Some rust bluing resources

[youngtrout]

Hello, I am finally going to take the plunge and try my hand at rust bluing. I know the old archives had a ton of info but I don't think we have these anymore???

 

I guess I was wondering if there were anyother resources out there to assit me.

 

So far I'm going to use the Pilkington rust blue.

 

 

Some of my initial questions are, I would rather not use a bluing box, but I live in Colorado, I was wondering if I would get an even rust if I didn't use a box?

 

Of course I'm going to start with small parts, to practice, but I was wondering about bluing the barrel and reciever separatly, it seems if they were screwed together you might effectively rust the action and barrel together.

 

One last one, what does everybody use to plug the chamber? And are you just plugging the chamber? What about the lugs??

 

thanks for any advise you have about rust bluing.

[youngtrout]

Well, I may have answered most of my questions, I just found the post by reverend recoil in the tips of the trade.

 

I guess the couplr things not answerwed are plugging the bore and chamber, I guess what is used and also how much of the chamber do you plug, just the actual chamber or do we want to protect the lugs as well.

 

thanks again

[Mauser98]

Well, I may have answered most of my questions, I just found the post by reverend recoil in the tips of the trade.

 

I guess the couplr things not answerwed are plugging the bore and chamber,  I guess what is used and also how much of the chamber do you plug, just the actual chamber or do we want to protect the lugs as well.

 

thanks again

5895[/snapback]

 

I just finished rust bluing two rifles - my first.

 

To treat the barrel, I coated the chamber and rifling with lacquer that I bought at a hobby shop. Before using it and as a test, I put some on a piece of metal. After drying I applied some toluol which dissolved the lacquer quite nicely.

 

To coat the barrel, I soaked a patch with lacquer and swabbed the barrel.

 

After completing the bluing, I cleaned the barrel with toluol then oiled. The barrel is fine.

 

Living on the wet coast of Canada, I figured I'd be ok without a damp box. Unfortunately, we had some nice weather and the RH in my shop dropped to 25-30%. I set a large cardboard box over a crock pot full of water and hung my barreled action inside. The lid was a piece of cardboard. The temp in the box was about 100 degrees F and the RH was 55-65%.