Anyone have some before/after bluing pics ???

[Guest Appalachian]

I've got a older Winchester shot gun my grandfather bought me, its got some rust started on it and the reciever has something go'n on also,not rust but its kinda like pitting, just because its a keepsake a bluing is in order so I was wundering if someone had some before and after pics of ther blue jobs, also post who done the work and your honest thoughts of ther work.

Thanx inadvance.

[Krull]

I just got done totally refinishing a beat all to hell Remington 511. It was in bad shape....was pitted, wood was really bad and the blue was gone. Didn't take a before pic but I will post an after pick. I cold blued it and refinished everything for around 30 bucks and about 10 hours total work. Sanding, and had to file some of the pits out. It's looks really nice. It was my grandfathers and got tired of looking at it all beat up in the safe. You should do it yourself. It's fun and very rewarding. I'll post pics tomorrow.

[Guest BEARMAN]

I've cold blued several handguns, with varying degrees of success. I do know that the more prep work you put in it, the better the final outcome will be...usually.

Also, the more coats you put on, the deeper the blueing will look...almost to a black.

The last Beretta pistol I refinished had 10 coats on it. I'll try to get a pic up this weekend.

Never thought about a before and after picture, however, it is rewarding and enjoyable work. YMMV

[Krull]

best before pic i could fine is my wife shoooting it. the other two are after i redid it.....

after

[DaveTN]

Pics of before, during and after on a Smith & Wesson Model 19.

I did all the prep work, stripping, bead blasting polishing and reassembly; Todd Watts of Christiana did the bluing.

I told him I wanted the high quality blue, almost black, that S&W put on their guns years ago. He did a very good job of doing that.

[Krull]

Amazing Dave .... Now sell it to me. Been looking for another model 19.

[DaveTN]

Amazing Dave .... Now sell it to me. Been looking for another model 19.

I sold it right after I did that. I love the look of blued guns, but they aren’t something I want for carry and I wasn't into collectables at the time.

[Dolomite_supafly]

It may have what they call rust blue on the gun. Older guns used this and it looked brown rahter than blue or black. If you blue it you will loose any value it has even if it does look better afterwards.

Dolomite

[dlm37015]

older winchesters were not hot blued but rust blued sometimes as much as 30 times in a rust blue box can still be done but unless you do it your self it cost alot

[Guest GunTroll]

It may have what they call rust blue on the gun. Older guns used this and it looked brown rahter than blue or black. If you blue it you will loose any value it has even if it does look better afterwards.

Dolomite

Rust blue does not look brown. The cast receivers on various firearms don't take well to rust or hot salt bluing and they can come out sort of plumb (think Ruger M77's) but I have never seen a brown- rust blued firearm and I've done more than a few. There are special salts that are used to blue stainless as well as cast steel. There are also additives that one can mix into there standard bluing salts that claim to minimize the plumb look. I've done rust brownings that can come out super dark brown through a method I use but it still can't be confused as bluing. Not doubting your knowledge but I'm just throwing in my take.

Cold blue is crap! In fact most of the insta-blue products out there are crap. It is very thin and on the outer most surface only. I use it for screw heads that may get knicked from my screwdriver as I reassemble. That being said I have seen some decent attempts at the DIYS bluing jobs. Most just don't hold up with regular use. It in my opinion it would be like Kylon spray paint vs. Cera/Dura-coating. Ones cheap....ones not. One will last....one won't.

Leave your Winchester alone if you can stand it. If its pre-64 it would be a shame to try to make it look like one of these new off the shelf crap-chesters that are out there. Just look at Gunbroker to see what some of those pre-64's are going for these days.

[Krull]

Rust blue does not look brown. The cast receivers on various firearms don't take well to rust or hot salt bluing and they can come out sort of plumb (think Ruger M77's) but I have never seen a brown- rust blued firearm and I've done more than a few. There are special salts that are used to blue stainless as well as cast steel. There are also additives that one can mix into there standard bluing salts that claim to minimize the plumb look. I've done rust brownings that can come out super dark brown through a method I use but it still can't be confused as bluing. Not doubting your knowledge but I'm just throwing in my take.

