CLR affecting bluing?

[cancer]

I had a bit of surficial rust on an old gun that I wanted to clean up. So, I went and rubbed some CLR on the thing, thinking that the little bit of rust would come off and leave the black. However, it appears that the CLR removed the bluing as well as the rust! Has anyone else had an experience like this?

 

[smgcon]

CLR as well as most acid based cleaners will strip bluing. A little super fine steel wool (0000) and oil will remove rust and leave the bluing intact.

 

[canucklehead]

haha I did that once too.

Some gunsmiths use CLR to strip bluing... and it does that VERY well!

Keep in mind that bluing is actually an oxidization reaction... rust, in essence. That's the R in CLR...

 

[Ripstop]

Yup! I cleaned the rust off an old choke with CLR and it stripped the blueing in about 10 seconds. Works great. Blueing indeed is an oxidation of the metal below or another form of rust.

 

[SignGuy]

thats what i used to strip the bluin gon the barrel of my .303 before paint lol worked like a charm had it shiny and clean in under 3 min

 

[sunray]

CLR removes rust/oxidization. Bluing is rust/oxidization.
To remove light rust, use 0000 steel wool and oil or a fine brass wire wheel in a bench grinder.