birchwood casey bluing?

[kennedy]

my grandson put is .22 savage away with out drying it off and now has a bunch of rust spots. sooo, I though he and I would reblue it as a winter project. Is the birchwood casey rebluing kit any good? it has a bluing/rust remover, degreaser, and paste bluing. or is there another cold bluing I should use?

 

[boom boom]

I am assuming the receiver is steel from the reported rust, then I would advise removing the rust gently first--chore boy bronze wool combined with a fine machine oil (I use Kroil) or if you are careful, you can use 0000 steel wool with the oil. You will need to remove the rust before any attempt at cold blue. Second, cold bluing is really a stain for steel unlike rust bluing which is oxidation of the surface. I personally use Brownells Oxpho Blue (the gel) with swabs, polish, clean ,repeat, etc. until the color matches what you want. If the receiver is a bit warmed by a hairdryer, it seems to soak up a bit more. Regardless of the brand, follow the instructions faithfully. At a certain point, any further application will not adhere. One thing that a lot of cold bluings are sensitive to is silicone contamination. Some of those premade gun cleaning cloths contain silicon and it messes up the application of cold bluing. Waxes and other things do to. I suggest carefully using acetone or at least mineral spirits to thoroughly clean and deoil first. Some of the cold bluing products are a bit less sensitive to oils than others but better safe than sorry.

Be aware that depending on the alloy of the receiver, the bluing color can vary upon application and sometimes you almost get a case hardening look.

I would suggest going to Brownell's website and search for cold blue--they carry several different brands and give good information about application and allow people to ask question that their tech people and gunsmiths on staff answer. You can also find techniques on application in the reviews.

Another technique is rust bluing that is fairly simple, relatively inexpensive but a bit tedious to do with labor. This can produce a gorgeous finish and was the primary way firearms were blued until hot caustic bluing came along. A poster by the name of Tincan Bandit regularly comments here and does outstanding work. He probably has his updated thread below on his current and past projects in this gunsmithing portion of the THR. He can give you tips about rust blueing that far better than I can. Here is his comment thread https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/some-of-the-guns-that-i-have-restored-reblued.761871/

 

[boom boom]

Oh, I nearly forgot, depending on whether the rust is furry or crusty, it is possible to remove the rust by the oil/bronze/steel wool technique without harming the bluing. The crusty stuff usually causes pitting which often requires refinishing through grinding, draw filing, etc. to remove. One other technique is cerrocoat/durocoat/or durablue painting over the existing finish after suitable surface prep. Duracoat makes a paint product called durablue that supposedly resembles real bluing. I have a can but have not used it yet. I will probably try it on a wall hanger first.

 

[LoonWulf]

BoomBoom covered it, but i thought id add, that if you DO go ahead with the cold blue be ready to practice a few times. Ive got a technique that works pretty well for me now, but it took a few major screw ups and strips to get it right.

 

[beag_nut]

And then there's Brownell's Oxpho-Blue, which works for me.