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Posted: 6/15/2009 4:47:34 AM EDT
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Old family rifle.
Prefer Hot blue Absent that, "Blue Wonder" looks neat, but what product demo doesn't 
Anyone know a place that does hot blueing? Any experience with DIY blueing products? Thanks in advance |
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I have tried several cold blues, and they are fine for quick touchups. Blue Wonder does seem to be one of the better ones, as is Oxypho, from Brownells. Still, I wouldn't use it on anything I actually wanted to look at later, or that I wanted to last for a while.
How old is the rifle? If its old enough, it may have been rust blued originally. Rust blue can be done on a DIY basis, but it is labor intensive. Not as many people doing hot bluing now, as compared to a few years ago. |
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All things considered, I would avoid cold blue if I were you. Hot blue wasn't introduced until 1937, so it wouldn't be historically correct either.
Prior to 1937, most rifles and shotgun barrels were rust blued, while handguns were nitre/temper/heat/charcoal/Du-Lite blued. I used a bunch of names there to describe some similar practices. I don't know how .22 rifles were blued in that time period, perhaps some one else does? Rust blue would have been a lot of labor to expend on a .22, and perhaps they were heat blued in some manner. I just don't know. In any case, I would avoid both cold and hot blue, as neither one is correct for the period. All of these processes, except for cold blue, do the same thing. They produce Fe3O4. They just do so in different manners. The temper blues and the hot blues will work well on highly polished metal, whereas the rust blue does better on a coarser finish. |
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