Removing bluing from gun parts

1
Hey folks, I just wanted to know if you guys knew of some inexpensive but effective way of removing the bluing from some spare steel gun parts.

Here's what I've tried with only some success:
- Birchwood Casey's bluing & rust remover. Nope, this doesn't work that well, at least if I follow the directions. I have half a mind to pour the whole thing in a glass jar and dump the parts in there and let it sit for a long time, and see what happens.
- Boiled vinegar. This seemed to work a bit on some of the parts. Boiling vinegar and soaking the parts for 30 mins, then using a scrubbie sponge to remove the bluing.
- Sandpaper, abrasive. Unfortunately I do know this will not be good on the steel, but some of the bluing is a pain to get off in the above two scenarios. I have used up way too much vinegar, so I decided what the heck, let me just rub it off. Of course, this works only on flat surfaces. The small ridges in gun parts are too hard to scrub off this way.

Any other suggestions?

Re: Removing bluing from gun parts

3
pdoggeth wrote:Hey folks, I just wanted to know if you guys knew of some inexpensive but effective way of removing the bluing from some spare steel gun parts.

Here's what I've tried with only some success:
- Birchwood Casey's bluing & rust remover. Nope, this doesn't work that well, at least if I follow the directions. I have half a mind to pour the whole thing in a glass jar and dump the parts in there and let it sit for a long time, and see what happens.
- Boiled vinegar. This seemed to work a bit on some of the parts. Boiling vinegar and soaking the parts for 30 mins, then using a scrubbie sponge to remove the bluing.
- Sandpaper, abrasive. Unfortunately I do know this will not be good on the steel, but some of the bluing is a pain to get off in the above two scenarios. I have used up way too much vinegar, so I decided what the heck, let me just rub it off. Of course, this works only on flat surfaces. The small ridges in gun parts are too hard to scrub off this way.

Any other suggestions?
A polishing wheel works well. I've used a brass wire wheel to strip bluing and it left a great result.

Re: Removing bluing from gun parts

6
Drats, the naval jelly didn't really work. The directions say I should leave it on for 15 minutes. Does it need to soak longer?

Well it's not that big of a deal. I was just hoping to remove all the layers of blue before applying a layer of duracoating, but I suppose it won't matter too much since most of the blue is gone.

Re: Removing bluing from gun parts

8
Scotchbrite pad was used with the vinegar solution at first =) . Did a pretty good job for most of the blue, though there were some parts that seemed to have layer upon layer of blue

Anyways I resorted to a polishing wheel -- well, a dremel with a fine grit head. Wow that did wonders. Though I'm pretty sure it probably removed a small layer of steel as well. But my parts are pretty shiny now!

Re: Removing bluing from gun parts

9
jhnh wrote:Not completely inexpensive, but EvapoRust will suck the bluing right off with an overnight soak. I found that out the hard way.
Thanks for that, jhnh. I might use that to treat my Dad's pre-10 S&W.

Oh, and :welcome: to these forums, by the way. Hope you'll post up a brief (or longer!) intro in the Introductions forum. :thumbup:

Re: Removing bluing from gun parts

11
While de-funking my brother's Mosin I found a little rust under the receiver. Anyway, I found that rust remover also removes bluing.
pdoggeth wrote:Hey folks, I just wanted to know if you guys knew of some inexpensive but effective way of removing the bluing from some spare steel gun parts.

Here's what I've tried with only some success:
- Birchwood Casey's bluing & rust remover. Nope, this doesn't work that well, at least if I follow the directions. I have half a mind to pour the whole thing in a glass jar and dump the parts in there and let it sit for a long time, and see what happens.
- Boiled vinegar. This seemed to work a bit on some of the parts. Boiling vinegar and soaking the parts for 30 mins, then using a scrubbie sponge to remove the bluing.
- Sandpaper, abrasive. Unfortunately I do know this will not be good on the steel, but some of the bluing is a pain to get off in the above two scenarios. I have used up way too much vinegar, so I decided what the heck, let me just rub it off. Of course, this works only on flat surfaces. The small ridges in gun parts are too hard to scrub off this way.

Any other suggestions?

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