How to strip bluing?

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Laredo

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Curious on how to strip bluing off my buddy's rifle? I'm refinishing the stock for him, and I've talked him into rebluing the rifle as it has seen better days. I was wonder how we'd go about stripping the bluing off? Anyone that can fill me in on this procedure?

Thanks!
Ryan
 
seriously CLR works ? how long and how effective? i am trying to refinish a sported enfield and stripping the bluing without damageing the surface has been bothering me for some time now
 
From what I am to understand, blueing is a form of rust/oxidation. CLR will strip this down to the metal. I had cleaned a couple of rusty chokes for my 835 in CLR and they came out white in no time at all. Not exactly what I wanted but all the rust was gone as well. Threading on the chokes did not erode. Other parts I stripped came out the same way.

I think CLR stands for calcium, lime and rust. It will dissolve all of these. Wear rubber gloves! Fumes will slap you upside the head too, don't breath this.
 
Bluing is not something that is on the metal, it is the surface of the metal it's self that has been stained. To remove the blue you have to remove metal.

If CLR works it must eat the surface away.
 
I have a piece of abs pipe with one end capped and it is long enough to hold a barrel......

I fill it with a strong mixture of warm water and Muriatic Acid. You can buy a big jug of the acid at your local hardware/home supply type business. It is used for cement work I think... I put add about a 1/4 cup to the tube almost full of water.

Then weraing rubber gloves I lower the clean barreled action into it, wait about 30 seconds, remove and turn it around and lower the other half in, wait 30 seconds, remove and rinse really well with hot water for a minute or so, wipe it dry and blow it out with an air hose and immediately clean and oil the bore.

Then I prepare the metal however I wish for blueing.

If you leave the metal in any "blue remover" for a long time, you will see damage to the steel, but in the time frame we are using, absolutely no damage is done and no metal is removed that you can measure.

Been using this process for 30 years with no problem.
 
I think CLR might even bue a dilute Muriatic acid or something similar... don't qiuote me on this though.
I ahve used CLR with success, and it only removes oxidized metal... not the actual clean meatl underneath. Youcan also make an electrolysis machine with a battery, distilled water and a hunk of steel, it is not difficult and it will not only remove the blue but will also reove any rust you may have... and in very rusty conditions, it will actually restore (very slightly) some of the rusted metal back to steel.

If you decide to try an electrolysis machine... PLEASE experiment with some scrap first, you can eat your bbl... you will see what I mean when you try your first piece as your sacrificial hunk of steel will be eroded.
 
Yup, any of the above should work (I've only done CLR though). You can immerse the parts in CLR and keep an eye on them, some very fine steel wool and rubber dish gloves will speed the process and even polish out some fine/minor pitts etc. If you are overly concerned about your bore and any possible effects on it (but don't sweat it, it's not gonna hurt it) you can always plug the bore and chamber beforehand.
 
Thanks guys, I'll pick up some CLR tomorrow and see how it works. Actually there are a few gun parts of mine that need to be reblued so if this works well on his gun I'll definately use it on mine! :D

Ryan
 
Rust remover gell as sold by Can Tire, works very well; Brush it on , wait 10 min. and wash it off with warm water. Rust remover gell is dilute phosphoric acid, which reacts with iron oxide, which is what blue is
 
well I've got a jar of vinegar and a jar of CLR, got 2 identical pieces from an old firearm and now they're soaking, just testing out which one works better! I'll post up with my results....

Ryan
 
CLR works... too good. I got stupid in my early firearms ownership days, and tried to clean some stubborn rust out of a barrel. Well, the CLR didn't stay IN the barrel, and stripped half the bluing off the outside almost instantaneously.

Right after I remember looking at the container... thinking.. oh yeah... bluing IS rust. CRAP!!!
 
so far the CLR is FAST!!! The vinegar is slow, but its doing a good job but the part in CLR is almost completely stripped withing 20 minutes!

Ryan
 
well I'd recommend CLR now, the stuff was INSTANT, like 30 seconds immersed and the part came out with NO blueing at all....Vinegar is nice though, its cheaper, but takes a bit longer, and has the exact same effect. It took about 10 minutes for the part to come out clean from the vinegar.

One thing I did notice though, with the CLR, the part developed rust as soon as it was brought out of the CLR. The part in the vinegar never developed any sort of oxidization once removed, just a dull finish on the metal.

Thanks for the ideas guys, I hope this thread will help other people strip blueing as well!

Ryan
 
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I use to use steel wool but found the best way to make new blueing take to the barrel is to use a sander and take it right down till its silver looking. This insures a clean surface,wear gloves,use degreaser to ensure no fingerprints or oils.
 
depends what your going to do, and how soon your going to do it. i USUALLY just rinse the parts with warm water, after the viniger treatment. if its gona be a while before i get to it, ill oil it. and when i get to it, i just re- viniger it, to get rid of the oil.
 
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