Can anything be done with surface rust?

[BowerR64]

This gun has been sitting in a box for some 20 years the back of the frame and the cylinder has a little surface rust. The cylinder isnt as bad as the frame.

Other then reblue it what can i do now with it?

Some smaller images of the area

 

[4v50 Gary]

Get a piece of brass to scrape it off. Then apply oil. If its pitted, it will need sanding (emery paper backed with a block of wood) and rebluing.

 

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Steel Wool & Oil

 

[Carl N. Brown]

If its antique or even collectible modern, call it "patina" and do nothing other than stablize with oil or wax.

 

[flahipneck]

Evapo-rust, good stuff. http://www.evapo-rust.com/

 

[fogg64]

Evapo-rust is great, I have used it. It takes off the rust but if the steel is etched then you will need to sand. It will remove the blueing (which is rust) and leave you a grey patina if you use a couple of treatments. You can oil to inhibit the rust or reblue.

 

[Packman]

I've had good luck with oil and some 000 and 0000 grade steel wool. Takes a little bit of patience and elbow grease, but it works well.

 

[BCRider]

I'm all but certain that there is some degree of pitting that will show. But the place to start is with steel wool and oil.

Oddly enough at this point you don't want to remove ALL the rust. Just scuff off the raised crusty parts and leave the oxides that are right on the steel intact. The steel wool will do that. And the oil you use along with the wool will darken this surface layer and blend it as well as practical into the blueing.

While there will still be some fairly obvious physical pitting and mismatch due to the rust spots it may, as my dad used to say "look just fine to a man on horseback at a fair clip". But if it's worse than that then you're in for a LOT of work.

To fully remove the pits you need to sand or otherwise remove metal from the surface until you lower the surface to the depth of the deepest pitting and a hair more. So you can see that the pitting does not need to be all that deep before you end up seriously altering the parts and how they fit to each other.

So start with a strip down and wool with oil on the rust and see just how bad it is.

 

[44 Dave]

You could send it to me, I will clean it up a little and use it for my "every day pistol".

 

[Curator]

I had this kind of issue often in the museum conservation lab. We used "Balistol" and bronze wool to take off the rust without removing the underlying finish. If you can't find Balistol, second best is automatic transmission fluid. Get the fine bronze wool and use it in a circular motion after removing the grips. Bronze wool is harder than rust but softer than iron and steel. Steel wool cuts faster but will scratch the finish no matter how fine.

 

[Don McDowell]

Find some stuff at your local parts house by Zep called Reserve, that stuff is great at eating and stopping rust.

 

[BowerR64]

What about this, if i steel wool it down and then reblue it with some cold blue will the new blue keep the same color?

Im wondering if this metal is just naturally going to plum or will it eventually turn black with the right type of blueing?

 

[LAGS]

Have you tried Totally Degreasing the parts with Acetone, then Boiling the Untouched Parts in Distilled water for a half Hour.
Let the parts Air dry or use a Hair dryer.
Then apply light machine oil, ( 3 in 1 oil ) to the parts with an old tooth brush and let the oil sit on the parts overnight.
Then wipe off the Black with a clean Cotton towel.
Remember, once you degrease the parts, you have to wear latex gloves until you apply the machine oil.
If you don't beleive how it works, just try it on a mildly rusted piece of metal first.
It will turn that red Patina to black Oxcide, ( Bluing )
It wont remove Pitting, but it will stop the rust from forming.

 

[jaxenro]

If its a repro why not strip all the bluing using blue and rust remover without steel wool to create an "aged" finish?

 

[wap41]

The best thing I've found is a stainless steel choreboy pot scrubber.It must be stainless steel,stainless steel will remove the rust but not affect the bluing

 

[fogg64]

If you are going to refinish (blue or plum browning?) and are not worried about any etching then the easiest method would be evapo-rust. It will remove all the rust and not disturb any of the metal.

 

[Fingers McGee]

RB17 and 0000 steel wool. It'll take out the rust and leave the finish

http://www.rb-treasures.com/product3.html

 

[BowerR64]

If its a repro why not strip all the bluing using blue and rust remover without steel wool to create an "aged" finish?

I kind awant to leave some of the work my dad did to it. This is the only revolver he kinda built and put alot of time into.

 

[Palehorseman]

Evapo-rust, good stuff. http://www.evapo-rust.com/

Which in a lot of instances will also remove blueing.