I offered Small Shop Metal Prep and Rust bluing Seminar this summer 2017. When Jim Fisher decided to attend I planned to gear some of the study to S&W refinishing.

These are not factory methods but we can accomplish a quite lovely finish with hand polishing and rust bluing. The bluing is deep and dark in color and similar to a pre-war satin finish.

Jim brought a couple of no-finish1917 he wanted to do in class and we began with hand polishing. I just had two students in this group for 2017 (normally four students) and decided to run the program with me polishing and bluing a Colt SAA as it was a fulltime demonstration.

Boiling parts

Jim, Wheel carding parts

Blued Colt SAA and 1917 parts

The finished revolver had a few parts with fewer coats but they matched pretty well and Jim can continue the process when he gets it set up in his shop at home. We also did a batch of nitre blued screws seen on Jim’s revolver.


The barrel is not quite tight nor is the sideplate completely seated because the gun is not fully assembled. By Golly the bluing looks good.
Steven Dodd Hughes

I wish there was something similar around me. My Brazilian has no finish but I can only find a couple light pits under the grips. A perfect candidate.

Brownell's (and other places) supply materials needed for rust bluing, and some of the older gunsmithing books, such as those by James Howe and Roy Dunlap, provide fairly extensive information on exactly how it is done. Basically, it is controlled metal rusting, and for a long time many commercial gunmakers did all their finishing by rust bluing. It's not that difficult to do, but is fairly labor intensive, especially as it involves thorough surface preparation.

That looks great. How many rust cycles did you perform?

Rust Bluing is a great option for anyone willing to try it.

While not viable as a commercial operation, rust bluing can be done at home quite easily. With a minimal investment in chemicals & tools, bubba can easily produce quite acceptable parts. Much like other hobby endeavors, one can swap time for money. I think the key is to buy cheap guns that are finish challenged to practice on before trying it on more expensive guns.

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NRA Benefactor

Nice work! I'd like to see more like this.

It took me 15 years to master professional quality rust bluing, anyone can get a the metal to turn blue pretty easily. This represents 5 cycles, the minimum in my opinion. That is about the max we can do in four days in the seminar.
The some of the real tricks are in the hand polishing.

While rusting solutions are available through Brownell's, etc, the old gunsmithing books will provide various home-brew formulas that probably work as well. Some contain acids, some do not. Dunlap provides a recipe for a rusting solution made by dissolving iron in a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids which he claims is the best. It requires 10 to 12 rusting, boiling, and carding cycles over several days. Another solution is basically salt water. As it is slow and involves many hand operations, rust bluing is not cost-competitive with hot dip oxide (such as Brownell's) bluing which is used by nearly all high-volume gun manufacturers today. But well done by someone who knows the tricks, there is nothing better.

I did an LC Smith 12 ga. double barrel hammer gun with Damascus barrels with rust bluing. The barrels took 17 coats to do. All together I had 120 hours of metal work and bluing on it!!

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

I forgot that I had a few photos.
I don't know why they are upside down!!!

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

I really admire guys who can get incredible results with DIY bluing.

The only bluing I've ever attempted is Cold Bluing on small areas to specific parts (not entire guns). My results range from fair to midland but never great. I've come to NOT expect great bluing results with cold chemicals and never really cared to set up for the Hot Bluing. Again, guys who have mastered Bluing in the home shop - I take my hat off too.

This is 7 rust/boil/card cycles on a "worn out" 10-6:


SDH is absolutely right about the polishing. I think it would take more than 15 years experience for my work to look as good as his.

Hi
I have been a part time gun smith over the years and took a couple of classes in gun smithing. But I never learned the right way to do the hand finishing and polishing. The 1917 i did for the class was all hand polishing
all the lines and edges are sharp. Steves class is worth your time if you want to do it right. All the lettering was saved.
Jim Fisher LM-1491

Some close-up images Jim sent.

Looks like a great class to be at. I have admired Steve's work in Gun Digest for years. Glad you joined the Forum and is willing to share knowledge or help people. How do you clean the guns and with what product? Larry

I mostly use Hoppes #9 to clean my guns.

Sorry, I meant how is the gun cleaned before bluing. What product is used to make it clean to let the blue process work on the metal. I have a couple to re-blue and don't want to buy tanks and salts, rust blue seems to look good when done right. Larry

The main purpose of cleaning is to remove all grease and oil prior to bluing. Wiping with MEK (from one of the big box stores) works very well. Much better than boiling parts in a silicated detergent solution. Work outdoors.

To degrease, we began with an water soluble solution called Oil Eater. The entire gun is cleaned inside and out. The parts are dried the the polishing begins. After polishing, just before the first coat the parts are wiped down very thoroughly with denatured alcohol.
Often oil leaches out from the nooks and crannies during the first boiling so the water is usually change before the second boiling.

Steve,
I would in interested in attending your rust bluing seminar next summer. I attended the one week in course at Trinidad State Jr College this year and enjoyed. I have rust blued a 1917 Colt, Hi-Power and an FN SA22 semi auto rifle. I will post pictures of them. I am always looking to learn more.

Dale Wade

I'll do my best to make an announcement on the forum when I begin organizing Seminars for next year. I also offer a Stockmaking Seminar for rifles.
You can contact me via email in my profile to get on the list for next year.
Best, SDH

Maybe a dumb question here...what is the protocol for the interior of the frame? Do you leave it as is, or is it stripped and then cold blued as well? If cold blued how do you effectively card all the tiny studs, nooks and crannies?

I usually apply a couple of oats on the inner surfaces that show leaving unseen areas as they are.
Carding of tight spaces and the inside of the trigger guard bow are done with 0000 steel wool. Note that with hand polishing we can leave the external studs on the left side flat of the frame.

Is the satin finish the result of how the gun is polished before its re-blued? What would you need to do differently if you wanted a deep glossy look?

i rust blued the slide and controls on this RIA. The frame was left parked. Used acetone in a spray bottle, Brownells rust bluing, a stainless pot i got at the swap meet to boil water. Used the kitchen stove to boil water. And yes, my wife was out of town when i did it

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