Bluing Question

[hnts4fun]

I will never forget the bluing jobs that came on factory Colt Pythons back in the 60s. They looked like you could just step into the finish and disappear. I have a classic shooter project in mind, i.e. wood stock, blued metal, and a nice-looking scope with the innards to take care of business.

I understand now that metal finishing is what sets a truly great bluing job apart from a good bluing job. A few questions though.

Hot rust bluing versus cold rust bluing... which is most likely to yield a deeper than deep blue finish?

Has anyone here had this kind of work done? If so, by who?

I'm always interested to hear from LRH sponsors/smiths who make their living doing this sort of thing.

Thanks in advance for some feedback!

Matt

[shortgrass]

Any blue job is dependent on the metal prep and degree of polishing, how fine of grit, no 'ripples', no 'rounded' corners from polishing. Hot bluing is how the Colt was colored. I don't understand your "hot rust bluing/cold rust bluing". ALL black oxide finishing is "a controlled rust process". Hot 'caustic' blue is what we see on most factory firearms, because it is economical. It is not only thermally hot (270-295 deg.) it is chemically 'hot'. It has been around for along time but really "came into its' own" just before/during WW2, advances in chemical processing. Slow Rust is an ancient process, a 'time consumer'. I've spent 4-8 hours coloring one gun, polishing not included. Slow Rust is the finish used on soft soldered doubles and some traditional, wood stocked custom rifles. I guess technically, slow rust is 'cold' but it does involve heat and some processes use boiling water, or a 'fume' process. Slow rust is kin to "plum brown". Most all "hot bluing" these days is "black" in color. I'm not sure whether the chemical mix has changed or maybe the steels have. Cold blue, the stuff bought in a bottle at K-Mart/WalMart/ some gunshops is worthless for bluing a whole firearm, best used for 'touching-up' a screw head.

[hnts4fun]

I went back to a site I had visited and saw I messed up my terms. Hot bluing and slow rust bluing were two of the services offered.

Thank you for the information.

[Nimrodmar10]

If you want the best bluing job contact Charles Danner in Fayetteville TN. You can see his sight at:
DannerGunsmithing - Customer Comments

[hnts4fun]

Thanks, I'll ckeck it out!