Some of the guns that I have restored/reblued

[WestKentucky]

This is incredible work. It just makes me wonder what some of my beaters could be.

 

[ccoyle]

That's some very nice work you have done. I recently completed my first refinish/reblue project, a Springfield Model 18 bolt-action 12 gauge. I used cold bluing, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's definitely a sort of project that beginners shouldn't unduly fear taking on.

 

[TINCANBANDIT]

my current projects:

A 1978 Colt Trooper that was in a house fire



A 1913 Colt New Service



An old model .357 Ruger Blackhawk

 

[texasred777]

I've refinished several rifles and shotguns, but only cold blue. The method you're using looks rather simple to what I thought was required. Getting to old to get into that, but really looks interesting! A few years ago, I would have jumped into that kind of bluing! I need to check over several of the guns I've cold blued. A lot of times it kina 'fades away'. I noticed a little Sears 3T (Win 190) that had several small spots that was faded the last time I had it out at the spot I go to shoot.
If anyone's interested, they can to see some of my work by looking at my posts.

 

[Brass2grass]

This baby browning was brought to me all rusted and inside a ziplock baggy. Luckily only the trigger and trigger spring were missing.

 

[horsemen61]

nice work so is this just a hobby or do you offer this as a service?

 

[OilyPablo]

Brass2grass what is the coating? That's kind of cool looking.

 

[Brass2grass]

I did this one about a year or so ago. I think it was the duracoat tac black. I baked it at 350° to cure then coated it in a Matt clear coat.

 

[Lee Davis]

I am thoroughly confused... how does one fill in the cancer holes? Surely, you can't just buff out everything.

 

[Brass2grass]

Surface rust can be easily fixed. When It starts pitting, that's when you have a problem. Some will say to sand down the surrounding area to the pit depth but in most cases that's doing more harm than good. Others will say to just leave it or use some liquid metal. I personally use a spray on filler called durafil from lauer custom weaponry. It fills the pits and can be applied in layers then lightly sanded flat and coated with whatever color you want.

 

[rondog]

Do you have a website other than the blog thing? Curious about pricing, shipping, details, etc. I have an old Remington 514 .22 rifle I'd like to get reblued. Already did the stock and it turned out great, need the metal done now.

 

[OilyPablo]

Do you have a website other than the blog thing? Curious about pricing, shipping, details, etc. I have an old Remington 514 .22 rifle I'd like to get reblued. Already did the stock and it turned out great, need the metal done now.

Send TinCan a pm. I think he mainly does local work.

 

[Lee Davis]

Is there anything that will fill cancer holes, and then can be reblued?

 

[Brass2grass]

Is there anything that will fill cancer holes, and then can be reblued?

Depending on the type of receiver. For deep pits in a steel receiver you can weld them then file them flat again. For aluminum I use durafil for my pitting, I'm not sure whether or not it will take to hot blueing salts but it blues very nicely with durablue. I'm currently working on a Gamble stores inc model 29 shotgun. It has relatively shallow pits but I will be filling and blueing with the mentioned methods. I'll link when I'm finished.

Here's a few before pics

 

[rangervoss]

Lee, just as mentioned above you can weld and then blue. In my personal experience, welding is best left to fill in a man made hole such as a scope mount hole. If you have severe pitting on the gun, you will just have to leave it. Minor pitting can be blended with sanding or draw filing and then buff like normal. Using a coarser grit when final buffing will help conceal the pits you can't get out but any discerning eye will always catch it. But it usually looks a lot better blued and pitted than rusty and pitted.

 

[rangervoss]

Brassgrass, from what I am seeing there aren't really any pits to speak of in those pictures. You should be able to sand and blend fairly easily. Use a flat bastard if necessary but it looks like sand paper suffice.

 

[Brass2grass]

Brassgrass, from what I am seeing there aren't really any pits to speak of in those pictures. You should be able to sand and blend fairly easily. Use a flat bastard if necessary but it looks like sand paper suffice.

Yea they were pretty shallow compared to most pitting you see. I filed, sprayed with filler and blued it today. I'll takes pics tomorrow after its had time to set up.

 

[TINCANBANDIT]

What Brass2Grass is referring to is similar to body work on a car...the problem is that it will not work with bluing

Bluing is rust, a type of iron-oxide, and as such you can only blue ferrous metals (steel, iron etc).

There have been projects where the rust pitting was too deep to do anything with (the shotgun barrel on a Mossberg 500 is one example). I use files and sand paper to remove metal until the area is smooth again.

My current project (A Colt Trooper 357) had extensive pitting on the cylinder and I decided to replace the cylinder and the barrel for safety reasons. The frame was not as bad and was salvageable.

Here are a couple of pictures one the progress of the Trooper






see more at my blog http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of.html

 

[TINCANBANDIT]

The Trooper is finally finished, here are the before and after pictures and links to the blog posts












http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of_5.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of_22.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-phoenix-project-resurrection-of.html

 

[TINCANBANDIT]

I also finished the Ruger old model Blackhawk, it took a different turn

The brass grip frame that came with the gun was for a new model, although I could have adapted it to fit, I went a different route and custom fit a Colt 1851 Navy brass grip frame to the Ruger






links to the blog posts with more pictures and descriptions of the process



http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/01/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-1.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/02/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-2.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/04/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-3.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/05/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-4.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/06/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-5.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/07/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-6.html

http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2015/07/ruger-old-model-blackhawk-project-part-7.html

 

[OilyPablo]

Good stuff. Excellent work.

 

[Derry 1946]

Excellent work, Tincan. How deep a pit would you sand down to (versus leave alone)? As deep as a grain of sand?

 

[TINCANBANDIT]

I guess that depends on how thick the metal is and how badly I wanted to restore the part

 

[Derry 1946]

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[rcmodel]

Looks like great work.

But, how do you restore the roll marks and Colt Pony when there is nothing left there to restore???

rc