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Rust Bluing Steel
- Thread starter Sharps40
- Start date
Rust in a Bath Tub
Third boil and carding down and the color is very nice. I'll rust and boil once more tonight and then greasy/oil wipe it and let it rest overnight for reassembly.
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Third boil and carding down and the color is very nice. I'll rust and boil once more tonight and then greasy/oil wipe it and let it rest overnight for reassembly.
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Rust in a Bath Tub
Last boil...dried and carded and while its still screaming hot from the boil, a rag thoroughly saturated in Rig and Hoppes 9 oil is run down the bore and all over the exterior. The barrel will be left to rest over night allowing grease/oil to fill all the pores. Final assembly and photos in the morning.
Rust is good. Don't let anybody fool ya. (And this my friends is a 120g finish, it'll satin up when the excess oil/grease is wiped away. It'll be lovely.)
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Last boil...dried and carded and while its still screaming hot from the boil, a rag thoroughly saturated in Rig and Hoppes 9 oil is run down the bore and all over the exterior. The barrel will be left to rest over night allowing grease/oil to fill all the pores. Final assembly and photos in the morning.
Rust is good. Don't let anybody fool ya. (And this my friends is a 120g finish, it'll satin up when the excess oil/grease is wiped away. It'll be lovely.)
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Rust in a Bath Tub
Completed. Not factory new but things like loose and cracked wood, no shape, external rust, cleaning and function check, fresh bluing, etc...all completed. A couple coats of wax shy of storage. Perhaps a day at the range soon to see how round balls fly, pretty straight and true I suspect. But, other than that ready to go home.
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Completed. Not factory new but things like loose and cracked wood, no shape, external rust, cleaning and function check, fresh bluing, etc...all completed. A couple coats of wax shy of storage. Perhaps a day at the range soon to see how round balls fly, pretty straight and true I suspect. But, other than that ready to go home.
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More rust in a cardboard box
Frame anodizing is in fair shape, better than 90% so I intend to leave it alone....I'm not interested in coatings and paint as they will wear away much faster than the anodizing and given this is a mid 80's handgun, it still looking pretty good in blackened alloy.
But the slide and controls are suffering from thin blue and turning plumb in places. There's a couple of scuffs and dings that could stand polishing out so, for sure, the top half gets rust blued....after a function test.
The guts look great...no signs of happy boys with files or stones and nothing in the way of galling between the steel slide and the alloy frame. The action is slick, trigger is long but easy to stage and breaks clean.
For now, even though I immediately got them dirty, the brand spankin New Old Stock Smith and Wesson grips look and fit great and certaintly better than the cracked originals.
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Frame anodizing is in fair shape, better than 90% so I intend to leave it alone....I'm not interested in coatings and paint as they will wear away much faster than the anodizing and given this is a mid 80's handgun, it still looking pretty good in blackened alloy.
But the slide and controls are suffering from thin blue and turning plumb in places. There's a couple of scuffs and dings that could stand polishing out so, for sure, the top half gets rust blued....after a function test.
The guts look great...no signs of happy boys with files or stones and nothing in the way of galling between the steel slide and the alloy frame. The action is slick, trigger is long but easy to stage and breaks clean.
For now, even though I immediately got them dirty, the brand spankin New Old Stock Smith and Wesson grips look and fit great and certaintly better than the cracked originals.
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More rust in a cardboard box
Disassembly of the 2nd Generation slide and frame is covered in detail on the web. Not difficult, just a lotta parts and springs to capture and track.
Here I've broken down the slide. Parts to blue are at 4 oclock with the slide. Parts that get lost easy are laminated to the schematic with tape, front and back so they have to be deliberately cut free later when needed. Everything else is dropped in a sammich bag till I need it. Off to the shop.....I'm thinking wirebrushed finish for the small parts and sides of the slide....coarse 40 to 80g finish on the upper slide flat and then go rust blue.
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Disassembly of the 2nd Generation slide and frame is covered in detail on the web. Not difficult, just a lotta parts and springs to capture and track.
Here I've broken down the slide. Parts to blue are at 4 oclock with the slide. Parts that get lost easy are laminated to the schematic with tape, front and back so they have to be deliberately cut free later when needed. Everything else is dropped in a sammich bag till I need it. Off to the shop.....I'm thinking wirebrushed finish for the small parts and sides of the slide....coarse 40 to 80g finish on the upper slide flat and then go rust blue.
