Baking bluing.

[Blindstitch]

My friend wants to reblue a shotgun that was put back in the case wet and doesn't look great now. Not trying to make it into a beauty but as good as he can get it.

He's 65 and was telling me when he was younger most likely a teenager he bought some bluing didn't say how it was applied but it was put on the shotgun and baked on in an oven.

Is there a bluing product that exists now that sounds like that.

 

[Rottweiler]

Closest thing I can think of would be Brownell's hot water bluing.

You apply a cold bluing like solution and then boil the parts, then remove and brush them with a soft wire brush. Repeat the process several times to get the dark blue finish you want/need. Then a dunk in the water displacing oil.

I don't think an oven would work the same. The parts need to stay wet to blue then flash dry in the air before brushing. Also the boiling water has much better temperature control than an oven.


There might have been a product that did bluing in an oven at one time but I don't know of any today.

 

[Old Stony]

Some of the old time bluing solutions told you to heat the surface to open up the pores of the metal before you applied the solution, but I don't know of anything like that today. A lot of guys used something like a hair dryer to heat the surface.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Nope. Your buddy needs to start with 0000 steel wool and some light oil to get the rust off. Then think about cold bluing. None of which gives much in the way of protection.
Some of the old time bluing solutions were sold by snake oil salesmen too. Think hazmat as well.

 

[Blindstitch]

My buddy is well skilled with 0000 steel wool. I told him I never heard of a product like he explained using forever ago.

To me I just chalk this up to a stupid brother. My friend and his brother were deer hunting last year and I don't know why my friends brother decided it was smart to put away his gun wet and not check on it for 9 months but he did.

It's probably not far away from getting out bake on spray paint and turning it into an ugly duck blind gun.

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

I have heard of people heating guns when applying cold blue, but I doubt it helps any at all. I think they got the idea from hot water bluing, where you do heat the metal in boiling water, and apply the bluing solution to the hot metal. The bluing chemicals for hot water bluing are much different than what is in cold blue.

 

[Blindstitch]

Well the way I understood what he was telling me wasn't heat the part and blue it. He explained it just like doing VHT paint on anything. Spray or brush it on I don't remember but then bake in an oven till done.

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

Blindstitch,

I would think that that could make any of the bluing chemicals hard to remove when cleaning it before oiling. I'm sure you've noticed the streaks left by cold bluing being applied to cold metal, which one wipes off afterwards, then oils the surface.

I have a book on all the bluing methods that is known of, titled "Firearm Bluing and Browning", by Angier. I'll look for any mention of heating or baking the metal afterwards.

 

[Blindstitch]

Dixie Gunsmithing,
If you can find it i'm curious who and how it works.

For all I know someone gave him some sort of metal finish meant for something else. But he wanted me to figure out if it was still made.

Thanks

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Sounds like he may have used stove black, made for treating wood-burning stoves.

 

[dyl]

parkerizing

Could there have been a chance he was talking about manganese phosphate parkerizing? Prep the metal, heat the solution, put the part in the hot solution and watch it work?

 

[Blindstitch]

I'm not sure about the phosphate parkerizing but I could see someone using stove black.

He lacked details besides he did it and It was done to a Whippet 16 gauge break action. Never heard any more about the shotgun besides the finish looked good. Never heard if it even lasted or held up.

 

[gunnut69]

Brownells OxphoBlue works best if the metal is heated a bit before application as it reacts with steel to change the color. Some cold blues just coat the metal..

 

[Skans]

Nope. Your buddy needs to start with 0000 steel wool and some light oil to get the rust off. Then think about cold bluing.

O'Heir said it best^^^ I'll add the cold bluing paste works best. Multiple applications and 0000 steel wool between each application. Just make sure that after your final application, all if it is off and wipe the gun down (polishing it) with an oil-soaked microfiber cloth.

The gun will look good, but the bluing won't last as long as hot bluing nor provide much protection. Hot blued guns don't provide much protection against the elements either, so this is not a big deal to me.

 

[gstonedo]

Dear TFL readers, I stumbled across another metallurgical site, "The Bladesmith's Forum" and found this article by Kevin (The Professor), June 9, 2010 in Fit and Finish. Where he explains the use of a dilute ferric chloride (FeCl) solution to treat his steel, and then baking the treated steel in his oven at 430 degrees F to get a beautiful black oxide (FeO4) patina. This sounds like the procedure that was being sought in the original question for this thread. If you would like to check it out, here is the link. Best of luck

https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/17041-very-easy-way-to-get-a-blue-finish-on-steel/

 

[boatbum101]

I know you can heat it with a torch & quench it in oil to blue it . Don't imagine you'd be able to get the whole barreled action hot enough that way , but I've seen parts blued that way . Maybe if you could use a commercial oven ? Don't think anyone would let shove it in their pizza oven ....... you'd have to have a bluing tank with enough oil in it to quench too .

 

[Oliver Sudden]

If the barrels were soft soldered heating to too high a tempiture can make them come apart.

 

[T. O'Heir]

OP is 4 years old.

 

[Blindstitch]

Yep and the gun is still just as ugly. Pretty sure it will never get worked on.

 

[JohnKSa]

Pretty sure it will never get worked on.

Get some Oxpho Blue. Very easy to use, decent appearance, good corrosion protection (as far as a blued finish goes).

Clean up the rust with 0000 steel wool and then use the Oxpho on it. Follow the directions, especially the part about wearing gloves.

You should be able to do the whole gun in an hour or two of light work--maybe a lot less depending on how widespread the areas that need to be refinished are.