Hey guys I have a bit of an issue with surface rust on a Cooey 840 the bluing is great on this gun other than the surface rust that is on the barrel is there any way to remove this without recking the finish? I appreciate any advice that you can give thanks.
Need advice on getting rid of surface rust
- Thread starter Darky
- Start date
fvtrkyhntr
Member
- Location
- harley ontario
Krioil and 0000 steel wool and rub gently. It will come off
BrotherRockeye
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Rural Saskatchewan
I've used oil on a plastic dish scrubber in the past with good results.
Oil and steel wool from me too. And in my case I suggest firm but moderate pressure. The blueing is harder than the edges on the wool so it won't hurt the finish. The added pressure will cut off the rust more easily and in good time.
Note too that the damage is done. If you look closely after carding the rust away with the oil and wool you'll see that there is some light freckling where the rust dug into the finish. The rust had to come from somewhere and this is the result. Short of a full on removal of the blue finish, a serious polishing job and re-blueing the freckles will be there forever now.
The good news is that if it's light enough no one will ever notice. Lots of us have guns which needed this same attention and generally the residual marking is only visible on close inspection with just the right light.
Note too that the damage is done. If you look closely after carding the rust away with the oil and wool you'll see that there is some light freckling where the rust dug into the finish. The rust had to come from somewhere and this is the result. Short of a full on removal of the blue finish, a serious polishing job and re-blueing the freckles will be there forever now.
The good news is that if it's light enough no one will ever notice. Lots of us have guns which needed this same attention and generally the residual marking is only visible on close inspection with just the right light.
- Location
- Ottawa origanally Muskoka
Bare in mind that the bluing in question is Cooey bluing. Not that durable.
- Location
- Belleville Ontario
While it might not help a with large scale rust, i've found that you can scrape off smaller bits of rust without damaging the metal under it by using pieces of copper, such as pennies from before 1997. Other than that, some fine steel wool.
Fair enough and sutably warned. OK, try a small spot underneath where it'll be covered up by the stock if it turns out that the blueing is easily rubbed off by the wool.
For the record when I've done this with the steel wool the "oil" of choice for this was WD40 as mentioned by someone else. For this application it's one of the better choices as the solvent in the mix softens the rust better than straight oil.
Nice pun!
I have some of the Gunsmith Kinks books, some where in there they recommend using a piece of round stock, rolling it back and forth like a rolling pin. I think the idea behind that is the round stock will crush the rust. Try that and then clean it up with oil/steel wool.
- Location
- Ottawa origanally Muskoka
LOL you're a nutter aren't you.
I had to do this to an old lakefield once. I used 0000 steel wool, LIGHT pressure and spray silicone. Silicone being hydrophobic where as WD40 is actually hydroscopic. That being said WD40 is actually "suposed" to be heavier than water so it will get under the moisture an displace it (WD40 stands for Water Displacement 40th formula).
I like to put a covering of water repelant silicone on my guns verses a "displaceing", gumming, oily crap. But that's me. Ever see what a gun rubbed with WD40 looks like after a period of time? All the screws are glued in like locktite, the stock is vertually unfinishable...and glued on, the WD40 has coated the inside like tar...but under the tar is rusted metal, often bare as if somehow the WD40 had removed the bluing over time.
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There's a bunch of 'wrong' in that there post.
WD is NOT hygroscopic. It is not heavier than water either. And despite folks using it as if it is an oil, it's mostly Stoddard Solvent. And therein, lies the problem, as the solvent looks wet after it has been wiped onto everything, then slowly evaporates leaving essentially a clean unprotected surface, with a very tiny bit of residual oil here and there. Which is why things 'protected' by WD-40, rust.
It gets under the water on a surface, by sticking to the surface better than water does. Thus displacing the water, allowing it to go away, either when blown out with air, wiped with a cloth, etc. If it were hygroscopic (attracted to water) it would cause the water to stick better.
Great stuff to use to swill around while scrubbing down a part with steel wool, but not such goods stuff for replacing actual oil.
Speaking of hygroscopic and oil together, be aware that the Detergent additives in detergent Motor Oil are hygroscopic. That means that one is better off not using detergent motor oil to wipe down guns for storage either. The function (one of them, anyway) of these additives is to grab on to and hold the condensation moisture inside the engine, until it can be heated up enough to be carried away through the breather by the engine heat while it is operating. Which, in a most basic sense, simply means that just because it says that it is oil, all are not equal!
And yeah, it's a Cooey, not the fricken' Mona Lisa. Nobody is paying top dollar for a well used Cooey as a collectible these days. No guilt from a reblue. Good opportunity to do a rust blue at home. Cheap and low tech, but a bunch of work. It'll look better than using instant blue though. And be more durable.
Cheers
Trev
