Need some advice

[M. Jager]

I am in the process of refinishing an Ithaca M37 for a friend that was badly rusted.
I have its polished (took some work) now's its time to finish it and I find myself in a situation.
He wants to put no more than $50 in the gun.
Cold bluing I am told will not hold up well.
Hot bluing I am told will cost to much.
What about these baked finishes I keep hearing about.
I need some advice.
Matt

 

[dfariswheel]

It's been discovered that a baked on finish is one of the toughest, most durable, and effective gun finishes available.

Back in World War Two, the British started painting their guns because of the need to get guns into the troops hands quickly. Turned out, the painted finishes stood up just great.

You can use ordinary Rustoleum oil-based paint, or buy a firearms-specific bake-on finish from Brownell's.
http://www.brownells.com

These finishes are hard to beat:
They're easy to apply, and bake on in your kitchen stove.
You can have about any color or combination of colors you want.
It's easy to touch-up scuffs or wear, and easy to strip and re-do when it's worn, damaged, or you just want another color.
They wear VERY well.
The gun can't rust until the finish is worn through or scratched.
If sprayed on carefully, they LOOK good.

All in all, it's a cheap, effective, and good looking home gun finish.

 

[stans]

"Shake and bake" finishes have really helped out the kitchen table gunsmith. I have used GunKote and Rustoleum, both worked well, the Gunkote required a spray gun, although Brownell's now sells it in aerosol cans. The Gunkote is probably the most durable of the home baked finishes, if applied correctly.

 

[Traveler]

Most industrial metal finishing places will blue a batch of parts for less than $50. Polished metal looses its look when spray coated, so you may want to look into this considering the amount of work you put into the metal.

Spray finishes also require an agressive blasted finish to work their best. Use something other than glass. The rougher the better (obverse of bluing).

 

[stans]

Obverse? Now there is a word not used every day. And some forum people got on me for using the word "obturate".