UniversalFrost
July 12, 2010, 12:08 PM
Ok, I had a few small parts I needed to remove the bluing from (trigger parts, sight hood, etc..) and then reblue with some bluing from Brownells.
I searched the net and found lots of weird and possibly harmful information and then i found a guys blog and he was going into minute detail on molecular theory and other things on chemistry that made my head hurt :p and then the simple answer that regular vinegar will remove bluing from metal.
well I went to wally word and bought a couple bottles of white regular vinegar, put some in a small rubbermaid container and put the parts in it. took about 5 minutes and the bluing wiped right off with paper towels. I soaked a little longer for some areas that were slightly "blue stained" and i then had bare clean metal.... wow! very easy. then I remembered I had an old barreled action that I needed to remove the bluing on (was a bad combo of factory bluing that was poor and someones attempt at hot bluing). since I couldn't soak the entire barreled receive I decided to wrap paper towels around it and then pour vinegar on the paper towel and let it soak.
holly handgrenades! 5 minute soak and the bluing was almost 100% off. I resoaked again for some tough spots, and then used 0000 steel wool before wiping off. I left a vinegar residue of the gun to prevent flash rust (it is monsoon season down here in AZ with humidity around 75-85%) and will clean up the gun with water bath then brake cleaner then a protective coating of CLP or Hoppes oil tonight...
wow, cheap at 84 cents a bottle and eco-friendly to boot...:p
beats spending 14 to 25 bucks on bluing remover from brownells or midway.
now i get to practice my bluing skills on the barreled receiver (brownells makes several good "cold" bluing solutions that actually hold up better than some factory hot bluing.
I searched the net and found lots of weird and possibly harmful information and then i found a guys blog and he was going into minute detail on molecular theory and other things on chemistry that made my head hurt :p and then the simple answer that regular vinegar will remove bluing from metal.
well I went to wally word and bought a couple bottles of white regular vinegar, put some in a small rubbermaid container and put the parts in it. took about 5 minutes and the bluing wiped right off with paper towels. I soaked a little longer for some areas that were slightly "blue stained" and i then had bare clean metal.... wow! very easy. then I remembered I had an old barreled action that I needed to remove the bluing on (was a bad combo of factory bluing that was poor and someones attempt at hot bluing). since I couldn't soak the entire barreled receive I decided to wrap paper towels around it and then pour vinegar on the paper towel and let it soak.
holly handgrenades! 5 minute soak and the bluing was almost 100% off. I resoaked again for some tough spots, and then used 0000 steel wool before wiping off. I left a vinegar residue of the gun to prevent flash rust (it is monsoon season down here in AZ with humidity around 75-85%) and will clean up the gun with water bath then brake cleaner then a protective coating of CLP or Hoppes oil tonight...
wow, cheap at 84 cents a bottle and eco-friendly to boot...:p
beats spending 14 to 25 bucks on bluing remover from brownells or midway.
now i get to practice my bluing skills on the barreled receiver (brownells makes several good "cold" bluing solutions that actually hold up better than some factory hot bluing.