the best way to get rid of pitting on a project rifle

[18 Wheeler]

...I was thinking of buying a grinding wheel and buying some polishing mops for it
To save a bit of labour but im not sure if it will work.
Has anyone tried this method to get the pitting out.
Atb
David

I'd say you have nothing to lose. I used fine diamond files on some areas as I was keen to preserve the sharpness on all the edges and stampings. Finding something isn't aggressive enough isn't really a problem, just a few minutes wasted, going the other way results in damage which could take hours to polish out.

Given the original deep pitting you need to be quite aggressive to start off with. However, I do feel that I could have gone to the polishing mops earlier in the process, and think that the sisal wheel with compound would have saved time. That little bit of compliance in the polishing mop may help to "reach in" and abrade the pitted areas.

I have an old Diana 22 which is very tatty, and may try a more aggressive approach by using a brass wire wheel from the off and then going to the polishing mops, which would dramatically reduce the amount of wet'n'dry used.

[thisisdonald]

If you imagine a pit as a pothole.. if it is deep you want to get the edges of the hole tapering into it so that when its blued it will be less apparent... the only way to completely (and pedantically!) Get rid of all pitting is to bring all the surrounding material diwn to the same depth as the deepest pit! As said earlier in this thread, trying to smooth out the pits locally should be enough for a satisfactory finish. Bluing will not hide any pits, but as long as they dont have defined edges it should look good enough.
Personally ive never went the whole hog and really tried for a perfect finish.. I just dont have the tools to make it simple.. like you I have spent hours and hours with wet n dry getting it as good as I can then cold bluing...ive never had a gun hot blued or rust blued so I really have no knowledge of how these finishes deal with faint pitting. I imagine its pretty much the same.
As long as I get a nice even blue I dont mind tiny blemishes where pitting used to be.. after all its an old gun.. as long as its protected from further rusting im happy... its like picking up a mangy mutt from the pound!

[valboskie]

Looking at micks hw77 and reading his post again you could see pitting before he rust blued it
And it Was all gone when he had given finished.
The rust bluing fills in the pitting so I won't need perfection.
Donald if you want me to chip in for half the the cost of any supplies you need for the rust bluing
That's no problem at all just let me know.
Cheers
David

[thisisdonald]

Haha .. my slow rust bluing has emphasis on the sloooow!

After looking at some of these recipes a few of them say to always add water to the acid..I wonder if that could have been a factor in my failed attempt... ive got this old victor here.. ill get that stripped back and give it a bash... I wouldnt feel comfortable dunking your gun into the fume box without at least 50% certainty that it will work dave!!! 🔫

[RichardH]

Yes Phil.

Nice fresh wee, but so far no rust.

Even using my heated cabinet I can't get acid fumes to rust a test piece --- the best result I have achieved in this damp weather is by rubbing brick cleaning acid onto the test piece and then hanging the piece in the damp air.

I may be better off putting water in the heated cabinet to create a damp box and then put the piece in this after wiping with acid.

Another liquid I'm trying as a rusting agent is plumbing flux as this seems to attack steel when wiped on it.



All the best Mick

Mick

Mercury Bichloride

Be careful though as its effectively mercury salt, not as dangerous as it sounds but hands, eyes, outdoors..

Rusts anything very rapidly

Nearly as good is Ammonium Chloride, not nearly as dangerous and available on the bay

Rich

[ccdjg]

Slight correction to the previous post. Its mercury bichloride and ammonium chloride you mean, not bichlorate or chlorate. Mercury bichlorate, if you could even get it, would blow your head off as soon as look at you. I would recommend ammonium chloride as an excellent rusting agent, easy to get and completely harmless (unless you ate a load).

[RichardH]

Slight correction to the previous post. Its mercury bichloride and ammonium chloride you mean, not bichlorate or chlorate. Mercury bichlorate, if you could even get it, would blow your head off as soon as look at you. I would recommend ammonium chloride as an excellent rusting agent, easy to get and completely harmless (unless you ate a load).

Poxy spellchecker, corrected now

Be careful

[valboskie]

Richard Do you use a buff and compound when you polish up an action before bluing
If you do is the buff strong enough to get rid of the pitting.

I was looking at dremmil type tools plus bench grinders and replacing the stones with mops to get rid of the pitting.
Atb
David

[T 20]

Hiya Mick

I guess you can't get the American bluing solution over here, but have you tried anything like 'Gunguard Slow Blue Solution'?

About a third the way down the page here:

http://www.blackleyandson.com/acatal...tals.html#a112

ATB - Phil

Hi Phil


The thing that originally attracted me to the fume bluing process was the simplicity of it --- dangle your gun in acid fumes to rust it, then boil it in water and the red rust goes black.

Unfortunately the weather seems to have a big effect on the rusting process; I’m still experimenting every day with my heated cabinet to try to find the correct temperature.

I’d like to crack the Acid Fume process before moving on to other liquids but I may well end up buying a rusting liquid just so I can get a move on with some guns.




All the best Mick

[T 20]

Mick

Mercury Bichloride

Be careful though as its effectively mercury salt, not as dangerous as it sounds but hands, eyes, outdoors..

Rusts anything very rapidly

Nearly as good is Ammonium Chloride, not nearly as dangerous and available on the bay

Rich

Cheers for that Richard

You've made me realise I have access to tons of Ammonium Nitrate, which is also an oxidizing agent --- if this works it would be great for David and Donald as it's available off the shelf as a plant fertilizer.





All the best Mick

[thisisdonald]

superb, let us know...

[valboskie]

How would you use ammonium nitrate
Is it fume like with the brick and mortar cleaner or do you brush it on in liquid format.
Atb
David

[valboskie]

ammonium nitrate how do i use this with it being safer than acid to use
any info on how to go about it would be brilliant
has anyone got any pictures of any rifles they have used this product on
atb
david

[valboskie]

interesting reading in this thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/arch.../t-153822.html
cheers
david

[valboskie]

http://www.blindhogg.com/homemadesalts.html
how to make home made bluing salts another interesting read