What is naval jelly?  I've read that you can use it to phosphate a gun before you paint it.  If that is true, how?

Quoted: What is naval jelly?

Naval Jelly is a rust remover that is a phosphoric acid solution in a nice pink or blue gel mixture.  Used to be used on boats quite a bit.  

I've read that you can use it to phosphate a gun before you paint it.  If that is true, how?

Yes this is true.  The phosphoric acid is the same ingredient that the phosphating (aka parkerizing) kits use.  Naval Jelly can be used as a pre-treatment on guns (and cars) in the same way as you would use an etching primer, a base coat for a paint.  

This is different than the "true" phosphate kits in that naval jelly doesn't leave a nice consistent coating - it is useful only for a pre-treatment and not a finished product.

I put pics of my experiences with naval jelly w/ my AK-103 conversion up here:

http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/AK/painting/unfubar/refinish.htm

hth.
- Jerry

Thanks alot!  Where do you get naval jelly?  

Home Depot, Brownells, Lowes, Ace Hardware...

I think Wal-Mart has it.

Av.

I bought naval jelly for refinishing today (ground screw heads down, now they look like big-ass rivets).
After finish removal and naval-jellying (in prep for a full gun-kote run), there was rust seeping out of the (fresh, with loctite) screw holes, and the FSB. It all came off quick with  steel wool, but still, not what I expected.

Anyone care to comment?

If I want to strip blue and phosphate, do I have to do a coat, rinse, and do another coat?

I tried naval jelly on parts of my sks and it stripped the bluing off but,  when I cleaned the jelly off the metal got instant surface rust.  I did exactly what that page said.