The biggest rip-off

[HUnter_zero 58]

As part of my routine cleaning I aways like to "touch up" any bluing which has been worn off due to use.

The problem I have is that most of the bluing preparations just don't do a good job, either leaving a patchy finish (blamed on not degreasing correctly) or the bluing is just the wrong colour.

One of the best products by far is KLEVER Quickbrowning but at £12 for 50ml it's not exactly cheap. I used to use Birchwood Casey Perma Blue Liquid which contains selenium dioxide, the product is actually very good for routine touch up, making it very easy to match in different shades of bluing right from black to light blue, pried at £7 for 2oz again not cheap but better than £12.

One of my calls is a metal finishing company, so as I was about to go to the gun shop and replace my dwindling bottle of bluing and out of interest I had a chat to the owner to ask if he knew of any better products on the market. I explained the cost of bluing, a term he wasn't familiar with. "Chemical blacking, is that what you mean?", he took a carbon bar and placed it in a tank, out it came "blue". That's the stuff, I added!. Well when he told me that they buy it in two gallon drums for about £100 he got me thinking.

 

A quick search gave me two possibilities, so I placed an order with the first being a welsh company.

 

http://www.black-it.co.uk/

 

The cost, £17 for 500ml

 

And the result? As good as anything I have used before. Produces a nice even finish that seems to hold the oil better than any other bluing product I have used. Will produce light blue to black (repeated applications).

 

The bottle actually contained 550ml

 

I've touched up all my shotguns, and rifles that needed to be done and I still have 500ml of bluing left.

 

So if your in the market for some bluing, then do not hesitate. I have no connection to the seller, just happy to save a wad of cash in a big way!! and to have a stock of bluing for the next twenty years (it has a shelf life of 30 years)

 

John

[Treacle Trackpad 6]

Nice one John, good heads up.

[backstop 0]

Hi there,

 

Great link, I gather you have bought the blacking bottle only. Would you mind giving a little more detail about how you touch up your blueing and what you use instead of the other 3 bottles they provide in the kit.

 

Thanks

 

Backstop

[HUnter_zero 58]

I simply use Acetone or Methylated spirits to degrease the area I need to touch up. However, I am talking about around trigger guards, bolt knobs, safety catches, shotgun forends, levers and all the little parts that constantly come in to contact with our fingers. It's amazing how a good gun can look dated and old with these areas showing ware to the bluing.

I have used cold blue to blue a complete barrel once, to degrease that I used Acetone. All bluing depends upon the level of carbon in the metal, if I have a part that is hard to blue, I'll heat it up a little. The great thing with having 500ml is that I can experiment with a small bluing tank for smaller parts.

 

Hope that helps.

 

John

Edited August 15, 2010 by HUnter_zero

[backstop 0]

I simply use Acetone or Methylated spirits to degrease the area I need to touch up. However, I am talking about around trigger guards, bolt knobs, safety catches, shotgun forends, levers and all the little parts that constantly come in to contact with our fingers. It's amazing how a good gun can look dated and old with these areas showing ware to the bluing.

I have used cold blue to blue a complete barrel once, to degrease that I used Acetone. All bluing depends upon the level of carbon in the metal, if I have a part that is hard to blue, I'll heat it up a little. The great thing with having 500ml is that I can experiment with a small bluing tank for smaller parts.

 

Hope that helps.

 

John

 

Thanks John, I have been pondering about doing this for a while now, I have a .22 krico and a .308 parker hale that both need a little touching up. I only had one last query and that was what you use to rinse/oil the finished blue.

 

Kind regards

Backstop:)

[HUnter_zero 58]

 

Thanks John, I have been pondering about doing this for a while now, I have a .22 krico and a .308 parker hale that both need a little touching up. I only had one last query and that was what you use to rinse/oil the finished blue.

 

Kind regards

Backstop:)

 

I don't rinse off the bluing, just seal it with gun oil. My preferred gun oil is Break free CPL. Cold blue is great for touching up but if you have a whole gun to do your better off using hot blue (if anyone still uses the process due to EU health and safety). That said, I have blued whole barrels in the past with cold bluing and it has worked well and was fairly hard waring.

The complete process I use is, if there is rust I'll clean it off with 000 wire wool, rub (polish would be more accurate) the effected area with acetone until all grease and oil has been removed and then rub / polish the effected area back and forth with bluing liquid changing as need to achieve the desired colour. After which I'll rub / polish the area with a good quality oil. If the colour isn't right I'll go back to step one.

If I do a whole barrel, it's the same process. You would need about 30ml to do a whole barrel. Heat helps as well, so I tend to warm larger areas with a hair drier. The above works well for me, and becomes parts of my cleaning routine.

I think the commercial way is far different from my way, in short they use chemicals to remove oils from the metals (not many companies use solvents anymore, so IIRC they use a strong alkaline to remove oil), they wash the steel in deionised water, heat and then place in the cold bluing tank for "X" time, remove and wash, dry and then place in an oil tank for "x" time, remove wipe and job done.

 

 

John

[clint 45]

Thank you This what i need, as you say most i use no very good.

[HUnter_zero 58]

Thank you This what i need, as you say most i use no very good.

 

Treat yourself Clint! It's good stuff buddy, I am very happy with it and it's going to last a life time.

 

John