Really would like some input on this one. Couple of my shooters need a bit of touch up. Bald spots that are nothing really major, but that bug me never the less.

Lot of product out there, but a big thumbs up - or thumbs down from anyone that has been there / done that, would be appreciated.

Guess criteria would have to be ease of application, color matching (dark Ruger blue), & durability.

Thanks in advance!

I've used Brownell's 44-40 Cold Blue and really like it. I've used it for touching up spots on barrels and doing extractors and ring for my M98 bolts. I tried a bottle of their Belgium Blue and have had very bad results with it.

I have good luck with Brownell’s Oxpho-Blue cream. I applied it with fine steel wool. It blended in well. You can just keep applying it till you get what looks good to your eye.

Obviously not a “show-room†finish, but for what you described it ought to work fine.

Oxpho blue cream from Brownells is the one.
Doesn't require a lot of prep, works instantly, doesn't smell, tough and lasts forever.
Weagle

man, all of the cold blues leave a "smell" on metal... a STINK to me...

i like the birchwood casey, and if you get the parts hot-to-the-touch (not idiodic "burn soap off the barrel hot) with either a heat gun or torch, you can get a darker result.

make certain you degrease well...

decant a small amount of the blue into a cup (you are going to throw all this away)

unless you use a tooth brush (especially steel wool) you MUST degrease your "brush"... steel wool (oil) qtips and cototn balls (lanolin) are all "Greased"

use a good wetting coat, and keep it wet, once your "brush" turns brown, replace (wash the toothbrush in cold water) and more...


keep going until it won't change color...


ALLOW IT TO DRY (should take 5 mins on a hot part) ...

wipe down with kroil or ATF to remove the "crust" and polish...

the crust seems to mike it bit better

jeffe

Brownells Dicropan T-4 touchup cold blue works well for me. It is an instant blue.

One of the pluses with Oxpho-Blue is that there is no special surface treatment involved. A small amount of oil (gun oil or oil from your fingers) on the steel doesn’t really make any difference.

Brownells also did some tests and found that Oxpho-Blue resisted wearing off much better than the other cold blues did. The info on this is in their catalog.

i like oxphoblue best, but it takes a bit of work to make it work well. 1st ou must make sure everything is well degreased. then while you're sitting in front of the tv, get a bottle of alcohol (rubbing not drinking) wipe the part down. then with a clean rag each time rub the blue on , then wipe with the alcohol, then blue and so on and so on. each time it will become a bit darker. it may take a couple of dozen times to achieve what you want. This is great for small parts, but i wouldn't venture to use it on anything to large.

Lar45.
I have used Belgian Blue with good results, but it is not a cold blue. I typically rust SxS barrels by the fume blue process then boil and card them, then apply the Belgian Blue. It speeds up the rust blue process and is very durable. Just my 0.02.
Doug

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
i like oxphoblue best, but it takes a bit of work to make it work well. 1st ou must make sure everything is well degreased. then while you're sitting in front of the tv, get a bottle of alcohol (rubbing not drinking) wipe the part down. then with a clean rag each time rub the blue on , then wipe with the alcohol, then blue and so on and so on. each time it will become a bit darker. it may take a couple of dozen times to achieve what you want. This is great for small parts, but i wouldn't venture to use it on anything to large.

Boy, that hasn’t been my experience with Oxpho-Blue cream.

I find it to be about the easiest and fastest stuff you could use and requiring no special prep of the steel at all.

quote:

man, all of the cold blues leave a "smell" on metal... a STINK to me...

i like the birchwood casey, and if you get the parts hot-to-the-touch (not idiodic "burn soap off the barrel hot) with either a heat gun or torch, you can get a darker result.

make certain you degrease well...

decant a small amount of the blue into a cup (you are going to throw all this away)

unless you use a tooth brush (especially steel wool) you MUST degrease your "brush"... steel wool (oil) qtips and cototn balls (lanolin) are all "Greased"

use a good wetting coat, and keep it wet, once your "brush" turns brown, replace (wash the toothbrush in cold water) and more...


keep going until it won't change color...


ALLOW IT TO DRY (should take 5 mins on a hot part) ...

wipe down with kroil or ATF to remove the "crust" and polish...

the crust seems to mike it bit better

jeffe

Talk about a long drawn out process for a touch up. I guess when your a whiz bang smith and charge by the hour this is the proper process. sounds sorta anal to me

Oxpho-Blue

G96 if you can find it.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmyd223:

quote:

man, all of the cold blues leave a "smell" on metal... a STINK to me...

i like the birchwood casey, and if you get the parts hot-to-the-touch (not idiodic "burn soap off the barrel hot) with either a heat gun or torch, you can get a darker result.

make certain you degrease well...

decant a small amount of the blue into a cup (you are going to throw all this away)

unless you use a tooth brush (especially steel wool) you MUST degrease your "brush"... steel wool (oil) qtips and cototn balls (lanolin) are all "Greased"

use a good wetting coat, and keep it wet, once your "brush" turns brown, replace (wash the toothbrush in cold water) and more...


keep going until it won't change color...


