Rust blued rifle

[loadnplenty]

Here are pics of my second attempt at rust blueing a rifle. This one is different from the last as far metal prep and overall finish. The owner wanted a traditional looking finish not the matte blasted finsh. So for metal prep I started out with Crud Cutter and stipped the bluing. Then I worked over all the parts with 0000 steel wool. Then degreased and boiled to remove any chemical residue. This rifle had no pitting to been seen. It did have some surface rust which made reading the stamping on the barrel difficult to unreadable. A couple of other areas and parts had some surface rust starting. Here is the parts after bluing. It was a Revelations/Mossberg 22 Mag.

This is an older rifle that has quite a bit of nickel in the metal and I think that helped with more of a polished high luster look. The pics do not do this gun justice. Parts that look silver are from the the way the light hits the metal with oil on it.

 

[RamRoddoc]

That is a real nice bluing job you did there. The owner should be very pleased.

 

[loadnplenty]

He was. He asked if I was ready to do some more and make some money this time lol. I did this job in trade for my boiling pan.

 

[Sharps40]

This is skilled and workmanlike effort. You deserve many acolades. Wonderful to see someone beg off the paint (which is best reserved for fences, not guns) and strive to learn the labor and patience required to bronze guns in the manner of the Old School Masters. For what its worth, big thanks from an old gun crank.

 

[BHJ]

Looks really good.
I was doing a synthetic stock the other day (sponge camo) and with the humidity and cooler temps the paint was sticky for an extened time. I got to thinking about your damp box. I need to build something like it as I'm pretty sure it would come in handy.
I imagine with the right light bulbs in it that it would make a pretty good paint and possibly finish oven as well.

Here's a tip for ya too. The stainless chore boy pot scrubbers are awesome refinishing tools. They look way more aggressive than they are and are excellent for rust removal. Not too hard on bluing or patina either. A local old time smith showed me the ropes with em on a couple of inherited pieces that had been left on a leaky porch for a couple of years. Very few people believe me when I say how gentle they are when used properly. You might try a couple on something you're gonna refinish to see for yourself.

 

[loadnplenty]

Looks really good.
I was doing a synthetic stock the other day (sponge camo) and with the humidity and cooler temps the paint was sticky for an extened time. I got to thinking about your damp box. I need to build something like it as I'm pretty sure it would come in handy.
I imagine with the right light bulbs in it that it would make a pretty good paint and possibly finish oven as well.

As far as the oven yes lol. Take out the pan of water and with two 100 watt bulbs the metal is very warm to the touch. when I first built it and was testing it I put a thermoneter in there and it was 135 degrees!!!! That is also a day it was 90 degrees outside,

And since you are talking about finishing a gunstock. I went by Sherwin Williams and picked up some green water based stain. I like the looks of some of the laminated and thought about trying it on a donor stock when I find one.

 

[BHJ]

It would probably do even better as an oven by simply switching out the bulbs for say a patio spotlight bulb or who knows maybe a heat lamp bulb or something.

As far as the green stain I tried it with some minwax stain quite a few years ago on a 10/22 stock. My results were horrible and uneven. It seems some parts of the wood were harder than others with different pore structure and wouldn't take the stain evenly. By the time I got enough stain on it to get it even, you couldn't see the wood grain it looked like an absolutely terrible green paint job. It was water soluble so I washed it off quickly with a garden hose and elbow grease and was able to rescue the stock.
Your mileage may vary, Good luck and I want to see it regardless of the result.

 

[loadnplenty]

This is skilled and workmanlike effort. You deserve many acolades. Wonderful to see someone beg off the paint (which is best reserved for fences, not guns) and strive to learn the labor and patience required to bronze guns in the manner of the Old School Masters. For what its worth, big thanks from an old gun crank.

Thank you!

 

[loadnplenty]

@BHJ, the stain was a thought lol. Well here is to hoping I can find an old useless stock to try on. And yes with a heat lamp or something like that I will really cook.

How did your stock turn out?

 

[speednut]

loadnplenty you do very good work.