Gun bluing for dummies
 

With my Parent's health problems over the last few years, my Father's spoon collection has been put on the back burner. He turns 70 in a few days, and is kinda itching to make sure all of his affairs are in order, so we got them out, and took an inventory last night. All are in good shape, and require just a good cleaning, and maintenance, which we are going to spend some good "together" time doing. But, he has a Ruger mini 14 with a folding stock that is going to need a little more attention. On the rear, where the folding stock attaches to the wood, the is a large amount of rust. Removing the rust isn't an issue, as I polish molds for a living, and have all the tools available to take care of that. BUT, is there a way to re-blue that piece for the DIY guys, or would this be better left to a gunsmith? I stripped the rifle, cleaned it, and re oiled it, paying special attention to this spot, to prevent any more little surprises, and the bore was clean, and unpitted so we're good there. What says the Brain Trust?

why in hells name re-blue it????????????????



buy stainless or ROBAR.COM or go home!


blue anything SUCKS!



screw blue even in "dry arizona".


example: usgi parkerized(also worthless) colt .45 in nylon bianchi m-9 holster for 10 straight days in sideways snow slush rain elk hunt.


end result: a perfectly new spoon completely rusted and I MEAN BAD! and that was 10 days! had to get it re-parkered and sold it and that was the beginning of my QUEST to buy all stainless or a mfg. like HK that has HE coating(hostile environment) already on it.


rick lee may chime in here with a marching band as far as the benefits of RO-GUARD and NP-3(teflon).


remember we are in the VORTEX OF SPOONS here in az. and have been doing this for IONS


homey dont buy NUFFING BLUE EVAR AGAIN!

It's called preventive maintenance.....
 

At the end of each day after getting into your cabin or tent, a good wipe down with an oiled cloth would have prevented the piece from rusting. Remember, even stainless steel will corrode if ignored long enough. The problem was not the material the pistol was made of or it's finish.

yeah like i had the energy after getting up at 3am,slogging thru mud/snow snot all day beating my self silly chasing elk until dark,then climbing into my fart bag with ambient temp at -9 degrees F.


yeah i wanted to wipe down my rifle and pistol.


nope stainless for me or ROBAR'D! or BOTH!


my actions NEVAR FREEZE UP! and we tested that one in colorado south of pagosa springs one winter storm. both buddies rifles (rem and win) had their actions FREEZE!

as in NO WORKY / NO GE-BANG!

i wiped all the mud/snow off action, and pulled the bolt back and life WAS GOOD!

yes we left them outside so the optics wouldnt take a POO on us.


yeah we're the REAL DEAL! REAL WORLD HUNTERS! REAL WORLD ELK ASSASSINS!


we dont have no stinking cabin with a nice warm fire and wearing lil bunny slippers wiping our spoons down.



weather? whats an elk hunt WITHOUT SNOW??????????????



ROBAR'D/STAINLESS.............the best of all worlds!


p.s. try having your spoon mounted front or rear EXPOSED on a quad(so you can use it asap) and tell me all about how much mud and snow will land on yer rifle! ask me how i know ALL ABOUT DAT????

OJU, he asked about gun bluing for dummies, not opinions on gun finishes from a raving dummy.
OJU, I like you, but give it a rest and if you can't answer the question without a nonsensical rant of your opinion, shut the he'll up.

OP, I think art has some experience with home bluing and I know david (targa911s) has experience. I used brownells cold blue with mixed feelings on the outcome, for very small spots it should be fine for your needs.

Ask David, ignore Charles.

mixed results.............HMMMMM???

ignore stomach monkey................call robar.com


and by the way it wasnt a rant. just real world.


and i have nevar had a stainless anything rust on me in 10-14day elk hunts since ditching anything blue.

and i noted his domicile which is anything but kind to spoons.


but then WTF what do we know?

