Refinished 1918
 

Here is a 1918 that I got - bad finish, stripped and then reblued using the solution. - Mark

Mark, Very nicely done!

I like it Mark--looks great.

Neil

outstanding job mark

Wow Mark that turned out great!

I ordered the rust blue from Brownells and a pound of sodium nitrate today, I also strawed all the small parts which tuned out really nice. Tomorrow I polish my Luger to look like Mark's pre bluing. I'll post pics up when its done.

Looking forward to it

Mark D

I just mixed a batch, and got a $75 Mauser 1910 guinea pig waiting in the shop. Will be interesting to see what it will look like. :cool:

By the way: The bottle from Brownells contains 4 oz, so I doubled the recipe while I was at it. I haven't measured it exactly, but I poured in an 8 oz bottle and it appears to be about 5-6 oz, instead of 4. I measured everything on a calibrated lab scale, so I don't think I screwed up (even if there is a chance...). Anybody else seen this?

Ok so I boiled the gun in distilled water with Dawn dish detergent, scrubbed with Dawn and a toothbrush then let air dry and then used 100% pure acetone to rinse the parts off with followed by the Blue Wonder gun cleaner. I think its clean as the gun cleaner didn't get anything further off the metal. I mixed up the posted formula and applied 2 coats and am now waiting for it to rust (its 98 with 76% humidity with a dew point in the low 70's very sticky and it should rust nicely) I'll let you all know how it goes after I boil it and card it after 7.

Wish me luck.

BTW I did this all outside and now have a splitting headache, is it from the bluing stuff or no?

Terry:

Curious on your boiling with Dawn. Did you do this between every application or just to clean the luger for prep? I would think that detergents might leave a residue on the luger?

Mark D

Just the 1st initial cleaning and then it was washed under hot water and finished up with acetone.

I'll add to this thread rather than start another.
I've had great results cleaning guns with Easy-Off oven cleaner, as the last step before bluing. I use the fume-free variety. I spray each piece I intend to blue and go over them with a toothbrush, then rinse in water. One nice thing is that you can check your work as you go along. If the rinse water "sheets", you know the surface is clean. Any oily contamination repels the water leaving gaps in the "sheet" and it tells you where you need a second treatment.
I recommend gloves and eye protection, because although this stuff doesnt smell too bad, it IS caustic.
I hate to expose myself to acetone and oven cleaner is an effective alternative.
Have fun!

I hate to expose myself to acetone..Millions of Women do it everyday. Nail polish remover=acetone.

All, it has been about 8 years since the last response and 10 years since my post. Just wondered if anyone has done any movement on the bluing process?

Mark

Why is Hydrogen Chloride called for twice in the bluing recipe?

No clue, huh? Why is this place so dead? Why didn’t anyone catch this over the years this formula was posted.

Why? The eternal question for the ages. "We have met the enemy and he is us" POGO