed it and used steel wool on it, just enough to shine it. I think that I applied the bluing a second time. It looked really nice until it was left in a corner by a window and got wet. When I discovered it, I reblued it again. This was about 1976. A few weeks ago, I noticed that the 'blue' was more 'brown'. I was rebluing an old .20 gauge shottie, so I sanded the .410 and applied 2 coats of bluing to it. These are before and after pics.
__________________
Member NRA
Texan living in Idaho
Just an ol' geezer!
My friend let me borrow his Birchwood casey bluing kit to try out. I wanted to experiment with it before I attempted to finish a nicer rifle. I pulled out the old Savage 340c that I bought several years ago for a project gun. Took it apart and cleaned it up really good and tried to prep it the best I could. I applied several coats of the bluing on it and it turned out so so. I had one area that streaked a little bit but not to bad. I will try and post a pic or two later.
What are your thoughts on cold bluing compared to standard bluing as far as durability is concerned. Also who makes the best Cold Bluing product that most anyone can use.
I am wanting to blue a few of my beater rifles and am not really wanting to drop hundreds on bluing them. I am looking for an affordable long lasting finish that looks half way decent. I am not really wanting to go the painting method (duracoat or similar).
What do you all have experience with and what has worked or not worked for you?
Thanks.
You and everybody else. LOL
IMHO cold blue leaves me cold. I have never tried anything that wouldn't rub off after a few trips to the woods. The only thing that works besides hot bath bluing is rust bluing but that is almost more difficult than the hot blue route.
I have an SKS that had light pitting/tiny rust on the bolt carrier. I decided to try birchwood cold bluing on it and am happy with the way it came out. It looks more unique now too.
I have an SKS that had light pitting/tiny rust on the bolt carrier. I decided to try birchwood cold bluing on it and am happy with the way it came out. It looks more unique now too.
I did this also, works well for me too.
__________________ Everytime someone sells a gun without buying another, a nice kitten is placed into a wood chipper.
7Likes
