Thinking about glass bead blasting an old A-5 I'm re-storing. Any thoughts, cautions, warnings or other options?

Thanks,

No issues with it. You might want to do a 320 grit final rub to give a nice texture for a rust blue. It would yield a more satin than matte finish. Alternatively, you could make up a 5% solution of Boric Acid (Roach Powder) and water and heat to 100 degrees F to remove the rust and old blue. Then wire brush and rust blue. Make sure you de-grease!

quote:

Originally posted by Johnp034:
Thinking about glass bead blasting an old A-5 I'm re-storing. Any thoughts, cautions, warnings or other options?

Thanks,

Depending on the beads you can make the finish way too coarse. You might experiment with a variety of bead meshes. You might also try baking soda for a blasting media.

I like cleaning parts with a soda blast and then hand polishing with wet 400 to 600 grit to look like 1895 Mauser finishes.