Cheap blue & rust remover
 

Hi All,
Brownell's Blue Remover is mostly phosphoric acid. Dairy farmers use that same acid to clean their milking equipment. (light bulb!)

Tractor Supply has a phosphoric Acid Rinse for about $11/gallon.
I mixed some 1 to 3, acid to water. That concentration took 15 to 20 minutes to remove the blue and surface rust from an old Redfield sight. Not too bad for $2.75/ gallon. I'll probably use a more dilute mixture in the future.

Carry on,
John

I had a S&W I picked up, blotchy color to it, put it in Vinegar (completely covering it) and in a few hours it was all gray. Sold it that way, much better than the gosh-awful blotches...

Acid in it I am sure.

What color remained on yours?

Vinegar works, tho more slowly. I learned the hard way by getting some salad dressing on a S&W...

Flushed it with a baking soda & water mix, then rinsed in plain water. The Acid Rinse parts came out a light gray, that carded easily to an "in the white" steel color.

Another cheep and fast way to remove bluing is to use lemon juice. I've put the juice in a container and submerge the blued part and very shortly the bluing was gone leaving a gray dull finish.

jeffrey

To the list of cheap bluing removers one might try ordinary coffee, dont know what types of bluing it will work on but one afternoon while takeing a break during an archery tournament someone spilled coffee on the sight on by bow and it took it off quickely. :mad:

Lon

I had some coffee like that, once.

Lonnie,

Goodness what make of coffee was that! :-)

Jokes apart I've never heard about coffee but for sure vinegar actually can take off some of the blueing.


Sergio

I've used Naval Jelly to remove bluing. It also leaves the surface a gray color. :rolleyes:

Naval Jelly contains phosphoric acid, so I think the gray color is pretty much like a light parkerized finish. The jelly leaves a protective coating as well as removing the rust/blue.

I wondered about that too Sergio, can't imagine what it does once we drink it. :)

Lon

Stomach acid is mostly HCl, much stronger acid and more concentrated than vinegar's acetic , and at pH of 4.5-6.o, coffee is also on the weak side--though I've read it can contain a medly of thirty different acids! I'm glad my morning Java is safe enough