Cold blue is crap! In fact most of the insta-blue products out there are crap. It is very thin and on the outer most surface only. I use it for screw heads that may get knicked from my screwdriver as I reassemble. That being said I have seen some decent attempts at the DIYS bluing jobs. Most just don't hold up with regular use. It in my opinion it would be like Kylon spray paint vs. Cera/Dura-coating. Ones cheap....ones not. One will last....one won't.

Leave your Winchester alone if you can stand it. If its pre-64 it would be a shame to try to make it look like one of these new off the shelf crap-chesters that are out there. Just look at Gunbroker to see what some of those pre-64's are going for these days.

Cold blue is not crap... It may not be as good as a hot blue but it's not crap. No need to make a statement like that when people use something for one reason or another. I have cold blued several firearms and they have turned out as nice as I could ask for fir what I was doing. Two of them are hanging up in the gun room. So maybe for what you would use it for is crap. Maybe what I use it for is better than letting some gunsmith rip you off.

[Guest GunTroll]

Opinion guy. Opinion. Sucks for you when a gunsmith rips you off though. Actually it sucks when anybody rips anyone off.

[Krull]

Yea.....true. I like doing stuff myself. I hav a bunch if guns that I like to hang up in the trophy room, over the door, one at my fireplace. Cold blue is ideal for them because they won't get a lot of use otherwise except being viewed. Cold blue not good for a gun your going to shoot a lot. All my have turned really nice. Birchwood Casey products. The guns were all damaged beyond value so it was fun to do it.

[Guest GunTroll]

I bet and I completely understand where your coming from.

[Krull]

Bottom line if it's less than 70% and your going to use it a lot do the strip work yourself and take it to someone to have it blued. I have a 1911 that was my grandfathers that sat in a boat compartment for 30 years. Had it done by a cat named Corby. I shoot it all the time. If you just want to show it off then maybe do it yourself. You can hot blue yourself but it's dangerous. You need the proper equipment and VENTILATION.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Has anyone ever been able to get Birchwood Casey aluminum black to work at all? I got a bottle of that and tried it on a couple of small aluminum parts I've made. Thought I cleaned the surfaces pretty good. It would just leave a minor fog of streaky darkness on the aluminum. Maybe I got a bad bottle.

[Guest GunTroll]

Has anyone ever been able to get Birchwood Casey aluminum black to work at all? I got a bottle of that and tried it on a couple of small aluminum parts I've made. Thought I cleaned the surfaces pretty good. It would just leave a minor fog of streaky darkness on the aluminum. Maybe I got a bad bottle.

Hit or miss with me as well. Again small parts like screw heads for me only. Denatured alcohol prior to use seems to show the best results for me.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks GunTroll. There is still some in the bottle. Might try it again sometime with denatured alcohol and see if it works better. I usually use 90% isopropyl and/or acetone for degreasing but not for any well-thought-out reason. Maybe denatured alcohol somehow prepares the aluminum surface better. Funny, I usually don't keep denatured alcohol around because it is poison, but it is probably not as poison as some other chemicals on the shelf!

[Dolomite_supafly]

Rust blue does not look brown. The cast receivers on various firearms don't take well to rust or hot salt bluing and they can come out sort of plumb (think Ruger M77's) but I have never seen a brown- rust blued firearm and I've done more than a few. There are special salts that are used to blue stainless as well as cast steel. There are also additives that one can mix into there standard bluing salts that claim to minimize the plumb look. I've done rust brownings that can come out super dark brown through a method I use but it still can't be confused as bluing. Not doubting your knowledge but I'm just throwing in my take.