The rest of this spoon is blued, and so it shall remain. This spoon has no financial value to me at all, but, it was my Father's backup weapon that he carried in his squad car since it was new. That fact makes me want to keep it as HE wanted it, and purchased it. But the Colt Commander that was his side arm, satin nickel. Both of these have an IMMENSE sentimental value to me, and both have less than 75 rounds through them, and they will probably stay that way. Keeping them as close to how my Father wanted them is the MOST important thing to me. Again, if WANTED to, we have the tools, the know how, and the equipment to polish them to a #1 Diamond finish, and chrome plate them. But that isn't what I WANT. If I were to actually take them out into the elements for extended periods, those finishes would work well, I'm sure, but it's not what I'm after. I don't want to re-invent the wheel, I just want them as Dad ordered, purchased, and carried them. Anything else would be like gold embroidering his ASAF patches to "spiff them up".

robarguns.com

robar.com will get you shopping bags.

Good move Dude!
 

I applaud your efforts to keep things as they should be kept. The things that are handed down from generation to generation are truely treasures to be kept safe. The hardest thing will be to get the stock hinge reblued so that it matches the rest of the piece. Again, Dave (Targa911S) is the best source to confer with on this project as I believe that he can do a couple of different types of blueing. Good luck with your project.

Thanks Fred! I agree Dave would know instantly what to do, but he also feels compelled to help the rest of us vagrants out in a hands on kinda way. He needs to rest, and concentrate on getting well, and not worry about spoons for a while. Not that his generosity of knowledge isn't welcome.

Now for something different, there's nothing nicer than a blued spoon with wood furniture! I would do nothing but clean it remove the rust and wipe it down. It takes a lot of time to get honest wear.

While it has no "financial value" to you now,it may someday and refinshing in almost all cases reduces the value. to answer your question,it is possible to re-blue it yourself!

Just for the record,Stainless will rust if not taken care of!!

Birchwood Casey has cold blueing liquid and can be found at any gun shop or Gander Mountain type store. It will re-blue the spot... Might look perfect, might look slightly off, but if the rest of the gun is good, I would not hesitate to use the product to "touch up" a spot. After sanding my grandpa's old double barrel to bare metal through 2000 grit, I refinished the whole thing using the Birchwood Casey product and it looks pretty nice. If I were to refinish another gun, I might look into other methods, but the Birchwood stuff is easy to use and works.

+1 on the Birchwood Casey product. I used this to reblue a good piece of a family "heirloom" (Stevens 416-3 that was wife's step-dad carried/trained with at Camp Pendleton). The finish matched amazingly close.

Thank you all for your confidence in me. For spot blueing,first I would try this from Brownells. Oxpho blue CREAM


.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1324155096.jpg

This is the cream version. Much easier to control. Follow the directions and repeat the process about 5 or 6 times. If that don't do it send me pics and I can eyeball what kind of blue we are looking at then I can advise you. Now if the whole gun needs to be done....I can make some recommendations for people in your area. Just for the record,stainless will not take bluing of any kind. You may PM me and we can exchange phone numbers if you would like to discuss your options.

I will vouch for the Oxpho Blue as well. Used it on my projects from this semester and was very happy with it.

Thanks for the input everyone. this is just going to be a spot touch up, so the whole gun won't need it. It's an area about half the size of a thimble, so it wouldn't take much. I'm thinking polish out the rust to keep it from going deeper, and possibly spreading, the a very light glass bead we have at work to match what was there from the factory, then touch up with bluing paste. Sound like a plan of action?

yeah. that would do it. oxpho cream is your ticket. you will have to order it from brownells though. get a little bottle. shipping will hurt. but it's hazmat.

I have very limited experience with Parkerizing but not with bluing. I really like the way my M1911A1 turned out after it was re-Parkerized and I would not hesitate to di it again, but only one guns that are a mess, not on an original with some minor issues. My pistol was already jacked up by a previous owner who blued it and did a very poor job. I had it sandblasted with aluminum oxide, then I re-Parkerized with the help od David and several others here who were kind enough to help me along the process.

I bought a bottle of Oxpho Blue at our Cabela's in Dundee, MI, but they didn't have the creme variety, just the liquid.