which cold blue should I use?

[Cousin Jack]

I am looking for a quality cold blue. I have done a little research and have read quite a bit about Van's instant cold blue as well as Blue Wonder gun blue.

Anybody have any experience with either/both of these? Or is there another product out there that is better?

thanx.

cj

 

[JMusic]

I've used several including Brownells Oxpho-Blue and Dicropan touch up. Birchwwods liquids and pastes. I don't see alot of differents. My Dad taught me a technique that seems to work the best. He used Birchwoods Perma Blue Paste. Clean with a good degreaser. Dad used alcohol. Buff with 0000 Steel wool. Wipe again with cleaner. I like Safety Solvent or Carb cleaner. Wash off with Simple Green. Use a hair dryer and heat the area to be blued. If doing an overall bluing warm the entire piece but break it up into 2-3 sections. 100-110 F is enough.
Keep a wet cotton rag handy to wipe off after the blue sets for about one minute and use "lightly" the 0000 to help blend in the adjoining area's. Continue this process until you have a uniform color you want. Lightly oil and if not dark enough just continue the process. Besure to degrease. I could not believe the quality of work he was able to achieve with this method. You can use whatever blueing you want but try this method. If you have some bright area's touch these up prior to doing the overall coating. The Oxpho-Blue seems to be more durable than the Perma Blue but I seem to use the Perma Blue more often.
Jim

 

[Rpriestlyjr]

I like the blue wonder. Very easy to apply, fairly inexpensive, pretty tough.
Just follow the instructions.

 

[PinnedAndRecessed]

I am looking for a quality cold blue. I have done a little research and have read quite a bit about Van's instant cold blue as well as Blue Wonder gun blue.

Anybody have any experience with either/both of these? Or is there another product out there that is better?

thanx.

cj

Here's what I came up with some months ago after quizzing aficionados on this, and other, firearms forums:

Use Brownell's Oxpho Blue. Degrease the area to be blued.
Use blow dryer to heat specific area. Apply blue with 0000 steel wool (or Scotch, see below). Allow to penetrate for a minute, keeping area wet with bluing compound. Repeat two or three times. Apply Breakfree and buff with 0000 steel wool. Apply more Breakfree and allow to sit untouched for 24 hours.


This is what I learned from another web site:


http://www.gunsandammomag.com/techside/blue_0515/

The author says,

"I always have a bottle of Brownell's Oxpho Blue on the bench for touch ups. I found applying it with a little dab of 0000 steel wool makes it come out darker and it blends in with existing factory blue. It's the only cold blue I've found that works on cast just as well as regular steel. For small parts such as screws, I pour a little in the lid and drop the parts in for a few seconds. They turn totally black."

"I degrease the parts or the barrel and use a heat gun to get the part very hot. It blends pretty well with the hot blued guns that are the black color, but it won't match worth a flip for any of the slow rust blued guns. I use a cotton ball to apply it and I let it sit a little longer than a minute, but make sure to keep the part wet with the creme. Do several treatments to get the dark color your looking for. If the gun isn't very dark, it should only take 2 times of wetting the metal, more than 4 to get it to match a newer gun. I apply Breakfree afterwards and buff it good with 0000 steel wool. I then wipe it clean and reapply the breakfree and let it sit for a day or two before handling the gun. Good luck with it."

"The key for it working well is localized heat and removing any oil, even though the directions say you do not need to degrease the parts to be blued...."

"I had some very fine Scotch Brite (000), which I tried on some case necks instead of steel wool. The Scotch Brite material worked great. The more I wiped the steel lightly with the Scotch Brite pad the deeper and more uniform the blueing became. As the Scotch Brite shined the steel, it blued the freshly cut steel to a very dark and uniform finish. The instant blue on the new handle looks as good as the blueing on any other Redding parts. Now I have made a Scotch Brite Q-Tip for my various blueing needs by hot gluing a small piece of Scotch Brite onto the end of a Popsicle stick."