All the parts were de-rustified (Is that a word?) and then cleaned up and given a brushed finish. Im messing around with Herters (now Arts) Belgian as an alternative to cold bluing. I tried the trigger guard first. Its more effort than wipe on cold blue since it involved boiling the parts and repeatedly applying the blue, carding, boiling but it gives the part a darker black (and more matte) appearance than cold bluing. It’s the cross between rust bluing and cold bluing.
The remaining part were cold blued with Nu-Blu
There is a coloration difference but I have not ruled out dissimilar metals as being the cause.
At any rate, I maintain the option of stripping down all the parts and using Belgian blue on all the parts.
Here is it back together again.
The next step is stripping and rebluing the barrel. Its not in terrible shape as far as rust goes but it does have a few dings and some rust pitting in the metal that will remain.
I will remove the barrel lug and mount the barrel in my wood lathe and give it a 220, 320, 400, 600 grit job and then steel wool. I plan to use the Belgian blue on the barrel which means I need to fashion a tank to boil it in.
Since I was going to be using the Belgian blue any way and wanted to rule out dissimilar metal I took a couple of old bolts and cut the heads off and cleaned them up to 400 grit and applied Nu-Blu to one and Belgian blue to the other then I placed them both in a bag of Strike hold for 24 hours. Here are the results after a wipe down.
While the pictures do a poor job of showcasing the difference, its clear that the Belgian blue is deeper, blacker and more matte than the cold blue.
Since the weather is nicer and because the barrel is larger than a trigger guard and because of the Mercuric Chorlide in the Belgian blue I want to do this bluing outside. My boiling tank will be heated by my 5 burner gas BBQ grill with a tank of suitable size that still need to be made.
To be continued…….