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Touch up Bluing

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  • avvidclif

    TGT Addict
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    3   0   0
    Aug 30, 2017
    5,794
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    Van Zandt County
    Somebody posted detailed instructions on how to clean, polish, and reblue a spot the other day and I can't find it. Could I get a repeat? My SIL brought me a double barreled shotgun to clean up and it needs more than a cleaning so I thought I would make a pass at it. It can't look any worse. It was stored in the trunk of a car that leaked.
     

    V-Tach

    Watching While the Sheep Graze
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    7   0   0
    Sep 30, 2012
    8,899
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    Texas
    I never have had good results with touch up cold bluing although others say differently. Hot bluing as stated above takes several tanks, chemicals and is labor intensive.

    I have had very nice results with the following two methods....both labor intensive.....prep, prep, prep, prep will give the best results regardless of method...both can be done with minimal expense/equipment..........


    Belgian Blue




    Classic Rust bluing solution (I use Brownells)


     

    Sam7sf

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    10   0   0
    Apr 13, 2018
    12,466
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    Texas
    I never have had good results with touch up cold bluing although others say differently. Hot bluing as stated above takes several tanks, chemicals and is labor intensive.
    It’s trash. It forces you to just reblue the whole job often because of shade differences.
     

    Slimshaddy

    Member
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    0   0   0
    Apr 15, 2023
    72
    11
    South Austin Texas
    Blue wonder.
    If done right the results are very very good.
    It's a "cold blue" but you heat the metal beforehand.
    After it dries and gets polished, they have a followup chemical treatment that sets the blue and prevents it from wearing right back off.
    I used is on many WWII rifles to touch up bald spots and the repaired spots could not be seen.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
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    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,022
    96
    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Blue wonder.
    If done right the results are very very good.
    It's a "cold blue" but you heat the metal beforehand.
    After it dries and gets polished, they have a followup chemical treatment that sets the blue and prevents it from wearing right back off.
    I used is on many WWII rifles to touch up bald spots and the repaired spots could not be seen.
    any colblueing works better if the metal is heated up slightly
     

    V-Tach

    Watching While the Sheep Graze
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    Sep 30, 2012
    8,899
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    For touch up of small blemishes...I use OXPHO-Blue, both liquid and creme (prefer the creme). Does a decent job and will look good/ok for a while. But all cold blue over time will not exactly match the original bluing, different chemicals age differently and will show. Cold blue is not as durable and long lasting, imho...

    I do not know of any professional shops that cold blue complete guns.

    20230511_120956.jpg
     

    hornetguy

    Active Member
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    10   0   0
    Feb 21, 2021
    648
    76
    Allen, Texas
    I built a 35 Whelan on a 98 Argentine mauser action a bunch of years ago. I put an "in the white" Adams and Bennett barrel on it, and never got around to sending it out to be blued. It never really rusted/tarnished, and I began to wonder if they had sold me a stainless barrel accidentally.
    I finally decided to see if I could use the Oxpho Blue method.... like was stated earlier, couldn't hurt it.
    I cleaned/prepped/cleaned/cleaned.... warmed it up with a heat gun and coated it. It looked kinda blotchy. Un-deterred, I dusted it off, warmed it up, and coated it again. Still looked a little blotchy, but darker. Did it again, and it was becoming more uniformly darker. After the next coat, I figured that was enough. The color was good, but faintly blotchy. I coated it with oil and let it sit overnight to kill the chemical action.
    Next morning, I wiped it down, and was amazed to see that it was no longer blotchy... .just uniformly black. It looked way better than I had hoped/expected. I'll see if I can get pics of it...
    I don't know how it would work on "spots".... but it worked very nicely on my "whole barrel" job.
     

    mmcbeat

    Member
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    0   0   0
    Jul 15, 2018
    97
    26
    Fort Worth
    For touch up of small blemishes...I use OXPHO-Blue, both liquid and creme (prefer the creme). Does a decent job and will look good/ok for a while. But all cold blue over time will not exactly match the original bluing, different chemicals age differently and will show. Cold blue is not as durable and long lasting, imho...

    I do not know of any professional shops that cold blue complete guns.

    View attachment 387326
    I have a bottle of that, didn’t know it came in a cream. I agree it works pretty good for touch up. Dip a common nail in the bottle and it comes out blue/black.
     

    Txdweeb

    Active Member
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    0   0   0
    Sep 23, 2022
    397
    76
    Temple, Tx
    I just re-did a 1911 using birch wood Casey stuff came out just decent for my first time.

    I let it sit 2 days in evapo-rust to get rid of all old bluing an surface rust. Dipped in mineral spirits to get rid of metal contaminants.

    Let it set in sun to warm metal up.

    Applied the bluing let it sit for a min, rinse off cold water, scuff with 0000 steel wool did this 3x then coated in balistol for 24 hours wiped to a lite film.
     

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    CavCop

    CAVCOP on Rumble
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Oct 2, 2016
    672
    76
    Central TX
    I just re-did a 1911 using birch wood Casey stuff came out just decent for my first time.

    I let it sit 2 days in evapo-rust to get rid of all old bluing an surface rust. Dipped in mineral spirits to get rid of metal contaminants.

    Let it set in sun to warm metal up.

    Applied the bluing let it sit for a min, rinse off cold water, scuff with 0000 steel wool did this 3x then coated in balistol for 24 hours wiped to a lite film.
    The Perma Blue paste I like. Also used their Aluma Black on a few M16/M4’s with good results. Surface preparation is important.
     
    Every Day Man
    Tyrant

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