Aside from my initial join, this is my first real post, but after searching for a product and information, i thought the following might be of interest. Although i prefer modern semi- auto handguns, I came across an "unissued" Tokarev at my local dealer. I bought it, brought it home and gave it a good cleaning. After the scrubdown, i noticed that the bluing had some wear, and also that some of the nooks and crannies on the frame had some surface rust. Since these things are cheaper than dirt, i thought it might be worth trying my hand at a "re-blue" job.
Finding chemicals in Canada for a proper "hot rust" blue is tough. By pure luck I came across "PJ's" in Ontario
http://www.pjsproducts.com/.
They have an "Express" Blue solution that works similar to Herters and Art's. This is a "heat-blue-heat-card-heat-repeat" solution. Although not a hot-salt blue, it is , from my experience, the next best thing. (with all due respect to the "cold blue" wipe-on gang, that stuff has never cut it for me).
PJ's claim to supply countless pro's across the country, and swear by their products. After speaking with them, they sent down the bottle, along with a blue remover, their signature oil "Clenzoil", and their "green" cleaning solution, RB17,which is effective at de-greasing. Their service is second to none---- period. They went out of their way to call me repeatedly to make sure i was getting on well. My hats off to them.
The job started with complete disassembly. Since much of my gun was still unused, i was able to limit my work to the frame, slide, slide release, slide release clip, and trigger.
I started with the de-bluing. This took about 3/4 of an hour. You rub it on, and then it slowly starts to get the gun blotchy and the blue starts to rub off. The solution works well, but eventually you need to get working on it with fine sandpaper and steel wool. In my case, to clear off the few minor nicks and surface rust, i was able to get away with using 0000 Steel wool , along with 350 and 400 grit metal oxide sandpaper (the dark gray stuff you get at Canadian Tire -- 1 sheet of each did the job for me). The 350 would be used, sometimes folded into a sharp crease to work in the tight areas, other times i would wrap it around a piece of wood as a backer. Most of the work was done with the 400 grit, and even more so the steelwool. The steelwool would bring a sheen out in the metal after the smoothing was done with the papers.
Surface prep was and is everything. Blueing simply changes the color of the surface you are working with, so it is important to get it right. I found that after you spend time at it, it starts to really look good, which motivates you to keep going. I stopped 3 or 4 times to take photos. I was looking for a smooth shiny surface , so that the blue job will almost be rich and glossy, like a S&W wheelgun from back in the day.
I worked the metal to a point where it looked like a polished modern stainless gun, then i did long strait strokes with a backed 400 grit paper to get a faint "brushed" grain into the metal -- i was careful to move the paper strait as opposed to "arc"s, front to back horizontally. After that final sanding, i went back to a quick overall buff with steelwool, then i was done. The surface prep took me about three hours, but wasn't a back breaker.
During the surface work, a few times i held the piece too long, and would leave the slightest fingerprint etch in the metal, so in hindsight, i think gloves should have been worn this late in the process. Steel wool cleans them up nicely.
After it was ready, i wiped it down with alcohol and paper towel.
I put the pieces away for the night, and then the next day i got up to blue it.
At the direction of the good folks at PJ's, i bought 2 cheap pots, and some distilled water. In one i poured in about 2 liters of distilled water (Shoppers Drugmart), 2 squirts of the RB-17 cleaner, and a tbsp of lye-- or so the recipe was, but i didnt have lye, so i poured in a squirt of cheap dish detergent. I brought this first pot to almost a boil, then in went the parts. In the second pot, i put another 2 liters of distilled water, and cranked it up to a boil.
10 minutes later i pulled them out with some tongs and put them on a clean towel. Wiped them lightly, then placed them into the other now boiling 2nd pot (the one with just the Dist. water). That first pot was to clean off any remiaining oil or grease. I did not have to use any other degreasing solution or process.
Once the 2nd water pot was boiling with the parts, i took each out , one at a time, rubbed on some of the well shaken blue solution that i had poured into a little plastic dish. I used a clean white cloth. (actually, it was a simply cotton "patch" from a bag i bought in the gun section of canadian tire. ). As it went on you could see an instant dark gray layer form on the surface. As i rubbed it on each piece, i would replace them back into the hot water before grabbing the next one. This first coat was alarmingly blotchy. Almost like i didn't degrease enough-- but in the end it turned out fine.
After each piece got a first coat in turn, i then started the first round of carding-- simply a very quick buff with the steel wool (0000). Then back in the water. Each piece, one at a time. OUt of the water, buff, back in.
When each got a buff, then i started with piece #1 again with anther coat of blue, then back in the water-- and so the process went -- 7 times in total. The blue solution for the first few coats was slightly sensitive to runs , but you can be a little liberal and messy with the application, since later coats smooth it all out beautifully. After the 2nd coat, the carding really reveals the beauty of your work.
THis whole process goes very quick-- from filling the pots to cleaning up i was only an hour. The smaller pieces i noticed cool quickly, and heat is your friend, so i needed to work quicker with them. From what i gather, the hot water only plays a role as a heating agent, not chemical.
After the final coat was applied, i took the peices to my gun desk ,and did a final carding buff. THen, using the Clenzoil, i heavily oiled each peice and put it on an old cookie sheet. INto the oven it went for 25 minutes at 250 farenheit. PJ's say this will help deepen the oil penetration and season the metal.
After letting them cool, i cleaned all of the gun parts, and re-assembled.
