Which cold blue, Birchwood Casey Super Blue or Brownell's Oxpho Blue gives better results when touching up small worn areas? Please share your technique for using the blue of your choice. Thanks.

I have both and both work well. I warm my pieces to about 100 degrees and apply with a cotton ball and use OOOO steel wool to light polish. I would bend toward Birchwood believe it or not.

JMusic is right on, but personally I like Oxpho Blue better. I heat the area with an old hair drier and apply with Q-tips and also use 0000 to polish it out. I find that more than one application, and as many as 4-6, works best.

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Peter #2091

I have both and usually find that the Birchwood Casey has the edge. In general I have not been very impressed with any cold bluing, longevity isn't great but for lightly used guns it will get you by.

Chief38

I use both depending on the color of the gun. The Oxpho Blue tends to be more black, but Birchwood Casey seems easier to use.

Of those two, we prefer the Oxpho Blue, BUT have found 44-40 to work better on more different guns...degrease the area, rubon with a Q-tip, burnish the area with the palm of your hand( this heats it up just enough as well as' blends in)......' repeat as needed
anything on 'bare metal 'is better than nothing BUT with some higher polish finishes (Pythons and model 27s??) you just may disturb, and cause discoloring of the surrounding areas.....beware, as well as the fact that ANY "cold blue" is ONLY temporary,not permenant...

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dan
NRA Benefactor,PMA

Buy the cream version of Oxpho and you will never see how anyone uses any of the Birchwood barf ever again.

I've only used Oxpho-Blue (Creme Formula) as it stays on the firearm easier. Heat firearm with a hairdryer, cotton ball apply, 0000 steel wool polish. Keep it oiled (the finish) for a few days.

You can also RUB the next day with OLD TIME "BROWN" paper hand towel. Keep oiled and rub finish.

I actually took an absolutely terrible looking model 10 and Oxpho-Blued the complete firearm, added new stocks from S&W and turned it into a very presentable looking SHOOTER.

Trial and error process, Good Luck.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

I had a couple nicks in the blueing on my old Chief, didn't mind the appearance so much but they tended to rust when IWB carrying so I touched them up with Oxpho Blue. Well, they don't rust any more but they look kinda blotchy. I have had better results with touching up holster-wear than with these nicks.
I had 2 different old Chiefs with bad looking cylinders-- one had some big spots where the blueing was flat-*** gone (I was told it was blood damage), the other was rust-freckled pretty bad. I bead-blasted the blood-damaged one, warmed it up, and re-blued the whole thing with Oxpho. It came out pretty good, so I went ahead & did the other cylinder about a month later. Both had a greenish tint to them at first which went away after a while.
The bead-blasting not only removed the old blueing so the re-blue would look even, it also (purposely) gave the finished product a matte black finish which I like a lot.

Every cold blue I have used turned to brown like a flintlock and kill any polish job to boot. I have not used oxpho. Good luck.

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A republic if you can keep it

Thanks for starting this thread. I am about to try
the Oxpho Blue on a Ka-Bar (Camillus), that has no finish
remaining. If it's more of a black color, all the better.
TACC1

another vote for Oxpho Blue. I first tried it in the early 80's and haven't wanted to use anything else (for cold bluing that is). Heating the piece first is helpful, I usually dunk the part in almost boiling water, then blue. Seems to improve the quality. Then I saturate the blued piece in Break Free CLP and let it sit overnight. It's worked well for me.

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Minimize the variables