polishing a blued barrel
- Thread starter 782bird
- Start date
- Status
Mn Fats
Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2017
- Messages
- 2,372
A paper towel with some gun oil and elbow grease should do it. If that doesn't work then a tiny bit of Mother's Mag (smaller than a BB) applied to a rag, with a couple pases, extremely lightly coating the barrel. Then carefully use a different fine rag to polish. That tiny dot of Mother's Mag will still be there so work slow and be careful! I'd say do ten passes and then go back to my first suggestion and see how it looks. If it's still dull then repeat.
Just be very careful using Mothers on blueing. If done right, it will bring back the shine your looking for. If done wrong you'll lose bluieng.
Just be very careful using Mothers on blueing. If done right, it will bring back the shine your looking for. If done wrong you'll lose bluieng.
All polishes are a form of fine abrasive and will remove bluing if you try to "polish" the bluing. Bluing is VERY thin and will wear off pretty quickly. It's not like the paint on your car. For bluing to be high gloss the metal underneath it has to be polished to a high gloss. If the bluing or the underlying metal is full of tiny scratches there is almost no way to bring it back to high gloss without polishjing and re bluing the gun.
Last edited:
troy fairweather
Member
the shin of the blue is dependent on the polish of the metal before bluing. for a super high polished blue the steel needs to be like a mirror. we use a blue color polish at work cant remember the name of it but it works very good. try some ballistal and a cotton rag and rub to get some shin from a blued barrel. some times a light rubbing with 0000 steel wool can help to.
BBBBill
Member
Bluing is nothing but a controlled rusting process. If the gun was once highly polished and is now dull, it is either minutely scratched from handling/use or the metal has finely oxidized (rusted) over time. Possibly both. As Drail noted, polish is a very fine abrasive on the opposite end of the spectrum from sandpaper, but still abrasive. You might make it look a little better, but you will have removed some of the bluing in the process.
Try using 91% alcohol to remove any old oil or other stuff that might be on the metal, then reapply your oil.
As the others have said, if your gun was at one time highly polished, then it still IS unless your getting rusting.
It's very possible your old oil, or in some cases wax, has degraded.
As the others have said, if your gun was at one time highly polished, then it still IS unless your getting rusting.
It's very possible your old oil, or in some cases wax, has degraded.
Scooter22
Member
Get some Renaissance wax and put a coat on the metal. You'll get shine and it won't hurt the blueing. It will protect it. I'd never use any steel wool on guns anymore. Most is Chinese crap that is very ruff even 4/0. It's not like the old American made stuff and will scratch and splinter off.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax
https://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-XTL-8004-Wax-Polish-65ml/dp/B003AJWN62
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax
https://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-XTL-8004-Wax-Polish-65ml/dp/B003AJWN62
FROGO207
Member
I have used Filtz gun wax before and it worked OK. I got some Renaissance wax and it works well for me these days and costs less than the Filtz. Several coats and the shine will be better than one coat.
doubleh
Member
Johnson's paste wax isn't expensive and does an excellent job. One yellow can of this stuff will last your lifetime unless you own a tremendous number of guns and wax them frequently. It makes oil or grease obsolete for preventing rust. I started using it in the late sixties because I was still finding little rust spots using oil and my climate is decidedly dry. I haven't had any rust since. I do re-wax after a shooting or hunting session. It also preserves raw polished aluminum and steel.
Mizar
Member
Just bear in mind that the mentioned waxes are not polishing the surface, but they just add a layer of paraffin/carnauba that is easily wiped off. As already mentioned, first try to clean the surface with alcohol/spirits/acetone and follow with a paper towel, or a newspaper sheet - paper is mildly abrasive.
- Status