ALLOW IT TO DRY (should take 5 mins on a hot part) ...

wipe down with kroil or ATF to remove the "crust" and polish...

the crust seems to mike it bit better

jeffe

Talk about a long drawn out process for a touch up. I guess when your a whiz bang smith and charge by the hour this is the proper process. sounds sorta anal to me

Oxpho-Blue

jimmy, i am certain YOU could do it another way.. this is, well, 20 to 45 mins to do, PROPERLY..."long and drawn out" ... which is generally referred to as "detailed instructions"

of course, you could just bubba it up, and not pay attention to details....

ymmv


jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
jimmy, i am certain YOU could do it another way.. this is, well, 20 to 45 mins to do, PROPERLY..."long and drawn out" ... which is generally referred to as "detailed instructions"

of course, you could just bubba it up, and not pay attention to details....

ymmv


jeffe

Could you please elaborate a little on what the term "bubba it up" meant to imply in the above post?

Oxpho Blue....I wonder when Brownell's is going to send me my commission check.

My smeller may be off, but I can't smell it at all. Just smells like kroil after you put on a little to cure it.

jeffe' I assure you, when the word "BUBBA" comes up on this forum, it fits you and your "custom work" much better than most here.

Go ahead and dazzle us with more of your gunsmithing knowledge, all you are doing is confirming what most of us already know!!!!!!!

weagle, very nice and simple

jimmy .. make up your mind.. pick a side..


you can't have it both ways son... when you try, you look like what's left from making a croc-0-gator... and that's got two mouths and no a$$

we are STILL waiting a SINGLE gunsmithing tip from you... the topic is cold blue.. how do YOU do it?

funny enough, you follow my advice on cold blue, and it comes out perfect... reads ALOT like the instructions on the bottle, funny enough....



jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:

I find it to be about the easiest and fastest stuff you could use and requiring no special prep of the steel at all.

other than degreasing it, right?

after all, steel wool is oiled up to prevent it from turning to a rust pad!!

right?
http://www.winrest.com/blueinstructions.html

quote:

BUT WASH THE STEEL WOOL IN ACETONE TO REMOVE THE PROTECTIVE OIL IN IT

i've seen a FINGERPRINT ruin a hot blue job, even a drop of sweat on the barrel....

rust blue is a bugger for oil...

"blackoxide" (a different cold bluing that I experiemented with) makes a better finish, but still is not equal to either hot or rust blue.. do a search for black oxide here.. it seemed a low cost alternative to traditional hot or rust bluing.. it's not, but it looks and SMELLS better than cold blue

and I gave up on "cold blues", after trying van, birchwood casey, and oxpho.. once you are in the metal prep that care, you may was well "do it correctly"..


touchups? sure, works fine, to hold it off till you get enough wear to justify a full blue.

Jeffe' I do give gunsmithing tips but "only" on the subjects I have first hand knowledge about. Unlike your constant babbling.

Pick a side? Are your reading and understanding skills as poor as your gunsmithing? What part of this could you not understand? Oxpho-Blue

Even weagle put up pictures of the "simple" process so that a "mental midget" such as you could understand.

NO, mister moderator, you do not have to degrease steel wool to use it with Oxpho-Blue.

Obviously you have NEVER used Oxpho-Blue based on your “smell†comment. It has absolutely no smell at all, and the instructions right on the bottle state very clearly that light rust and oil NEED NOT be removed prior to applying Oxpho-Blue for “touch upsâ€. Which after all was the topic of this thread.

In the commentary about Oxpho-Blue in the Brownells catalog it states: “Vigorous rubbing with steel wool is one of our favorite application methods.â€

Once again it is very apparent to MANY people on this forum that you just have to stick in your two cents even when you have not got the slightest bit of experience or knowledge about the topic or the product being discussed.

Which raises another interesting question. How in the world would you EVER know what was or was not on topic for gunsmithing since you obviously have so little knowledge of it?

I have a half dozen cold blues and every piece of steel is different.

A pattern emerges of degrease, rinse with hot water, dry, cold blue, rub, repeat, repeat, repeat, try a different cold blue, repeat, repeat, repeat, finish with Oxpho Blue, cover Oxpho with oil, leave overnight. In the morning, degrease and re oil.

