touch up for blueing?

I have an older CVA .50 cal percussion pistol with an octagon bbl. I just hung it on the wall and now some very fine rust spots are more noticable in the light of the living room. It is not what I would call pitted but just kind of etched, I guess.

I thought about using some steel wool to buff it out and then some cold blueing agent to touch it up. I had done this once before on a centerfire rifle I had. I didn't care for the spotty look of the repair because the coloration was not a match but it was better than the scratch. And even fine steel wool kind of leaves marks.

Short of sending it in for reblueing, what have you guys found to be an acceptable job of touching up blueing and how did you get the color to match? Thanks. All opinions will be appreciated.

 

[crockett]

I have never done it but I believe you can use Birchwood Casey Plum Brown and either boil or wet the brown between coats to develop a "fast blue" that's pretty good. You can also use Laurel Mountain Forge browning solution and boil between applications for a rust blue.

 

[Terry Zboril]

Short of stripping the barrel for a wallhanger, Birchwood Casey's Perma Blue works pretty good for touch up.
You may need to do several coats to get a real dark blue black.
Regards.
Terry

 

[brushbuster]

my first question is ,is the barrel blued or browned if its blued academy carries a touchup bluing pen that has a fairly sharp point so you get very littlr overlap then degrease and re apply until desired darkness is accieved then coat with gun oil. just remember the blue will darken more when oil is applied . as for brown either apply b/c plumb brown or laurel mtn. with a tooth pick then blend in with a piece of canvas or a worn out scotch brite pad then oil heavy,let sit over night and wipe off access.
good luck :m2c: :results: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[crockett]

Not to be a wealth of useless information but you may also want to check out charcol bluing. I know you dig a trench in the ground and some how put in the barrel but after that I don't know anything. I think the big problem with rust bluing is having to boil the barrel, boiling is okay for small parts but a barrel needs a long container and it makes for a lot more work. I think old Colts were fire blued but I read somewhere that the technique doesn't work that well on the newer alloy steels and heating up the metal may affect temper, if there is any. I read somewhere that using Plum Brown with either boiling or just hot water gave a pretty good blue, you may want to call the folks at Birchwood Casey and find out if they have any tips.

 

[rrgr40]

Where you using 0000 steel wool and lite oil for the clean up? Brownells sells an excellent cold blue that does not turn brown in a few years like the Birchwood Casey brand. Oxpho-blue is the name. Has a good color is easy to apply. I personaly like the cream as opposed to the liquid. Good Luck :winking:

 

Thank you one and all. Because the surface is not smooth I will need to use some 0000 steel wool before applying any of the products mentioned. Thanks again.

Frank