Refining my cold Bluing

[JoeWayneRhea]

Ok so I'm satisfied with the progress I've been making with my stock work thanks to the techniques my Dad taught me . But I been beating my head against a brick wall trying to find a cold Bluing technique that gives the results I want ..
Well I think I've made a leap fwd. I been reading and doing research on YouTube and like most stuff there is actually very little new techniques tried . Just 100 different guys doing it the same way . So I tried some of the bits an pieces that made sense to me an this is what I came up with

Bear in mind its just one rifle . But I think my old ass may be onto something

 

[badgerbob]

Looks better than factory new to me! Nice job. 

 

[Smaug]

So? What's the trick(s)?

 

[Jack.K]

Joe, that looks better than the (30+ Year old " New FWB 300 ") you got last month. I think you got this technique down.

Jack

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

Ok so with Aaron's help I been working on it ...The problem I kept having was getting uniform heat on the metal . Well my wife's smartass asks me why don't you just use hot water ...
I let her know water and bluing doesn't go good together , she said matter of fact as ONLY a wife who's smarter than her semi slow husband can ....it'll dry fast if hot enough . Well I HATE IT but she was right .Soon as I pulled it out of the water and wiped it down the heat from inside did the rest .
So I steel wooled down the original finish till it was smooth . Soaked parts in hot water I'm a small long pan I had off an old tool shelfing unit . Let em soak for a min or so and then removed parts , dried them really good , an then applied Oxpho bluing paste with a shop towel while it was still very hot .... Let the bluing set for about a min and then rinsed it under a faucet in warm water and steel wooled the finish as it washed clean . Rinsed it off and then soaked it again till it got warm an started over .
Did 4 coats and then after last steel wool polish I rinsed it REALLY good and dried it off quickly and thoroughly and poured oil over the whole thing an rubbed it into the steel really well .
Then to make sure all that hot water didn't damage the bore I brushed it with Hoppes and then oiled the bore up good .
Please bear in mind the gun was COMPLETELY disassembled while I did this so the bluing solution didn't get into moving parts .

 

[Marksman3006]

Whatever you did it clearly worked very well Joe. That bluing looks brand new in the photos.

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

Thanks dude that's the gun I brought to you place ...I stripped it back down when I got back home and cleaned and lube it an my gun ...Figure what the heck try my new bluing out . Sold the gun earlier today

Here's the gun after the stock was finished . That's before and after on the bluing . Doesn't look that dramatic till you see th pics besides each other

 

[Jonnes]

Nice job Joe! It sounds contradictory, 'cold' bluing on a 'hot' surface, but it's the best way. Heard a lot of good things about the Oxpho bluing paste. I think I'm going to order me some on Ebay.

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

Yeah I think it's easier than the liquid for one reason only . With the liquid blue if you put I on sometimes it will drip and the drips show up in final job . With the paste you just slop it on and it turns dark Fast and by the time you have the whole surface covered your ready
to start wiping , or in this case rinsing it off .
Rinsing it clean between coats also helped with one other thing , it gets the bluing solution out of all the nooks and crannies.

 

[Guest]

Here's an idea I came up with after the two-part video I did for my Airgun Shooter YouTube series on bluing the metal parts. I had used 3oz Hefty plastic bathroom cups to soak all the knobs, screws, & other small parts in the liquid bluing solution till they looked good. Then rinse, etc. And that got me to thinking...
​Why not get some plastic sheet stock & make narrow, shallow "tanks" & buy the liquid bluing in a larger amount to soak the barrels, gas tubes, etc in? Plug the barrels with dowel rod & suspend with coat hanger wire hangers till nice & dark? Heat the metal before dunking & soaking?

 

[Wadcutter]

That is a fine looking cold blue job. Do you use fine steel wool to apply the paste?

Here is a link to something I would like to try just to compare to cold bluing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/guns/comments/2bgcvd/diy_home_reblue_stepbystep_nitre_blue_in_your/

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

I just posted links to a two part YouTube video I did on cold Bluing ...it's in General discussion

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

Here's the link for the videos . It's really simple steps . Hope y'all like them and thank you guys for the likes and subscription s

 

[Aloha808]

Looks awesome Joe! lol, I just replied to your txt message, but I'll reply here too since maybe it adds to the discussion.
Do you degrease the steel wool beforehand? I read steel wool normally has some small amount of oil in it to give it a long shelf life so it doesn't rust itself. Your results are impressive! Better than my cold bluing attempts.
Aloha!

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

No I just take it right outta the package . That Oxpho bluing stuff will blue right thru a small amount of oil .. it doesn't have to be like sterile like the old Bluing solution s used to be .

 

[Smaug]

Nice work Joe! I think the work you put into refining that technique will really pay dividends.

I liked your YouTube videos, then started to watch the FWB300 disassembly video. I got a headache after 5 minutes, and thanked my lucky stars that the TX200 is so much easier to take down. And the HW30s. 

For your next video, how about a nice review of the FWB300? You're the perfect guy to review it.

 

[JoeWayneRhea]

Thanks Jeremy ! I may do that ...Man it takes FOREVER for a. Video to upload !! I ran low on memory so my reassembly video is short and to the point