Looking for guidance--Removing Gun Blue

V

Vykun

Joined
Jun 11, 2014
Messages
33
Hey all, been looking on these forums for ages now, looking at some of the beautiful knives that people have. I am in the process of customizing a knife right now, and I'm looking for a bit of guidance, or information from those more experienced. I don't know where to post this at, so I figured general would work for now.

So, for starters, I need to know what I can get at a local store, hopefully on the cheap, that I can use to remove gun blue. Some quick Google searches have lead to people saying that white vinegar works. In addition to that, I plan to acid etch some art into a few knives. I have the acid, and I have fingernail polish which seems to be the go to for such things, but it's a pain to work with, especially for detailed work. So, I'm wondering if perhaps Testers model paint would work the same? I have both enamel, and acrylic paints on hand.

I've also got several more things I'd like to discuss, but I'm short on time, have to be at work soon. I'd like to post some photos of my progress so far, but I'm afraid I don't know how to, so info on that would be stellar, I'd love to hear what people's opinions are of what I've got done, perhaps find out what I've done wrong, or should do differently.

Anyway, looking forward to learning some from the community here, I'll check back later once I'm off work. Have a good day everyone!
 
Hey there, if you have true gun bluing you'd like to remove...CLR will work wonders.
Let your part soak overnight in 50% to full strength CLR overnight and it should take most if not all of
The bluing off. I found out the hard way Lol.
 
Gun shops sell gun blue remover. Ive always used vinegar on a rag. I have heard stories about taco sauce taking off gun blue as well. Probably due to vinegar content.

Gun blue is just rust. It covers the metal so that it is less likely to rust in a more undesirable way.

Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk
 
Real gun bluing is oxidation.
Cold bluing out of a bottle is usually an oxidized copper plating. Vinegar may remove it, or it might have to be mechanically removed.
 
When I was a smith, we removed bluing on refinish jobs using sulfuric acid. I don't remember the % but I wanna say 10%. It comes off quickly but then needs a polish as the metal is dull and grey. A good rinse and run through the hot tank cleaner yields bare metal ready for whatever refinish we where doing then.

If you are going to refinish, a good bead blast works also. Work out beads with low pressure yields a nice satin finish IMO.
 
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