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More rust in a cardboard box
Polishing finished. The slide and all the little parts, pretty much stripped and matted...ready for rusting. Somma them lil knooks and crannies are hard to do.
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Front sight survived the first rust and boil...so far so good. A bit spotty, its hard metal....this one will be like rustin a 94, patience required I am sure.
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Got some supplies for trout fishing......even picked up some turkey shot since we're gonna combine a hunt in april with fishin.....guess I'll have to keep the shotgun in a plastic bag while I'm in the stream....
A lil better shot of the rust....it'll be a bit thin about the lettering....prolly still some gunk and grease in the letters....but it'll boil out and even up.
Into the soup pot and boil then card and rust again.....we'll boil again about 230 PM I think.
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Polishing finished. The slide and all the little parts, pretty much stripped and matted...ready for rusting. Somma them lil knooks and crannies are hard to do.
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Front sight survived the first rust and boil...so far so good. A bit spotty, its hard metal....this one will be like rustin a 94, patience required I am sure.
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Got some supplies for trout fishing......even picked up some turkey shot since we're gonna combine a hunt in april with fishin.....guess I'll have to keep the shotgun in a plastic bag while I'm in the stream....
A lil better shot of the rust....it'll be a bit thin about the lettering....prolly still some gunk and grease in the letters....but it'll boil out and even up.
Into the soup pot and boil then card and rust again.....we'll boil again about 230 PM I think.
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More rust in a cardboard box
Ready for the third boil. I suspect this slide is hard enough, has enough alloy in it to need 8 or more rust cycles to color fully. Everything is blackening fine, except the slide release....so far it acts like stainless, stubbornly refusing to develop a layer of rust.....I'll keep after it.
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After the third boil, everything but the slide release has its fuzzy coat of black on it.....front sight insert is weathering the blackening compound and the rusting just fine.....a good omen for that installation.
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Rubbed out...a watery dark grey with a hint of black coming in now. Its not fighting me too much at this point and I remain optimistic, course If I coulda found Drain Out crystals I woulda hot tank blued this slide due to hardness....but, though walmart says they got em, I ain't found that home caustic bluing supply locally....yet.....
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Ready for the third boil. I suspect this slide is hard enough, has enough alloy in it to need 8 or more rust cycles to color fully. Everything is blackening fine, except the slide release....so far it acts like stainless, stubbornly refusing to develop a layer of rust.....I'll keep after it.
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After the third boil, everything but the slide release has its fuzzy coat of black on it.....front sight insert is weathering the blackening compound and the rusting just fine.....a good omen for that installation.
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Rubbed out...a watery dark grey with a hint of black coming in now. Its not fighting me too much at this point and I remain optimistic, course If I coulda found Drain Out crystals I woulda hot tank blued this slide due to hardness....but, though walmart says they got em, I ain't found that home caustic bluing supply locally....yet.....
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More rust in a cardboard box
Rusted nice on the fourth go round. Need several more like this to even out the finish....got one stubborn watery grey spot on the left front of the slide to contend with.
Boiled it all a fifth time....the small parts are done...except for the slide release....it mighta just started to rust....we'll see in the morning.
As for the slide....lookin great. Got the translucent spot colored and it has evened up nicely. I'll keep working on the blue tomorrow and perhaps into Tue/Wed.
As for the parts....carded with 0000 steel wool and wiped down with a mix of Rig and Hoppes 9 Oil and left in a baggie to sit and wait till the slide and slide stop catches up. With luck we'll have a nice clean and satiny new top end by Wed.
Rusted nice on the fourth go round. Need several more like this to even out the finish....got one stubborn watery grey spot on the left front of the slide to contend with.
Boiled it all a fifth time....the small parts are done...except for the slide release....it mighta just started to rust....we'll see in the morning.
As for the slide....lookin great. Got the translucent spot colored and it has evened up nicely. I'll keep working on the blue tomorrow and perhaps into Tue/Wed.
As for the parts....carded with 0000 steel wool and wiped down with a mix of Rig and Hoppes 9 Oil and left in a baggie to sit and wait till the slide and slide stop catches up. With luck we'll have a nice clean and satiny new top end by Wed.
