Thread: My 1st Expedition into the world of rust blue

Done a absolutely insane amount of cold blue jobs in my time and have gotten pretty good at it
They look fantastic but the finish wears off in 5 minutes or and very least lightens up

Been talking alot with @akaroa1 who dose alot of rust blue
Which is the old school method of allowing metal to rust (using Chemicals so it rusts evenly)
Then boiling or steaming the parts to convert active rust to a black Oxide

And i decided to set up a bit of gear don’t need much and lern the process for myself

Finding rust Solution here in nz is an issue
And being Hazardous you can’t import it easily as most suppliers won’t ship it internationally

After talking to a couple of supplies in the states one said he can’t ship it but happy to provide me with a basic Recipe that will get the job done

The 3 Chemicals needed were reasonably easy to get
The hardest being ferric Chloride which @garyp kindly provided me with a bit (ive since learned to make it aswell
Not hard to make

I brought a bsa martini 22 off @tiroahunta
To use as a test bed


Sanded parts to 400gt
And Applied the home made rusting Solution as per Instructions given by the guy that Provided the Recipe
And left to rust for 12 hours resulting in a nice coat of rust i tell you what it goes against every fibre letting a rifle go rusty on Purpose lol


Steamed 15 min to convert to black and polished off the loose Oxide with steel wool


After 3 more cycles of rusting converting and polishing
I had a deep blue i was happy with this also was how meny the Instructions said is normal in most cases
Every one is Different so just carry on till your happy


I then gave the stocks a quick tidy up and put it all back together
Certainly not perfect and definitely not as good as some of the photos akaroa has sent me of his projects
But im absolutely stoked as a 1st Attempt

Nicely done. Would your contact mind if you shared the recipe?

Nice job, something I have always been meaning to try.

Would be interested in some more detail including the recipe and how you went about steaming the parts. Good work.

thats a very handy looking wee rifle.....great job on the blue.

Originally Posted by PaulNZ

Nicely done. Would your contact mind if you shared the recipe?

@PaulNZ @Makros
im not going to out of respect for him as even though he is in the usa he dose make his living selling the stuff and probably doesn't want it all over the web

however i had to buy large amounts of the ingredients so i am happy to make a large batch and send a bottle to a couple of guys for the cost of post and a storage bottle (about $6 total)
will need to go buy a few bottles as needs to be brown glass bottles are only $1.50 each
a small 100ml bottle will do 20 rifles easy it is applied super sparingly

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

@PaulNZ @Makros
im not going to out of respect for him as even though he is in the usa he dose make his living selling the stuff and probably doesn't want it all over the web

however i had to buy large amounts of the ingredients so i am happy to make a large batch and send a bottle to a couple of guys for the cost of post and a storage bottle (about $6 total)
will need to go buy a few bottles as needs to be brown glass bottles are only $1.50 each
a small 100ml bottle will do 20 rifles easy it is applied super sparingly

That seems fair mate. I'd be interested.
Still keen to see your steaming rig. I've seen all sorts of setups and interested in what you found worked for you.

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

@PaulNZ @Makros
im not going to out of respect for him as even though he is in the usa he dose make his living selling the stuff and probably doesn't want it all over the web

however i had to buy large amounts of the ingredients so i am happy to make a large batch and send a bottle to a couple of guys for the cost of post and a storage bottle (about $6 total)
will need to go buy a few bottles as needs to be brown glass bottles are only $1.50 each
a small 100ml bottle will do 20 rifles easy it is applied super sparingly

Sounds good to me. Any idea idea how long the stuff lasts? I don't really have any projects I need to do right now, it's just something I can see myself trying in the future. I have various recipes from Roy Dunlap's book already but was interested in one that might be simpler to source the ingredients for.

Without giving away the recipe, the one you have isn't Hydrogen Peroxide and salt based is it? I'm not sure I trust the idea of the salt-based ones that come up on Google.

Originally Posted by Makros

That seems fair mate. I'd be interested.
Still keen to see your steaming rig. I've seen all sorts of setups and interested in what you found worked for you.

This particular one got boiled
As my steamer failed used pvc which got too hot and went all soft
Need a peice of stainless which I’ll grab next pay
but that’s the idea
Which is used by everyone I know and works well

Originally Posted by PaulNZ

Sounds good to me. Any idea idea how long the stuff lasts? I don't really have any projects I need to do right now, it's just something I can see myself trying in the future. I have various recipes from Roy Dunlap's book already but was interested in one that might be simpler to source the ingredients for.

Without giving away the recipe, the one you have isn't Hydrogen Peroxide and salt based is it? I'm not sure I trust the idea of the salt-based ones that come up on Google.

@PaulNZ i would assume it wouldn't expire at all if stored correctly
it dose not contain Hydrogen peroxide but contanins salts (think they all do)
this is a mixture of acids and salts
once you have finished blueing it requires being soaked in a water and baking soda mix to neutralize the acids

funny story i went to the chemist to buy some hydrogen peroxide the other day and was told that its not allowed to be sold in a pure type form anymore only as a ingredent in pre made products like creams etc

I bought 500ml of 30% H2O2 online not long ago with no problems. 30% is pretty damn strong. You would never want to be handling anything over 40-50% in a home environment. We have 98% at work and the safety systems around it are insane.

@SixtyTen any progress/update on your mighty .45/70 ???? have you poked anymore holes in paper with her yet????
Im waiting for the MS1 to cure and might just be able to test my barrel out properly now I have a scope attached .....boresighting made easier when a deprimed 22-250 case sat in the muzzle and deprimed 45/70 in chamber....