blueing question

[steviebiggun]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but here goes. what is the best do-it-yourself at home gun blueing. It probably would be cold blueing, I know it would'nt be as good as hot blueing. but I have my dads old winchester 94 and an old shotgun that I would like to try and re-blue. can't afford to have a gunsmith do it. besides, I would kinda like to try it myself. ( it would give me somthing to do this winter ) thanks for all the help.

Birchwood casey is about all thier is. I use it for cold blueing lapped scope rings and little things. But I could never work fast enough to get the bluing even. If you can put the bluing on real fast and wipe down with cold water fast enough it might turn out ok even.

[bigbulls]

You may as well forget about cold blueing an entire gun. To put it bluntly, it will look like crap when you get done.

[longrifle1000]

ORIGINAL: bigbulls

You may as well forget about cold blueing an entire gun. To put it bluntly, it will look like crap when you get done.

That has been my experience as well.

[Charley]

Birchwood casey is about all thier is.

You may as well forget about cold blueing an entire gun. To put it bluntly, it will look like crap when you get done.

For the first, no, BC isn't all there is.

For the second, if you use BC products to try to do an entire gun, it will look like crap.

The only cold blue that has a prayer of looking decent, IMO, is Brownell's Oxpho-Blue. Best cold blue on the market, and, unlike BirchwoodCasey stuff,is suitable for other things than touching up screwheads. Go here to look at it:http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/catsearch.aspx?k=oxpho+blue&ps=10&si=True

Another option is Blue Wonder, not a really a "blue", as I understand it, it is actually a photo-chemical process. It does work, and works quite well. Go here to look at it:http://www.bluewonder.us/index.html

Neither of these will take the place of a highly polished, hot caustic salt blue finish, but they are both very servicable finishes.

[C. Davis]

Stevie,
Try this link below. No doubt, a professional hot blue can't be beat, but I just bought an old Marlin 39a from a shop that looked like somebody had left it behind the seat of their truck and forgot about it. I used this technique to reblue, and whenmy father in law saw it, he gave this old Revelation Model 300 .410 pump to me to do for him. When I am done with the wood work on the Marlin, I will try to get some pictures of it also.

This .410 is 5 rounds of blueing as described in this link with the Birchwood Casey Super Blue. I found there is no need to rush from bluing to the cold water because you can easily blend the blueby lightpolishing using .0000 steel wool.

Of course, you have to completely disassemble the gun, and the real key is the degreasing with gun scrubber. Make sure all oil, rust, and old blueare gone. Again, don't be alarmed at the different shades of blue, because the steel wool blends it perfectly. I went 5 rounds because I wanted it as dark as possible. If you goof it up, it is no biggie because you can start over. If you still don't get it, then save up for a professional job.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/carbinenagant/reblue/index.asp