Cold blue on a barrel works much better in the lathe, where the rubbing work is done by the motor.

There is a force of rubbing too light to get the job done, and there is force of rubbing to hard that rubs the new cold blue off. The trick is to be have the right rubbing force.

Here's a complete barrel done with Oxpho blue. The pics don't do it justice. It looks better than all but the very high end factory blues.

No need to defrease the steel wool when using the oxpho blue, but I do clean the metal with Simple green. Oxpho will work right through light oil, but the metal may have silicone or wax on it and the simple green cleans it up well.

Weagle

One of the techs at Brownells told me that he knows several guys that have blued entire barreled actions with Oxpho-Blue and he said they looked great.

There is no way that they will be as durable or as fine looking as a “for real†hot blue or rust blue jobs, but for what it is I think the stuff is pretty damned amazing.

Perhaps some people are getting a back-blast of their own breath and that’s why they think it smells bad!

weagle, looks great, would have been a tad bit better with a lace tablecloth.

One more vote for Oxpho. Over the years, I have tried at least 15 different cold-blues, and Oxpho worked as well for me as any of the others...mostly better, actually.

40 years ago I used to use a 6-tank Lynx-Line Blu-Blak hot system and it was easy enough and did a magnificent job (for a caustic blue). So anyway, have blued a LOT of customers' guns. My choice among cold blues, based on ease of application, even colour and lack of mottling would HAVE to be Oxpho.

Just remember, the secret of any finish, hot or cold, is metal prep before application. By that I don't mean degreasing, I mean matching the degree of polish of the metal where you are applying the new finish to the area around it that you are not refinishing. Particularly important where you have had to remove some red rust or a mar of that sort.

As usual, my opinion. YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmyd223:
weagle, looks great, would have been a tad bit better with a lace tablecloth.

jimmyd223,

Why do I have the strangest feeling that this thread is about to be declared “off topic“ (read that as embarrassing to the modertor) and will be quickly whizzed off to Misc. Land??? Followed shortly thereafter by a bunch of us getting a string of nasty PM’s from the moderator and the administrator, and a drove of posts from bubbas defending their head bubba.

For polish, I don't use a buffing wheel.
I use files, different colors of Scotch brite pad, different coarseness of steel wool, different grits of emery cloth, and different grits of wet and dry.

If I can't spin the part, I spin the abrasive, in what ever way I can. Put a piece of Scotch brite pad on an arbor and spin it in the mini lathe, or spin it with a Dremel, etc.

For the most part I don't like cold blues but of the ones I've tried for touch ups the Oxpho blue works well, very well. And, unlike the majority of cold blues, has very little if no unpleasant smell. I stated this as such because it has been years since I used it but unlike Perma Blue and similar products I could actually breath when a piece of metal with it applied was near me, or more precisely, my honker.

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:
Obviously you have NEVER used Oxpho-Blue based on your “smell†comment. It has absolutely no smell at all, ....

cold blue, right?

SELENIUM DIOXIDE

quote:

LUSTROUS WHITE HYGROSCOPIC CRYSTALS OR POWDER. ITS YELLOWISH GREEN VAPOUR HAS A PUNGENT SOUR SMELL.

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/c..._icsc09/icsc0946.htm


z1r, the smell of cold blue is very distinctive, and, to me, VERY unpleasant

some historic posts on the subject, let's see if FYJ disagress with THEM, as well

quote:

Originally posted by JBelk:
Alex---You'll often see gun collectors sniffing guns. Cold blue stinks and theres nothing I've ever seen to kill it.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
If it gets on your hands it is easy to remove. Go to a doctor, preferably a surgeon and have him remove the first layer of skin down to raw flesh. After it heals you will no longer smell the cold blue.

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:
Why do I have the strangest feeling that this thread is about to be declared “off topic“ (read that as embarrassing to the modertor) and will be quickly whizzed off to Misc. Land??? .....

Well before that happens, I'd like to thank everyone for the "overwhelming" response. Woo hooo!

Looks like Oxpho holds the title - as far as the popularity contest goes. ;=]

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:
Obviously you have NEVER used Oxpho-Blue based on your “smell†comment. It has absolutely no smell at all, ....

cold blue, right?

SELENIUM DIOXIDE

quote:

LUSTROUS WHITE HYGROSCOPIC CRYSTALS OR POWDER. ITS YELLOWISH GREEN VAPOUR HAS A PUNGENT SOUR SMELL.

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/c..._icsc09/icsc0946.htm


z1r, the smell of cold blue is very distinctive, and, to me, VERY unpleasant

Yes, re-read my post.

