Follow the instructions regarding the handling of the bluing formula. Always wear eye protection when performing the tasks described. Now before we proceed, I should say a few words on safety. I use WD-40 for this because it’s readily available, but there are obviously other options for this if you prefer something else. Lastly, you’ll need some kind of water displacing oil. You’ll need some latex or rubber gloves so you can handle the parts without contaminating them with skin oils. I use a heated solution of plain Dawn dish soap-which I will describe later. Depending upon what you’re specifically trying to blue, you may be able to just thoroughly clean the part with acetone. You need some kind of degreaser for the cleaning cycle. You’ll need a carding wheel or brush, both being preferable. Obviously, you also need water and a heat source capable of boiling the water in whatever size container you want to use. But as long as you can re-orient the part to where it covers all of what was hanging out before, then this process will allow you to blue it. Obviously the part will hang out of the tank. I have found that I could blue parts longer than would fit in my “tanks” with Express Rust Bluing as well-barrels for example. If you just want to blue handguns, you can even use an old pot (so long as it’s not aluminum). At this time, my “tanks” are metal serving trays from a restaurant supply store. You need a steel container big enough to hold the parts you want to blue-though you can work around that to a degree. Lastly, any welded areas or spots will probably not blue evenly with the rest of the surface.Īs I mentioned, you don’t need very much for equipment relatively speaking. While there are some stainless steels that are magnetic, the worst they will do is not blue. So if you are unsure of what metal your part is made from, check it with a magnet. Damage or destruction of your part and your bluing “tank” will be ruined. In fact, trying to blue aluminum WILL result in disaster. It will not work on stainless, aluminum, or other metals. Also, Express Rust Bluing only works on steel. Obviously, this process (though these rules apply to bluing in general) only works on metal parts. You must be able to completely disassemble (not just field strip) the firearm you want to blue. Like anything, there are some limitations to this process. This is the bluing formula I used for this project. You can also “repair” damaged areas in already blued parts with this method as well. A lot of the bluing done on high end firearms is Express Rust Bluing. You end up with a very durable, high quality, blued finish. It also doesn’t subject the parts to as much heat as hot salt bluing does. Express Rust Bluing is actually preferable on some types of firearms due to their construction because you have control where the bluing formula goes (and hence make sure it all comes back out again). The chemical used is also fairly safe, especially in comparison to bluing salts. You don’t need a whole lot of equipment, or space. As its name implies, Express Rust Bluing speeds up this whole process significantly.įor the hobbyist, there are a lot of advantages to this process. Fortunately, there is a similar but much faster process-Express Rust Bluing. We literally are talking days or even weeks to complete. The problem with this process is that it takes a REALLY long time. The steel has changed color slightly in this process, and the process is repeated until the steel is the desired color. Basically, a chemical rusting agent is applied to the steel, time passes, and rust forms. When bluing was first invented, this was how firearms were blued. Here is the start of the project: a bare steel, Sten Mk. But even so, these are not really intended for bluing a whole firearm. There are some that you can realistically do a bit more than just touch up work with. There are cold bluing solutions available as well. Obviously, this doesn’t easily lend itself to the hobbyist homebuilder or “kitchen table gunsmith”. This process requires a lot of equipment that takes up a lot of space, and the process itself can be somewhat hazardous. When we refer to bluing, we typically think of the hot salt bluing that is usually done.
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