The Best Cold Blue

One absolutely irreplaceable tool in my maintenance kit is a bottle of Brownell's Oxpho-Blue.. This is the only cold blue I'd found that will give you a finish that's as good as the typical factory blues. Most quick-blue formulas actually deposit a thin wash of a bright blue copper compound that's easily abraded, and doesn't look much like bluing. Oxpho Blue produces a really tough blue- if you use it properly. It comes in liquid and cream form in sizes from 4 ounces to several gallons, but I've always purchased the liquid form, usually in the 16 ounce size, but the 4 ounce size is enough to blue several guns.

I typically use it when restoring old neglected and rusty rifles, like the Iver Johnson Model X and the Glenfield 25 I wrote about recently. What I do first is remove surface rust with steel wool or a synthetic steel wool replacement pad, like 3M's Synthetic Steel Wool and a little kerosene or light oil. If the pitting is really deep, I'll draw file the surface, and  then polish it out with abrasive cloth grits up to 600 or 1200.

Once I have a rust-free surface, I apply Oxpho-Blue with #0000 steel wool. Yes, this is a blue you can actually apply with steel wool! It seems to clean the surface of any residual oxidation and make the surface more receptive to the bluing. One caution: Wear plastic gloves when you do this, as the Oxpho-Blue will seriously irritate your skin if you don't. You can also just rub it on with a cloth, though I find the steel wool works better on some steels. Whichever method you use, put some effort into it, rubbing it into the surface. Tiny pieces like screws can be cleaned, degreased and dipped in it.

After two or three applications you should have a deep, but matte-looking surface. Wipe the metal down with a good thin polarized oil like Birchwood Casey's "Sheath" or better yet, Brownell's Water Displacing Oil. This is also a great light oil to wipe all your guns down with to preserve the blue and keep out water. A quart will last you a long time.