Barrel Polishing Techniques

[CedarGrove357]

I've been researching polishing and prepping a barrel for reblueing for a bit now, and have got quite a bit of tips and ideas scrambled in my head. Hope you guys can lay out some best practices concisely.

Before I get people saying "its not worth the time", I preface this gun is one of my training rifles on which I am learning techniques and material handling for gunsmithing. There is no value to the gun other than garnering experience and sacrificing mistakes.

I have a .22LR barrel from my "training" savage 887 now that is in pretty rough shape which I am going to clean and polish and prep for rebluing. A starting method I intend to proceed with is wrapping the barrel in paper towels and saturating the towels with vinegar to strip the bluing off. After that I start to polish. The condition of the barrel is not too bad, but at some point someone sanded the stock with the barrel on and scuffed the sides of the barrel pretty well. I have a stand alone polishing motor for carding and polishing long stock as well as a standard grinding wheel motor. What wheels and abrasives would you start with to restore the surface of the barrel before bluing?

Thanks for your input!!

[HiBC]

First,I'm not a pro gunsmith,and I have minimal bluing experience.I do know some things about polishing steel.

I do not know about the vinegar trick.It sounds a lot like getting a coat of rust to card off for browning a muzzleloader.But,it may work.

My approaches take time.Time is money.A professional gunsmith might go broke using my methods.He might use a barrel spinner and his polishing wheels.I don't know.

IMO,if you don't wasn't the barrel to look wavy,letters washed out,etc you have to respect the form,the shape and geometry of the steel.That can be hard with a cloth power wheel.

Old school,Clyde Baker,"Modern Gonsmithing" about 1932 modern,he discussed "striking" a barrel with a broken chunk of vixen file,and/or drawfiling.

For myself,I've always had a drawfile pick up a "pin" and ruin my work.I've tried talc,soapstone,chalk.Bah!! Humbug.
Eithe Midway or Brownells sells "Liquid sandpaper" I think the brand starts with an F.You can get various grits.I suggest about 240.Maybe 180.It is grit in a glue.You can paint it on a buffing wheel.But I make simple hardwood tools,like files.I dip them and hang them to dry.
If you cut a strip of hardwood just about like a file,use a length about 6 in...Maybe 3/16 thick,so it can flex a bit,dip it,and hang it.Make several.
Stroke the barrel lengthwise,using the length of your wooden file to maintain form.
Do it like you are putting a series of flats the length of the barrel.Uniform width.
You might start like you were making it square,then octagon,then 32 sided,and 64.Just keep splitting the space,with longitudal micro flats.Even,all along the barrel.
Once you get your scratches and flaws out,...I have never used a barrel spinner and buffing wheel,but its a bar with two centers on it.You secure the barrel to it so it can spin.You engage your buffing wheel on the bias,maybe 45Deg. The barrel spinning and the buffing wheel will blend out your micro flats.
Of course,you do not want your barrelspinning 17,000 rpm....
I'm sure some real smiths can help with that part.

[CedarGrove357]

Thank You HiBC! I have a lathe I can put the barrel on and be able to rotate it so that isn't an issue. The Liquid abrasive is by Formax. Got it on order from MidWay USA. Got plenty of wood for files as well. This is certainly the way I want to go - more the Mennonite method. lol. I like old school quality improved with modern technologies.

The books I've been reading are all written back in the 40's by artists long passed on to Gods Armory. I am in the middle of reading them again as a text book and taking notes for knowledge.

Thanks Again HiBC!

[Bill DeShivs]

If you are going to polish the barrel, there is no need to strip the bluing with vinegar. All you will do is invite rust.
Use dedicated solutions like Evapo Rust to remove bluing. They do not promote rusting like acetic acid (vinegar.)

[CedarGrove357]

Thanks Bill. I am planning on rust-bluing the barrel [and other small hardware in the rifle] after I get the barrel polished as good as it can be. Right now I am focusing on the polishing skill as, from what I've read, its imperative to have the barrel as clean and polished as possible before promoting the rusting process because the subsequent blue will pick up whatever imperfections were left during the polishing process.

Am I getting things backwards?

[T. O'Heir]

Stripping the bluing off isn't necessary. You're going to buff the thing on a cloth wheel using several grades of jeweller's rouge. That'll do it.
Although plain, old, white vinegar will strip bluing off to the bare metal in a few hours. Takes whatever Ruger uses off too. It was a holster dyed with vinegar based dye.
Biggest trick is 'patience'. Buffing is a tedious business that must be done right or the finish bluing will look crappy.

[F. Guffey]

Vinegar, I went to Sam's with the wife; when we got close to the check out line she asked me If I remember seeing where all of the vinegar was stacked. It was almost like hers and his because Sam’s bundles, the vinegar bundle were 2 gallons in one box.

She does not like it when I use her vinegar because when I am finished with it she can't use it on a salad or anything else. I use it on cast iron anything when removing rust; I use the 5% stuff meaning it does not get started until the item being cleaned has been there for 4 hours. I know when it is working because of tiny bubbles. Before vinegar I used stuff that that boiled like I making a Frankenstein movie: that stuff was too dangerous.

Anyhow; as you progress and decide you want vats check with me, I believe 3 is the minimum.

F. Guffey

[guncrank]

Polish barrel with 150 grit wheels to 550 with a buffer and cloth wheels. I use my Mark 1 eye ball and the " barrel spinners" that God gave me to keep defects out of polishing .

Practice makes perfect and switch directions when switching grits.

[CedarGrove357]

Thanks F. Guffey and guncrank. I already have two stainless steel vats and two black iron vats waiting for me. I built my own burner for one tank for Rust blueing, and am working on sourcing Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Nitrate for the blueing salts. I still need to get a buffer wheel [Brownells] and rouge's but for now I am working with the sanding process. I have the liquid sandpaper shipped already so when it comes in I will be starting on the barrel. I have aluminum oxide, and garnet paper in higher grits after working the barrel with the rougher ones.

As far as chemicals, I am in the same boat as F. Guffey. I have to get my own and it stays in my shop.

Appreciate the support of everyone. One who hasn't chimed in that I've been impressed with his work and his Blog is TinCanBandit. With all I am trying to learn so fast, it all gets mixed up. That is why I am focusing on one aspect of work at a time. Unfortunately there is no one local willing to work with me and am having to learn solo. I've experienced more adversity locally to what I am doing from local smiths and shop owners than I really expected. Certainly not what I've experienced here. Thanks again!!

[Bill DeShivs]

Only use blue-removing chemicals in areas that you can not polish.