DIY At Home Re-Blue

[mkwerx]

My Sig needed some TLC. After the last good cleaning, it didn't have much of the original blue finish left, so I sanded it down with 400 grit to get rid of the last bits of finish and just oiled the bejesus out of it.

Tonight, I swung by Sportman's Warehouse on the way home, grabbed a tube of Birchwood Casey paste bluing compound.

When I got home I got the slide and barrel degreased and clean, hit it with a buffing wheel on my Dremel (how many of you just had your butt pucker?) then set about the task of bluing them.

I thought the process would be more involved, but the directions said apply with a cloth or swab - I used cotton balls - let the paste work for 60 seconds, then rinse in cold water, buff with steel wool, and repeat until the desired finish is reached. 3 hours or so later, and the finished product looks more like a color case hardened finish than blued steel, but that's OK.





One of these days the gun will get sent off for a proper refinish, but I didn't want to leave the slide in the white until then, since it's carbon and not stainless. Eventually I want to get the slide and frame controls either nickle plated, or done up in NP3, while the barrel and frame stay black. Love that aesthetic. I'd also like to drop in a Grey Guns trigger at that point. But for now, the old war horse has a better finish than it had.

I couldn't get good pix of the finish with the lighting in my house, I'll have to try taking some pix in natural light outside if the weather ever gets nice again. It's crazy all the different colors you get, depending on light.

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[Mygrainman]

did you get the whole kit , or just the bottle of blue? Super blue or perma blue?

I bought a worn down Bersa Thunder a few years ago for $80, bought the Birchwood Casey cold blue kit and followed the instructions to the letter... it turned out beautifully...made it look like new. Sold the gun a week later for $280...
..so then I thought I was a pro and took on my buddies Ruger 77 -06 that he left in the case to rust for years after a day in the wet Alaskan bush. Needless to say, I learned a valuable lesson about prep. I had to spend hours sanding and polishing and making sure it was spotlessly clean, dry, and there was no oil or other residue anywhere.
I also ended up using the "super blue" instead of the perma blue, and let it sit for a little longer before each rinsing to get a darker finish.
It eventually came out great, but only after much trial and error.

 

[mkwerx]

Just a tube of the paste perma blue. To clean the slide, i used dish soap followed up by an alcohol wipe down, hit the parts with my heat gun to get it warm and draw out any lube I may have missed. A light pass with a buffing wheel to remove any imperfections or rust spots, then I began slathering on the chemical, rubbing it in with cotton balls. I probably let the stuff set in 3 to 5x as long each time as the directions called for. Final cleanup was done with another dish soap and alcohol combo to get the last bits of chemical out of hard to reach areas. Then I dried the part and warmed the metal with my heat gun, and rubbed oil into every nook and cranny.

I did notice that after a few hours it darkened up even more, but still has that case hardened look to it.

 

[308]

This stuff is about the best for home use I have found

 

[Mygrainman]

I like it...Case hardened is one of my favorite finishes.
If you want A blacker finish, I'd go back to sportsmans, and get the whole kit, and a bottle of super Blue....less than $20 for all of it.
the remover will strip the pitina back to white giving you a clean slate... and the degreaser is better than regular soap... I used alcohol too. if you can get the 99% stuff all the better.
then just follow the directions in the kit, using the super blue instead of the included perma blue, and you'll have a much darker finish... if that's what you want.
My next home blue project is this remington 550-1.. you can see a the rust spots i'll be dealing with...
I picked up a book on blueing technique at a gunshow last month for reference.

You can also hit up Jon @NWCustomFirearms to get it professionally done... he does really good work.

 

[mkwerx]

I got some slightly better pix that show the final result...









Overall, I'm pleased as punch with how it turned out, considering this is the first time I've ever done such a thing. And it's a long term temporary finish anyway, as like I said I want to eventually get the gun all sexed up nice and pretty with a nickle and black two tone finish. Probably wind up sending it to Robar down in Arizona for the work, as they do their electroless Teflon/nickle NP3 finish which I like, and the barrel I'd probably have done in black Roguard finish, which I think is similar to Sig's Nitron pvd finish. But it's going to be a while before I pull the trigger on that work.

 

[Mygrainman]

Do you have Before any pics?

...edited sorry lol

 

[billdeserthills]

My Sig needed some TLC. After the last good cleaning, it didn't have much of the original blue finish left, so I sanded it down with 400 grit to get rid of the last bits of finish and just oiled the bejesus out of it.

Tonight, I swung by Sportman's Warehouse on the way home, grabbed a tube of Birchwood Casey paste bluing compound.

When I got home I got the slide and barrel degreased and clean, hit it with a buffing wheel on my Dremel (how many of you just had your butt pucker?) then set about the task of bluing them.

I thought the process would be more involved, but the directions said apply with a cloth or swab - I used cotton balls - let the paste work for 60 seconds, then rinse in cold water, buff with steel wool, and repeat until the desired finish is reached. 3 hours or so later, and the finished product looks more like a color case hardened finish than blued steel, but that's OK.

