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