Cold blue is crap! In fact most of the insta-blue products out there are crap. It is very thin and on the outer most surface only. I use it for screw heads that may get knicked from my screwdriver as I reassemble. That being said I have seen some decent attempts at the DIYS bluing jobs. Most just don't hold up with regular use. It in my opinion it would be like Kylon spray paint vs. Cera/Dura-coating. Ones cheap....ones not. One will last....one won't.

Leave your Winchester alone if you can stand it. If its pre-64 it would be a shame to try to make it look like one of these new off the shelf crap-chesters that are out there. Just look at Gunbroker to see what some of those pre-64's are going for these days.

Contradicting yourself?

I said rust blue looked brown yet you seem to say it isn't yet a few sentences down you say you do it yourself and they come out brown. What gives.

Dolomite

[Guest Appalachian]

Bring on the gladiators, rite?

[Guest GunTroll]

Contradicting yourself?

I said rust blue looked brown yet you seem to say it isn't yet a few sentences down you say you do it yourself and they come out brown. What gives.

Dolomite

I said nothing of the sort. I recommend you put on your BCD's and reading my statement again. I said "I've done RUST BROWNING that can come out super dark brown". NEVER once did I say rust bluing can look brown now did I? I'm not saying that it can't happen, I'm just saying that in the several dozen RUST BLUING projects I've done, it has never happened to me. Old traditional brownings done the traditional way look light in color (BROWN) but a faster modern method I use makes it look real dark, darker than the traditional way (the difference in say milk chocolate vs. dark chocolate both are brown). Perhaps its the method you used. Do you do it yourself? I do.

Try again.

[Tncobra]

Has anyone ever been able to get Birchwood Casey aluminum black to work at all? I got a bottle of that and tried it on a couple of small aluminum parts I've made. Thought I cleaned the surfaces pretty good. It would just leave a minor fog of streaky darkness on the aluminum. Maybe I got a bad bottle.

Ive had great results with both aluminum and steal cold blue. Ive used both on other things besides guns too.

The aluminum will smoke sometimes, kinda crazy. I'm sure its not real healthy to breath.

The key for my great results has been prep. After a good media blast I wash it with alcohol. Don't touch the metal after blasting either. Do many thin coats. I do about 15 coats on any given part. It will get darker as you go.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks Tncobra

I never tried multiple coats of aluminum black. A couple of times I tried 2 or 3 coats, but each extra coat seemed to mostly remove the previous aluminum oxide (or selenium oxide, or whatever it is). Next time I'll try working numerous coats.

[Bruno8pnk]

I have done some cold bluing really like VAN's works very well. I am sure there is other stuff out there. Gun Smithing - Bill Van Fosson in Dandridge does excellent work FFL has a web sight check out.

[StPatrick]

Thanks GunTroll. There is still some in the bottle. Might try it again sometime with denatured alcohol and see if it works better. I usually use 90% isopropyl and/or acetone for degreasing but not for any well-thought-out reason. Maybe denatured alcohol somehow prepares the aluminum surface better. Funny, I usually don't keep denatured alcohol around because it is poison, but it is probably not as poison as some other chemicals on the shelf!

Denatured alcohol is actually quite safe - it's just ethanol (same as what's in beer, wine, whiskey, or, unfortunately, gasoline these days), but with an additive that will make you sicker'n hell if you try to drink it. With the additive, it's very cheap. Without, it becomes subject to federal excise tax, which makes it run in the $100+ / gallon range. Isopropyl alcohol and acetone are also quite safe - don't drink them, don't huff them, and don't use them near sources of flame, and you'll be fine. For general use, these chemicals are much more benign than common chemicals we use for stripping paint or cleaning ovens everyday.

If you have good ventilation, you might want to try Gunscrubber - it's primarily Trichloroethylene, which is used in industry as a degreaser. It should outperform any of the alcohols you mentioned as well as acetone, but does come with higher risks to health, and should not be used near plastic parts - some polymers will withstand it, some won't, and you won't know which you've got until your plastic is either A-OK or a tacky, sticky mess.