View attachment 435701

View attachment 435702

One of these days the gun will get sent off for a proper refinish, but I didn't want to leave the slide in the white until then, since it's carbon and not stainless. Eventually I want to get the slide and frame controls either nickle plated, or done up in NP3, while the barrel and frame stay black. Love that aesthetic. I'd also like to drop in a Grey Guns trigger at that point. But for now, the old war horse has a better finish than it had.

I couldn't get good pix of the finish with the lighting in my house, I'll have to try taking some pix in natural light outside if the weather ever gets nice again. It's crazy all the different colors you get, depending on light.

Thanks, but I'm gonna stick with my sharpie
It does any color ya want, as long as it's black

 

[Bigbaddude]

I have blued a few firearms with the home kits but was never really happy how they turned out but heating the part with the wife's hair dryer before applying the paste seemed to help the look.

 

[Mygrainman]

Reading this thread inspired me to pick up the book I pictured above on firearm browning, and I gotta say.... Blueing/Browning a gun is definitely more a chemistry experiment than art project!

From what I gather so far... The formulation and method of application of something like Birchwood Casey Permablue is great for a one size fits all "long term temporary finish" as the OP calls it, but from what I've read there are hundreds of formulations and techniques dating back to the 1600s... Over 230 in this book ranging from simple salt solutions, to Antimony Brown:The first process adopted for large scale military use (seen on the famous "Brown Bess")... to Springfield Armoury specific formulas... there is even one that seems rather dangerous called "grey arsnicel pickle" that uses white arsenic and hydrochloric acid among other things.
Phosphate and parkerizing are also in here. This book was a cool find for $5 at a gun show.

 

[moose]

This stuff is about the best for home use I have found

View attachment 435728

Is that phosphoric acid or some dilution of it? Trying some has come to mind since reconverting rust is much better than simple removal.

 

[308]

Is that phosphoric acid or some dilution of it? Trying some has come to mind since reconverting rust is much better than simple removal.

No sure about the chemical makeup. I bought that bottle a decade ago to clean up some of my C&R collection. I would recommend the smaller bottle since, as you can see 10 years later I still have not used a lot.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...ld-bluing-chemicals/oxpho-blue--prod1072.aspx

 

[LuckySG]

Nice work!

If anyone else is feeling brave, swing by and I will hand over a kit for $7. I have three left.

 

[moose]

Apparently it does. Oxphos is a contraction of oxidative phosphorylation. I buy the pure stuff by the quart to treat automotive sheet metal and I've tried it on a mass of pennies all stuck together. It's not a perfect thing. Restored metal is weird, rough and must be re polished.

It doesn't say exactly but it mentions "Phosphate-like surface forms under the blue" and "Rust removing qualities of the solution, making it unnecessary to remove mild rust".

 

[kmk1012]

I got some slightly better pix that show the final result...

View attachment 435759

View attachment 435760

View attachment 435761

View attachment 435762

Overall, I'm pleased as punch with how it turned out, considering this is the first time I've ever done such a thing. And it's a long term temporary finish anyway, as like I said I want to eventually get the gun all sexed up nice and pretty with a nickle and black two tone finish. Probably wind up sending it to Robar down in Arizona for the work, as they do their electroless Teflon/nickle NP3 finish which I like, and the barrel I'd probably have done in black Roguard finish, which I think is similar to Sig's Nitron pvd finish. But it's going to be a while before I pull the trigger on that work.

Looks like Cabelas socks in the third pic! Just funnin ya, now my real question-did you remove everything from the slide? Like sights and moving parts before doing the work? I've been contemplating refinishing my first gun (an old ruger 22/45 bull barrel that I purchased in 02).

 

[mkwerx]

They are Cabela's socks I ditched all my nylon & cotton socks for their wool socks a year ago. My feet are happier for it.


As for the slide, no, I did not remove sights. Sig sights require a pusher, which I do not have. They are factory blued non- night sights, so it didn't hurt them a bit. It actually did not even effect the paint on the white bar- dot portion, I was surprised. All I did to prep was totally strip the little streaks of blue that was left by sanding, then degreased the slide. Thats it.

 

[kmk1012]

Thanks, I've got a little more confidence in attempting my project.

 

[GOG]

I second the Oxpho-Blue from Brownell's. I've used it for touch ups and for complete re-blues.
Preparation is the key. Then it's just patience until the right effect is achieved. I've had some excellent results, but the good stuff goes to a professional.

P.S. The heat really helps.

 

[Crohnos01]

Make me another vote for the Brownells Oxpho-blue. I have a couple of rusty old air rifles that need some tlc. Honestly, they look like new with this stuff.

 

[billdeserthills]

Thing I like about Oxpho blue is when I'm cleaning my gun and the blue color starts coming off I got a big bottle of the stuff and I can just keep putting more on/
sarc off...