what is the best cold blueing available I lent my brother
my guide gun to cut horse trail he hung a swede saw from
the barrel it scraped a nice grove down the entire lengh of the barrel about 3/4 in wide

I do an elaborite series of cold blues for a whole barrel, but for a quickie repair:
1) Scrub the area with Simple Green and a clean old toothbrush.
2) Rinse with hot water from the tap, not getting any finger prints on the area.
3) Dry with shaking and clean ex, not getting parts of the Kleen ex that touched the hand to touch the metal.
4) Rub liquid [not creame] Oxpho Blue on the area with a que tip while the metal is still hot. Do not double dip in the Oxpho Blue bottle.
5) Get another que tip soaked with Oxpho Blue and rub harder, while the metal is still hot.
6) Put motor oil on the area overnight and the Oxpho Blue trapped under the oil will make it darker.
7) The next day, if it is not dark enough, do it all again.

Not to hijack the post - but Clark - you don't happen to do rust blueing do you? or a blueing that replicates teh finish of the fine English DGR and Double shotguns of the late and early 20th century do you - I am looking for a finish that replicates that - like the finish on the new Ruger Gold Label SxS.

Would be on a Ruger M77 (tang safety) with a new CM barrel.
If you don't do you know anyone that does? Feel free to pm me if needed.

I have never done rust bluing, but I would like to learn someday.
Do a search on google about rust bluing and there is lots to read.

I have used Birchwood Casey's Super Blue in conjunction with white Scotchbrite pads with great success for cold bluing. The Scotchbrite blends the bluing together somehow for a nice pleasant finish.

I first discovered this idea at this link(scroll down to middle of article), and it is also mentioned in one of Brownells "Gunsmith Kinks" books; don't recall which one. Hope this helps you. Joe

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jesse99/handle.html

The Scotchbrite pads come in a series of colors for different grits. I like to turn a barrel in the lathe while applying bluing with a fine Scotch brite pad. Too hard and the bluing comes off, not hard enough and it does not go in.