CanAm said:
What method did you use to polish that rifle. I like the satin blue.
This particular rifle was in good shape with no pitting. The barrel was blued and the action/triggerguard was a matte finish of some sort(parkerized????). I used a maroon Scotch-brite automotive pad to remove the barrel blue and a soft wire wheel to clean up the action/triggerguard. It turned out the finish on the action coved tiny machining marks so I gave it a light fileing then polished with silicon carbide wet/dry paper. I used 120 to start then 180, 220, 320 and finally 400 grit. Each finer grit removes the scratches from the previous grit. I use the paper dry with a hard backing and sanded lengthwise.
On the barrel I was able to start with 320 grit and finish with 400.
Small parts(cocking piece, guard screws, etc) got a bath in muriatic (hyrochloric) acid then were polished with the paper.
After bluing, I oiled the metal with transmission oil for 24 hours. I then cleaned off the oil and waxed the metal with Clapham's Beeswax Polish. Its a mixture of beeswax and carnuba wax. I got it from Home Hardware.
As I understand it, you can't get a really high gloss finish with slow rust bluing like you can with caustic bluing but the level of sheen can be increase by polishing to a ligher level.
Also, apparently some of the solutions on the market will not 'bite' on a highly polished surface. The stuff I get from Luckyguy has no problem with this. I could probably blue an ice cube with his solution.
evster said:
I have a question about this, I am interested in trying it as well. From what I have read you put the chemical on and it forms red rust and then you boil the peice to turn it black. What do you use to boil the barrell since it is so long?
When I started this work, I used a 40" length of enamel coated aluminum rain gutter. I sealed the ends with gutter caps and high temperature silicon. Boiling was done on the propane stove in my camper. It worked like a hot damn but the gutter was kind of tippy.
Later, a friend cut one side from a piece 3" square steel tubing and capped the ends. I now boil on the kitchen range(I have a jewel of a wife
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