Oh Mr. Moderator, I don’t need to read anyones posts in order to determine that Oxpho-Blue has no smell, I have a bottle of the cream and a bottle of the liquid sitting in my shop and all I have to do is take off the caps and sniff. I have done this, and there is NO SMELL AT ALL.

Why don’t you just admit that you have never used this product and be done with it?

What does oxpho blue have in it, or doesn't, that causes it not to stink like Dicropan does?

When I started reading this thread, I was thinking that we had Oxpho blue, but we use a lot of Dicropan around the shop for sometimes identifying like parts that are steel, rather than stainless.

I can attest to the nasty rotten egg smell of that stuff.....it never goes away.

Do we have a case of mistaken identity???

Ohh....and that stuff sucks for blueing anything. It's good for identifying a piece of steel from stainless, but that' about it.

Matt,
I guess it like farts.. some folks claim their's don't stink... while even the dog is heading for cover!!

and everyone but one thinks cold blues smell bad

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Matt,
I guess it like farts.. some folks claim their's don't stink... while even the dog is heading for cover!!

and everyone but one thinks cold blues smell bad

Jeffe,

No one made a blanket statement about cold blues not smelling. FYJ said that a particular brand, Oxpho-Blue didn't stink. I unfortunately can't verify that for him because my bottle of Oxpho-Blue is 30 years old, and there is nothing that is 30 years old that doesn't stink.

On the other hand, I don't know how the bubba's let "Sharpie" and "El Marko" slip by without mention. These smell better, lasts about as long and don't require any special prep. Plus, they've probably been used by more gunsellers at more gunshows to hide more crap than all the other types combined.

I guess this must be another case like the infamous NECG peep sights where the stuff I buy gets custom made just for me and isn’t like the stuff our moderator has, or “claims†he has.

Anyone out there that has any Oxpho-Blue can tell you that there is no odor at all to the stuff. I have no idea why, or what they add or leave out to make it odorless, but that’s the way it is.

This is just one more example (in a very long list) of our moderator spouting off about something of which he has absolutely no knowledge or experience.

Matt, if you don’t have any Oxpho-Blue then why are you even commenting? Don’t you have some computer code to write or something else you should be doing?

Birds of a feather are flocking again, it’s about time for duikerman to pop up isn’t it?

Isn’t it strange that every single time Jeffeosso gets caught lying the same guys come on to defend him and attack the people who caught him in his lies???

quote:

and there is nothing that is 30 years old that doesn't stink

malm, I'm 53, and if my memory serves me, I can think of at least one thing thirty years old that doesn't...

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:

quote:

and there is nothing that is 30 years old that doesn't stink

malm, I'm 53, and if my memory serves me, I can think of at least one thing thirty years old that doesn't...

Think "Tuna".

quote:

Originally posted by fyj:
I guess this must be another case like the infamous NECG peep sights where the stuff I buy gets custom made just for me and isn’t like the stuff our moderator has, or “claims†he has.

Anyone out there that has any Oxpho-Blue can tell you that there is no odor at all to the stuff. I have no idea why, or what they add or leave out to make it odorless, but that’s the way it is.

This is just one more example (in a very long list) of our moderator spouting off about something of which he has absolutely no knowledge or experience.

Matt, if you don’t have any Oxpho-Blue then why are you even commenting? Don’t you have some computer code to write or something else you should be doing?

Birds of a feather are flocking again, it’s about time for duikerman to pop up isn’t it?

Isn’t it strange that every single time Jeffeosso gets caught lying the same guys come on to defend him and attack the people who caught him in his lies???

Once again you prove to everyone what a puke you are.

Anybody that is literate can read what I wrote.

I asked a question, even though I didn't mention it your dumb ass, for the reason if maybe oxpho could do the same job that Dicropan does, without the stinky smell. If it does, then I would prefer to buy that for my shop, for the above posted reason, rather than Dicropan.

If you weren't getting a hard-on about everything Jeffe or others, including myself post, regardless of the content, or the method in which it's posted, you'd find yourself in less arguements.

Who gives a damn whether the metal has to be free of oil or not??? I've always taken the time to remove oils if I'm cold blueing anything, or hot blueing. If you don't and it leaves marks.....well, you're to blame.
It's common sense isn't it?
If you get by with it......fine....great....wonderful.....More power to ya.


Damn, I asked an honest question about why there might be a conflict, of which I do know something about, in an attempt to gain a little more insight for my own purposes, and you jump all over me like I'm trying to whip your ass on the playground for defending my buddy....Give me a break and get a life.

I'm not defending anyone or anything here.....

Dicropan stinks.....sounds like Oxpho may not, which I'd be interested in using for occasional touch-up work perhaps if it works as good as Brownells and the "experts" say here.