Has anyone had any luck with the Birchwood Casey rebluing kit? I just bought one and was going to try it on a rifle barrel/receiver and parts. Any tips, tricks I should know about?
I have used Birchwood casey blue kit's twice, both times I have used Naval Jelly as a replacement for the old blue removal agent. Naval jelly can be bought at home depot for around 8 bucks for 10 oz. or so and is some awesome stuff, it will strip off all blue and any hidden rust. As far as preparation, cleanliness is the key. Follow the instructions and once the part is completely stripped, polished(steel wool) and clean, DON'T TOUCH IT!!! Use powder free latex gloves to minimalize contact of oils onto the metal. Also, when applying the blueing agent, I found that if you use a cough syrup measuring cup and a clean foam applicator brush (in the paintbrush aisle at home depot or wal-mart) it makes the most out of a little bit.
Let the bluing sit for the appropriate time, then rinse it with cold water, then polish it with steel wool and apply some more blueing agent. Continue until the desired bluing depth is acquired.
And the main hint I can give is to do it all in parts, you can strip and prep all the parts at once but blue them all separate to avoid over exposure to the bluing agent.
One more thing, The birchwood casey bluing agent, once on metal, acts as a sponge to whatever moisture is in the air so be sure to either hose down all parts with WD-40 once they're done, then wipe it off and apply lots of oil, or just lather them down with a good layer of action grease when you're done. Be sure to check on the blued parts for the next week or so at least once a day because any spots that you missed with the oil will start flashing rust which can easily be wiped off with a rag and oiled over.
Steel wool is your friend. Whenever you've watered down the parts after bluing them, the steel wool polishing is what gives them a nice luster. If you go to home depot pick up a bag of super fine to use as a polisher.
Also, don't expect too much, it does a satisfactory job but by no means is a hot bluing job. Any areas where oil was left on the metal before applying the agent will show up as lighter patches than those that soak in the agent.
Hopefully this helps, if you need any advice when you're doing it, feel free to pm me.
I'll try it out tomorrow afternoon and see if I can get it down. I have to go get some steel wool and now, a foam paint brush. I got a bolt action shotgun cheap so its no big deal if I mess it up. I can always send it to be duracoated like Hi-Cap said. Speaking of that, I have 3 now that I need to send to you.