I used to skip cold blue until a simple heat trick

I always thought cold blue was useless for real gunsmith work. It made scratches look worse and never matched the old finish. Then I watched a friend warm the metal with a hair dryer first. I tried it on a test gun part and the blue went on smooth. Now I do this for small fixes on blued surfaces. It blends in well and stops rust fast. This little step saved me from many full reblue jobs.

4 comments

4 Comments

shane35713d ago

Heard that too, @the_dakota.

the_dakota14d ago

Yeah cold blue gets a bad rap for good reason. That heat trick is a total game changer though.

ben15513d ago

That heat trick is super interesting! Are we talking about just warming the metal with a torch first, or is there a specific temp range that works best? I tried it on an old chisel but the blue was still kinda spotty. Wondering if it works better on certain types of steel compared to others.

tarahall5d ago

Oh man, my buddy totally ruined a plane iron by getting his torch too hot. Burnt the crap out of it and ruined the temper, but hey, the blue was even!