Rust blue fail

[CMichaud]

Well after countless hours prepping an old Martini for rust reblue I sent the rifle off to a known (and "recommended" gunsmith).

I had anticipated paying $400 or so even with my prep work but the guy only charged $100 in the end. I had assumed that that was due to the prep being completed and I had no problem waiting 4 months etc.

Four month later the gun has come back and wow...epic crap job. Blotchy, various shades of brownish colour and an overly etched receiver to boot

Alas, this is one of the worst blue jobs I have ever seen. Got a second opinion from a gunsmith who is now out of the blueing game and he verified that it was indeed a horrid job.

Can anyone personally recommend a good place to get a caustic job done as I am now back to draw filing and polishing it appears

Guess I just needed to rant abit

 

[DEZ]

I have used wilcox in BC he did a fine job and was fast also there is a fella in Medicine Hat now that does blueing and his stuff looks super I'll look up his name also try Bits of peices in BC

 

[starpuss]

i bet it was from your prep work. you should of told him to do the prep work.

 

[tiriaq]

Polishing and draw filing? Why? Can be chemically stripped, mechanically removing it isn't necessary.
You could do it yourself, using the hot water process.

 

[vettes]

X2, prep is everything, and makes a huge difference on outcome

i bet it was from your prep work. you should of told him to do the prep work.

 

[fredfiset]

I rust blued a rifle 2 years ago, the bluing is the easy part of the process - as long as you use demineralised water.

The most important and time consuming part is the polishing of the rifle's parts.
Letting the rusting solution do his job is easy, you have nothing to do but watch.
Boiling the parts is easy too for the small parts; the barrel require more work.

 

[Can-down]

If the prep work wasn't good enough then the guy doing the rust blueing should have taken care of it before he started.

 

[CMichaud]

i bet it was from your prep work. you should of told him to do the prep work.

Kind of insulting mate.

I worked with a great GS in town who is now out of the bluing game to get it well prepped. He oversaw my progress from start to finish. I had to remove some pitting for those that don't get the drawfiling and finishing aspects.

Having said all this, the GS I sent it to indicated that the prep work was great when he received it prior to going "to work" on it. If it had been a crap prep job, then I fully expected him to tell me and charge me appropriately for the additonal time.

 

[tiriaq]

.....I had to remove some pitting for those that don't get the drawfiling and finishing aspects.....

The unsuccessful rust bluing attempt resulted in pitting? If it is just a poor bluing job, you should not need to use drawfiling or other aggressive methods to get back to bare steel. Strip it chemically, give it a polish and it should be ready to blue.
Hot water bluing is time consuming, but excellent results can be had.

 

[CMichaud]

No, the gun was pitted when I got. But see what you are getting at ref the need to do the full enchiliada to remove the crap job (less perhaps the receiver which seems to be rough, almost etched, now).

Thanks