Hand polishing a barrel for bluing

[gallen85]

I am in the process of hand polishing a barrel for bluing. I began by sanding lengthwise with 100 grit. I will then go to a shoeshine method with finer grit and continue this process until I have a high polish. I ran into a problem though. While sanding with the 100 grit some spots showed up that appear to be some shallow pitting. Can I go to a coarser grit to remove the pitting quicker and then progress to finer grits? Is there a better method to remove this pitting? Any help is appreciated.

 

[35 Whelen]

Welcome to the forum.

Regarding the pitting, it's going to depend on how deep it is. I would be afraid that it would take too much sanding to remove all but the very finest pitting.
Also, what type barrel is it? Many times on rifle barrels pitting occurs under the wood line where it will never be seen, so it doesn't matter quite as much.
35W

 

[rcmodel]

100 grit is already going more scratching then polishing!!
And those scratches will be very hard to polish out!!

If you have pits, the best way to remove them is by "draw filing" the barrel until they are gone.
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-draw-file-octagon-gun-barrel-for-bluing-204319/

Following that, proceed to 220, 340, & 400 grit black emery paper wrapped around the file, using each grit in a different direction to remove all traces of scratching left from the previous courser grit.

Final polish with Crocus cloth strips in a shoe-shine motion.

rc

 

[gallen85]

It is some pretty fine pitting. It looks like some small speckles on the end of the barrel. Regarding the draw filing, I was afraid that would do more scatching than sandpaper and that I might take off more than I want to in a short amount of time. I was thinking the sandpaper would allow me to take things slower. If this is not that case I may need to try the draw filing.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Let me tell you my story.....I have a Remington 700 BDL that I bought brand new 20 years ago. I messed up a spot on the blue years ago. This summer, I decided to try to blend that spot in with cold blue. I ended up screwing it up worse. Other than that spot, it had the glossy, slick blue you would expect on a 700...I decided to get it reblued. I took it to a local gunsmith and specified a "high gloss blue" . I went back and picked it up. It looked good inside his dark shop. I took it home and checked it out in the sunlight. The entire thing was freckled up with those tiny specks. I was certain those specks were from where he bead blasted it and did not polish it well enough. I took it back. He said he would do the work again. I told him to just blast off the finish, call me, and I would pick the gun up and polish it myself, because I have a pretty elaborate polishing set up....I picked it up. It was blasted witht he finest grit beads he could get. I thought polishing it out would be no problem. I found those specks down deeper in the metal and could not polish them out with wheels and compound. I ended up trying sanding it down with 100 grit, then working my way up with finer paper and gettng back to the wheels. It didn't matter, those specks seemed to be in the metal. I could not polish them out. If I polished one off, another one was pop up in it's place. I spent out hours polishing. When I was done, it looked like a chrome pipe....but those specks were still there. I finally threw in the towel and had him dip it. It looks great, but those specks are visible if you hold it at just the right angle...The gunsmith said he had conferred with other gunsmiths and nobody had every seen anyting like it.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

The best possible route is to chuck the barrel in a lathe and use progressively finer sandpaper on a hard rubber backing block. Barring that, the draw file method is the only way to guard against ripples in the barrel. This is why gunsmiths charge so much more for high-polish bluing jobs,it is so labor intensive. Do not spot sand as you will wind up with "dips" in the metal that will be very obvious after bluing. You must remove metal evenly to avoid dips,waves and ripples. On barrels too pitted,I prefer to glass bead or polish with 240/400 grit compound on a loose muslin wheel.

 

[Big Az Al]

Everyone should hand polish a barrel once in a lifetime, that way they can enjoy when a smith takes something that was......

pick one (or more): bubba'd, diy mess, propping the barn door open for 30years.

And makes it look really good.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

The hard rubber backing block is a must. It helps keep the surface smooth. Buy them at the auto parts store, they are used for body work. Another thing is to keep you paper from loading with metal or grit, which can make scratches worse. To do that use a light oil or water with a drop of dish soap. You have to keep it wet enough to move the grit, which is where water is nice. Use a pan or tray under your work.

 

[forgetitohio]

I cleaned my BBL with a screw gun and dowel rod down the BBL.
Poor man's lathe.