Gun Bluing / Cold bluing

A. Chris,

Cold bluing is fairly easy. The most important item is clean metal. The metal must be free of all oil, etc. Even a fingerprint will leave enough oil to prevent good bluing. The surface of the metal must be polished before bluing the way you want it to be when finished. Bluing only colors what is there. There are many cold blue solutions available. Just follow the directions with the product. Cold blue does not hold up like a good hot blue job, but can come out nice.

Good luck.

A. Hi,

I have blued several guns the cold way. I used G96 gun blue [on eBay or Amazon] gun blue. The trick is to completely remove all the old bluing then highly polish, removing any pitting with a file then polish with 180 grit paper wet sand after till you get a mirror finish.

Then insert a wooden dowel into barrel to use as a handle so you do not have to touch the metal. Clean and degrease with rubbing alcohol or any commercial degreaser. Once degreased it is important that you do not touch the metal with bare hands.

Apply the G96 with cotton balls or sterile pads . It should turn a sort of green colour when dry insure you have an even coat, and when satisfied you do, wash the gun in hot water hot enough that it dries upon removal from water lightly polish with the finest #0000 steel wool [on eBay or Amazon] then give it a good rubdown with an oilcloth, Barricade Wipes ([on eBay or Amazon]) you will be pleased with results.

Final note if you are not happy with the evenness of the blue apply more G96 before washing.

Hope this helps,

A. For a given steel I may have to experiment to find what cold blue process works best if at all.

The products I have been using are:

1) Oxpho-Blue [affil links] cold blue

2) Dicropan T-4 [affil links] [liquid] cold blue

3) G96 [on eBay or Amazon] [solid] cold blue

4) Simple Green [on eBay or Amazon] [liquid] degreaser

5) Scotchbrite [on eBay or Amazon] [green]

6) Motor oil [liquid]

Typically I will:

1) Degrease and then not touch with hands.
2) Rub on Dicropan for a dark but not durable blue
3) Degrease
4) Rub on Dicropan
5) Degrease
6) Put round objects in lathe, spin, and apply Oxpho blue with Scotch Brite while pressing hard enough to apply but not hard enough to remove too much.
7) Degrease
8) Put round objects in lathe, spin, and apply Oxpho blue with Scotch Brite while pressing hard enough to apply but not hard enough to remove too much.
9) Lightly coat with motor oil over the Oxpho blue.
10) Let stand over night to get darker.
11) Wipe off oil

The idea is that the Dicropan get into the micro grooves of the steel and rubbed off the micro ridges. The more durable but less dark Oxpho is then applied to the micro ridges.

The Dicropan or Oxpho Blue or G96 may not work on some steels, so trying different things in different orders is then best.

A. Cold bluing is no match for hot bluing, David: please see our FAQ on Black Oxide and Cold Blackening for an introduction to that.

Based on letter 34769, we do not think there is such a product as Mother's Gun Bluing.

We don't compare one brand to another on this no-registration-required site (why?) :-)
Good luck.

A. Hi, Chris. I think the principal ingredient in all of the cold blues is probably selenium. I think you will discover that the polish of the parts has much more effect on the perceived color than which brand you use. Very highly polished metal will look quite jewel blue while matte metal will look quite black.

I hypothesize that the reason is that the highly polished surface has little surface area and therefore gets little saturation, whereas the matte surface, with all its little nooks & crannies will absorb a lot of bluing and become far more saturated in color.

Regards,

A. Hi Bruce. If you know what it is supposed to look like, I think a finish that looks like that can be obtained. But it's not really "the original condition" because the original finish probably wore away a hundred years ago.

Regards,

A. *IF* It were my gun, I would not attempt to refinish it at all. Refinishing, no matter how well done, always detracts from the value of old guns.

I'd use a good quality rust preventive, rub it with a cloth, and leave it alone.