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Re Bluing

2K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  SwampDude 
#1 ·
I'm totally restoring a 444S any post or thought on re bluing i have looked for a thread on this and don't see (its a shame someone didn't take care of this Rifle)
:stupid:
 
#2 ·
Well, to get a blue job that looks original, you are going to have to have it professionally hot blued. None of the cold blues are going to look like a hot bluing.

I just did some rebluing on my old Savage 99 with Oxpho Blue cream. It's the closest I have come to mimicing a hot blue. Although it doesn't look like a professional hot bluing, it looks pretty darn good. Surface prep is always on of the key steps in getting a good blue job.
 
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#3 ·
When I was 15, I reblued my GrandPappys shotgun, I look at it now and think it could have been done better.:hmmmm:
 
#5 ·
A Birchwood Casey Presto gun blue touch-up pen might give you acceptable small spot coverage . . It's like a Sharpie pen.
 
#6 ·
I get great results with Oxpho liquid from Brownells. I have done several guns both as touch up and complete re-blue jobs. As Halwg said- surface prep is key. If there is a lot of damage to the surface and the remaining blue is uneven I will use Steel White to strip the old finish off and then re-blue. For every job I use the strongest alcohol I can get to clean and degrease the surface. You can use Oxpho liquid is a series of coats to gradually match the original blue if there are parts of the rifle that still have a good blue finish on them.

Oxpho works great on chromium-molybdenum steel. Always . It does not work well on light weight alloys like shotgun receivers or some trigger guards. I have had some luck using the Oxpho paste on those parts.

A key step in using either Oxpho product is to stop the reaction that turns the metal blue. When you get the metal to the color and depth of finish that you want you have to stop the reaction or it will keep getting darker. I use WD 40 to do that. Spray it on and wipe it off and you are done. If you then decide it isn't dark enough- use alcohol to take the WD 40 off and start over.

You can use Oxpho to get a finish almost as good as a professional bluing job. It costs a lot less and the finish is quite durable.

Take a look at Barenjager's model 88 Marlin- he posted photos here on MO- that gun was a complete re-blue using Oxpho as described above.

M
 
#7 ·
I really like the look of a new deeply blued gun but I prefer the look of older bluing with warn places and scratches to one that has been cold blued. Just about any gunsmith worth their salt will have a hot blue tank and I think this is one of the very few jobs best left to a pro.
 
#8 ·
Do the professional jobs often turn out looking as good as factory blueing?

I had the impression high quality jobs are most often done by custom shops rather than local gunsmiths. I suppose a local guy would have examples of his work. I'd rather support the local gunsmith.
 
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