Rifle finishes in the past and now

[Martin@Hin]

True. I'll be the first to admit that I actually enjoy some downtime in my man cave with a few fingers of bourbon - Just sitting there looking at a fine rifle in my padded vice. Sometimes, it's a Mark V, sometimes it's a Cooper like the one below, or the glisten of a fresh coat of boiled linseed oil on my CMP Special M1. It makes them worth owning in my opinion. Time for another safe, I guess....View attachment 173663

I totally agree.
I do with my guns what a collector of fine painting or prints does.
Sit back zip on a good glass of cognac and enjoy

 

[shortgrass]

High gloss bluing job about 250$

That's cheap! Check Glenrock Blue, they do fine work, but not for $250. That's about a "base price" (gunbluing.com). I slow rust blue, $250 won't perk my interest. Stock blanks, the last I bought was just shy of $500. English Walnut. I have spent as much as $725 for a blank, and that's a blank, not a pre-inletted stock. Working by hand I can spend 75-100hrs making a rifle stock, and that's without the time for checkering.

 

[sturner]

^^^
ok

 

[birdiemc]

High gloss bluing job about 250$

Thank you...I was considering cerakoting the one I'm working on now, but I'm seriously considering a shiny blue job instead. It's the first chamber I cut, and this year I want to make a wood stock for it...make it something special not just another like the rest...

 

[birdiemc]

That's cheap! Check Glenrock Blue, they do fine work, but not for $250. That's about a "base price" (gunbluing.com). I slow rust blue, $250 won't perk my interest. Stock blanks, the last I bought was just shy of $500. English Walnut. I have spent as much as $725 for a blank, and that's a blank, not a pre-inletted stock. Working by hand I can spend 75-100hrs making a rifle stock, and that's without the time for checkering.

Haha I guess I should have kept reading.

 

[GLTaylor]

I had one custom shotgun stock made from scratch by Wenig Gunstocks in Missouri. They have a duplicator machine which follows a fully shaped and inletted stock. I chose a beautiful piece of Bastone Walnut with a lot of figure and color. Watched the machine make my stock after I had been fitted.
I test fired/shot a few targets before I left that afternoon!
Took 2 more months to get the gun finally fitted & finished. It was a joy to shoot.

 

[sturner]

Nothing like a high grade rifle or shotgun they are a thing of beauty
But it comes with a price

 

[shortgrass]

Bluing, be it hot/caustic or slow rust is all about the prep. No matter what solution might be used, poor metal prep will show. All corners retain their original shape, no dish-out screw holes, no pits, not even the ones you'd need a magnifying glass to find, all lettering and numbers intact and not 'washed-out', all polishing marks running the same direction and no marks from the previous grit, no ripples or irregularities in the polishing, work like that is getting harder and harder to find. And it costs when you can find it. Slow rust bluing takes more time, because it's not just a matter of submerging the parts into the bluing solution. You need to keep in mind, hot/caustic bluing salts are shipped hazmat, and they are heavy. It's not unusual for a shop that blues to order a couple of hundred pounds of bluing salts at a time, or a 55gal. plastic drum. Bluing salts are regularly added, so you can use quit a bit. It takes 7-10# of salts per gallon of water for the initial start-up, and they don't last forever. Sooner or later the 'old' solution will have to be discarded and new mixed. Which brings up another point, the 'old' solution must be neutralized or disposed of properly as it is hazardous material. Labor for prep, hazmat shipping and disposal, it all adds up.

 

[shortgrass]

And hand made stocks open another can of worms. Few have the patience for that kinda' work anymore. "Handmade"= each is an individual, not 2 are exactly alike.

 

[crystalgayleguy]

Bluing, be it hot/caustic or slow rust is all about the prep. No matter what solution might be used, poor metal prep will show. All corners retain their original shape, no dish-out screw holes, no pits, not even the ones you'd need a magnifying glass to find, all lettering and numbers intact and not 'washed-out', all polishing marks running the same direction and no marks from the previous grit, no ripples or irregularities in the polishing, work like that is getting harder and harder to find. And it costs when you can find it. Slow rust bluing takes more time, because it's not just a matter of submerging the parts into the bluing solution. You need to keep in mind, hot/caustic bluing salts are shipped hazmat, and they are heavy. It's not unusual for a shop that blues to order a couple of hundred pounds of bluing salts at a time, or a 55gal. plastic drum. Bluing salts are regularly added, so you can use quit a bit. It takes 7-10# of salts per gallon of water for the initial start-up, and they don't last forever. Sooner or later the 'old' solution will have to be discarded and new mixed. Which brings up another point, the 'old' solution must be neutralized or disposed of properly as it is hazardous material. Labor for prep, hazmat shipping and disposal, it all adds up.

that's why golden eagles were so pretty blue salts is lye with additives

 

[birdiemc]

Bluing, be it hot/caustic or slow rust is all about the prep. No matter what solution might be used, poor metal prep will show. All corners retain their original shape, no dish-out screw holes, no pits, not even the ones you'd need a magnifying glass to find, all lettering and numbers intact and not 'washed-out', all polishing marks running the same direction and no marks from the previous grit, no ripples or irregularities in the polishing, work like that is getting harder and harder to find. And it costs when you can find it. Slow rust bluing takes more time, because it's not just a matter of submerging the parts into the bluing solution. You need to keep in mind, hot/caustic bluing salts are shipped hazmat, and they are heavy. It's not unusual for a shop that blues to order a couple of hundred pounds of bluing salts at a time, or a 55gal. plastic drum. Bluing salts are regularly added, so you can use quit a bit. It takes 7-10# of salts per gallon of water for the initial start-up, and they don't last forever. Sooner or later the 'old' solution will have to be discarded and new mixed. Which brings up another point, the 'old' solution must be neutralized or disposed of properly as it is hazardous material. Labor for prep, hazmat shipping and disposal, it all adds up.

I never looked in to bluing, I always seen the perma blue stuff sitting on the shelf at academy so figured it was something you could do at home, then I started reading about it and watching videos...pretty quickly figured out that's not gonna happen. Looks to me like the setup required to do it is highly impractical for anybody who isn't doing several bluing jobs a day. Which makes me wonder how to go about choosing the right smith to do it for you. Do you want the guy that does 1 a month or the 10 a day guy (just randomly pulled those numbers out nowhere, no idea what is realistic)

 

[GLTaylor]

You need to ask your smith. Most wait til they have a few to do. It takes a while to set up the bath, get it hot do the bluing, then clean everything up.
Tubes of bluing are for touch up only - scratches/dings, and they almost never match. They do help prevent rust though

 

[milo-2]

I love nice looking wood and a high polished bluing job.
In the early 90's I stated I would never own a composite stock rifle. That thought passed, today the only wood gun I have is a blued wood stock Benelli SBE, and it has not been shot in 20 yrs, all my Colt revolvers are gone, along with wood-blued rifles.
We never had kids, so I do not really have anyone to pass things on to that would appreciated them. So to me, there was no reason to cling to them, they were all little use items to begin with. I get by with wild paint schemes today, and SS pistols.

 

[shortgrass]

that's why golden eagles were so pretty blue salts is lye with additives

A 'basic' formula for "hot/caustic'" bluing is Caustic Soda (lye) , nitrate salts, water. All 3 are corrosive. All bluing (black oxide finishing) is a controlled rust process.