Tried My Hand at Gun Bluing - A Little Bit...
 

Bought this SKS Norinco 7.62x39 some 20 yrs. ago for $60. Cleaned it up recently and shot a nice group at 100 yrds. with open sights...no adjustments.
It's raining here so I thought I'd dink around a bit with some bluing.
This is how rough most of it looks like. (Pardon the steel wool fuzz)
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410914395.jpg
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Took these areas down to bare steel starting with 150 grit, through 4 other grits and ended at 1200 grit. I went down as far as I had energy for...so still some micro pits viewed through a 7x eye loupe. Be easy now, just killin' time.
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Bought some Oxpho Blue at Cabela's and gave it a shot.
'Thought it turned out OK...I can see some oil smudging.
Also, cloudy day so I can't show-off too much.
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410914505.jpg
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410914631.jpg
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410914665.jpg
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Recently bought two other SKSs and they're in mint condition.
One was made in 1980 (last year of production) and looks tits. Zero defects overall, including furniture...quite nice bluing and finish, actually - nothing like this junker.
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OK, thanks for viewing. :)

One more...by request. :D
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410916964.jpg

When I am doing my muzzle loaders I have found a few things that really affect how well the blue takes. First is surface finish, smooth is best and it looks like you did a pretty good job with that. Second is degreasing the metal and for some reason I have found only gun degreaser works, automotive does a terrible job and the blue will streak terribly. Last of all I have used multiple coats since the blue we can do with a "cold blue" is nowhere near as deep as commercial blue.

I have started using a steel blackening finish with a clear coat that seems to make the job a whole lot easier and I tend to like it on the muzzleloaders.

Your parts came out looking really good!

Thanks John.
To degrease I used Berryman's Chemtool (from my garage) with cotton ball, then some alcohol/cotton ball, then dried w/cotton ball.
Applied Oxpho Blue with cotton ball, wiped w/clean cotton ball, Then hit it with 0000 steel wool.
Did that about 6 - 8 times to get it to match that ugly Chinese black crap.
A rainy day deal...kinda fun.
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What is "steel blackening finish with a clear coat"? Splain, please.

This it?
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Do-It-Yourself Cold Blackening : Modern Machine Shop

I use a product from these guys: Metal Finishes PLUS and I use the darkest black color they have. I buy it locally in the San Diego area and it seems to be impervious to my black powder and and thing I use to clean the guns. The steps are:
polish well, clean and degrease, use the blackening solution, let it sit a minute or two, use stop solution, dry well with compressed air and then spray on a thin coat of the clear protectent. The clear has to be removed by sanding or other mechanical means as nothing I have found will remove it!