The results are stunning, even with my limited experience and capabilities. The "blue" (which is really black) is deep and rich, and the surface work really paid dividends. I wanted a proper classic service pistol in the traditional shiny black.
If you have been considering bluing a gun, you cant go wrong with PJ's.
Finding chemicals in Canada for a proper "hot rust" blue is tough. By pure luck I came across "PJ's" in Ontario
http://www.pjsproducts.com/.
They have an "Express" Blue solution that works similar to Herters and Art's. This is a "heat-blue-heat-card-heat-repeat" solution. Although not a hot-salt blue, it is , from my experience, the next best thing. (with all due respect to the "cold blue" wipe-on gang, that stuff has never cut it for me).
PJ's claim to supply countless pro's across the country, and swear by their products. After speaking with them, they sent down the bottle, along with a blue remover, their signature oil "Clenzoil", and their "green" cleaning solution, RB17,which is effective at de-greasing. Their service is second to none---- period. They went out of their way to call me repeatedly to make sure i was getting on well. My hats off to them.
The job started with complete disassembly. Since much of my gun was still unused, i was able to limit my work to the frame, slide, slide release, slide release clip, and trigger.
I started with the de-bluing. This took about 3/4 of an hour. You rub it on, and then it slowly starts to get the gun blotchy and the blue starts to rub off. The solution works well, but eventually you need to get working on it with fine sandpaper and steel wool. In my case, to clear off the few minor nicks and surface rust, i was able to get away with using 0000 Steel wool , along with 350 and 400 grit metal oxide sandpaper (the dark gray stuff you get at Canadian Tire -- 1 sheet of each did the job for me). The 350 would be used, sometimes folded into a sharp crease to work in the tight areas, other times i would wrap it around a piece of wood as a backer. Most of the work was done with the 400 grit, and even more so the steelwool. The steelwool would bring a sheen out in the metal after the smoothing was done with the papers.
Surface prep was and is everything. Blueing simply changes the color of the surface you are working with, so it is important to get it right. I found that after you spend time at it, it starts to really look good, which motivates you to keep going. I stopped 3 or 4 times to take photos. I was looking for a smooth shiny surface , so that the blue job will almost be rich and glossy, like a S&W wheelgun from back in the day.
I worked the metal to a point where it looked like a polished modern stainless gun, then i did long strait strokes with a backed 400 grit paper to get a faint "brushed" grain into the metal -- i was careful to move the paper strait as opposed to "arc"s, front to back horizontally. After that final sanding, i went back to a quick overall buff with steelwool, then i was done. The surface prep took me about three hours, but wasn't a back breaker.
During the surface work, a few times i held the piece too long, and would leave the slightest fingerprint etch in the metal, so in hindsight, i think gloves should have been worn this late in the process. Steel wool cleans them up nicely.
After it was ready, i wiped it down with alcohol and paper towel.
I put the pieces away for the night, and then the next day i got up to blue it.
At the direction of the good folks at PJ's, i bought 2 cheap pots, and some distilled water. In one i poured in about 2 liters of distilled water (Shoppers Drugmart), 2 squirts of the RB-17 cleaner, and a tbsp of lye-- or so the recipe was, but i didnt have lye, so i poured in a squirt of cheap dish detergent. I brought this first pot to almost a boil, then in went the parts. In the second pot, i put another 2 liters of distilled water, and cranked it up to a boil.
10 minutes later i pulled them out with some tongs and put them on a clean towel. Wiped them lightly, then placed them into the other now boiling 2nd pot (the one with just the Dist. water). That first pot was to clean off any remiaining oil or grease. I did not have to use any other degreasing solution or process.
Once the 2nd water pot was boiling with the parts, i took each out , one at a time, rubbed on some of the well shaken blue solution that i had poured into a little plastic dish. I used a clean white cloth. (actually, it was a simply cotton "patch" from a bag i bought in the gun section of canadian tire. ). As it went on you could see an instant dark gray layer form on the surface. As i rubbed it on each piece, i would replace them back into the hot water before grabbing the next one. This first coat was alarmingly blotchy. Almost like i didn't degrease enough-- but in the end it turned out fine.
After each piece got a first coat in turn, i then started the first round of carding-- simply a very quick buff with the steel wool (0000). Then back in the water. Each piece, one at a time. OUt of the water, buff, back in.
When each got a buff, then i started with piece #1 again with anther coat of blue, then back in the water-- and so the process went -- 7 times in total. The blue solution for the first few coats was slightly sensitive to runs , but you can be a little liberal and messy with the application, since later coats smooth it all out beautifully. After the 2nd coat, the carding really reveals the beauty of your work.
THis whole process goes very quick-- from filling the pots to cleaning up i was only an hour. The smaller pieces i noticed cool quickly, and heat is your friend, so i needed to work quicker with them. From what i gather, the hot water only plays a role as a heating agent, not chemical.
After the final coat was applied, i took the peices to my gun desk ,and did a final carding buff. THen, using the Clenzoil, i heavily oiled each peice and put it on an old cookie sheet. INto the oven it went for 25 minutes at 250 farenheit. PJ's say this will help deepen the oil penetration and season the metal.
After letting them cool, i cleaned all of the gun parts, and re-assembled.
The results are stunning, even with my limited experience and capabilities. The "blue" (which is really black) is deep and rich, and the surface work really paid dividends. I wanted a proper classic service pistol in the traditional shiny black.
If you have been considering bluing a gun, you cant go wrong with PJ's.
