reblue a barrel

spidermanny said:
If you havent wired the rust off yet...boil it.

PVC pipe verticaly over pot of boiling water(steam boiling) @15-30 min. Converts rust to Blueing.
a Gunsmith on Utube i think called AnvilGunsmith has the method.
He boils all parts before determining if it needs to be refinished.
Click to expand...

Yeah. That's the basic principle of rust blueing. Controlled, rapid layer of rust, converted by boiling, cleaned off, rinse, repeat, quite literally.

Takes time and effort, but is pretty cheap to set up to do on a limited budget.

Clean the bore. Figure out from there whether there is any point to putting effort in to it or not.

Oh yeah. "old rifle" is pretty meaningless. Make and model would be a start. Pictures even better,

And do try to keep firmly in mind that whether the bore looks like sewer pipe or not, it may still shoot quite well enough for what it may be.
 
Bluing either hot of cold will look like crap on top of a rough pitted surface. For bluing to look good the metal has to be prepared properly. The finished product is entirely dependent on the preparation.

So forget about lightly doing anything... you will have to remove the pits, the printing and lots of metal... down to bright smooth steel. It takes many hours to do it properly by hand...

Before you bother doing anything else clean the friggin bore and see what you have... if it doesn't look too bad shoot the friggin thing and see how it shoots... and post some pictures...
 
bore looks good. Didn't take much to clean, and fires well. I will post some pictures of the barrel so everyone knows what I working with.
 
untel you get the old finish off you don`t really know how much work it will take . i do work for a couple smiths i allways get the same story...will not need much polishing at all ...i have not done a barrel yet the didn`t need a lot of work ....unless you bead blast it and get a mat finish .
 
BCRider said:
There's some cold blues that get better and better with repeated and specific application. And others that work quite well with only one application.

Art's Belgian Blue from Brownells is one that doesn't work worth a darn right out of the bottle on a room temp barrel. But if given the right application it's supposed to be one of the better "cold blue" products. Check out this LARRY POTTERFIELD VIDEO for the right way to use it. I've got some here and was going to use it but a chance to get in on a hot bluing batch came along at just the right time. So I'm still looking for a job to use the Art's Belgian.

If you would rather just use a basic cold blue that is crazy simple and looks really dark then I can heartily recommend G96 brand "Gun Blue Creme". It's been my Go To product for small parts and touch ups for quite a while now. It does help the depth of the color if I run the part under hot tap water but it goes on really black. Hint, apply and let sit for maybe 20 to 30 seconds THEN rinse off in hot water from the tap. Pat or lightly rub dry without a lot of force and then oil it. Now you can rub it somewhat more briskly and any excess color will come off. But it'll be nice and dark. I found that with any cold blue if I rinsed and rubbed away any excess too soon they did not get as dark as I'd like. But between Birchwood Casey's two options and the G96 Creme I found the G96 works better for me.
Click to expand...

I'm finding those Larry Pottefeild videos very informative of late.
The basics of what one can do with a few tools or a full range .
Gives one some information on what it takes or to delve deeper for the project in hand.
Good post BCRider.
Rob
 
Try and find another barrel in better condition first.
You will be surprised what people have on the shelf!
I bought five barrels to get the one I wanted, the other four were
mint condition also, all for $200.00 shipped
 
I don't know how to post pictures but its in rough enough shape it hard to read the make and model on the barrel. I don't doubt its going to be a bit of work get it clean
 
Andrew, I tried from gmail, but it was a no go :(
My advice is wire wheel it to remove surface rust and them clean it well and then try your hand at bluing.
You tube how to blue a barrel and then search a few more to see who has the best instructions.
Rob
 
One thing to note, steel wool from Homehardware or what ever sometimes had oil to keep it from rusting, so if you are going to do more than one coat of blue, degrease the steel wool first, I find brake cleaner on small stuff degreases quite good, don't know about a whole gun.
But sounds like it will be good practice job.
I don't like power wire wheels , they will take the rust off, but also enlarge all the pits, a sand blast works good it you have a pitted barrel, if you know some one with one, you end up with a flat finish, helps hid pits. Glass beads work great for this, will be smoother than sand .
Hi gloss finish, the metal has to be perfect, or you will see every little imperfection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom