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Oxpho-blue? creme

21K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  xinnix 
#1 ·
Oxpho-blue® creme

I am going to try OXPHO-BLUE® CREME on a 1911 that is looking a little worn. I have talked to some people and they said it does a nice job and is easy if you take your time it will make the gun look nice again. They said to de grease the gun and to heat it up and use extra extra fine steel wool to apply it. Then oil the gun and put another coat on it and repeat with oil and heat.
Does anyone have any other advice on finishing the pistol with the OXPHO-BLUE® CREME? Some of the older guys at the shop gave me the directions above. What is the best way to heat the pistol? With a torch or in the oven or out in the sun on the picnic table. How hot do you ant the surface to be? (Hot to the touch without burning you or just a nice even warm heat?)
Thanks a lot
Bob
 
#2 ·
personally, I use a heat gun, (had it left over from the old days, when grunts had to shine their boots) the heat gun will get the piece hot enough to burn you but good and warm to the touch will do it, I didn't have great results if the liquid evaporated before doing anything... but I used liquid, not cream... good luck.... I used an old savage shotgun to practice cold blueing with (1911s have crazy angles to learn incase you have to polish it off a few times...) don't be afraid to post pics of the results, good or bad, might help someone...
 
#3 ·
Thanks, That is a good idea about practice. I have a barrel for my Ithaca Dear Slayer to practice with. I might get a hair drier, I have a few pair of boots that it would be easier to get the polishing cream into them. I will take photo's. To degrease the gun I was going to use acetone. It seems to work well and it is cheap enough in the finger nail polish area. I went to Home Depot and it was almost three time as much. I loved the direction from Home Depot. Caution do not get it on your skin. In the nail polish isle it says to soak your nails in it.
As far as the Ortho Blue I was going to get the liquid but it seems that you can control the cream better. It will be the first time and I hope it works well. I know it will not hold up like a real bluing job but it will hopefully work and make the pistol look better than it does. It is a Les Baer that just had a poor quality finish on it and I hope it will smooth it out. There is no bare metal or rust.
If it does not work out I can send it to Les and have a Hard chrome done at Les Baer. they said it is the most durable finish that they offer.
 
#4 ·
I have a slide I used Oxpho Blue liquid on. It has held up to regular use very well. It took many, many applications but was worth it. I used a rag dampened with and kept rubbing and rubbing the slide with it, avoiding any splitting from developing.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I use the Oxpho-blue liquid but, the creme works the same way. You can apply it with 0000Steelwool but I found Clean Cheesecloth works just as well. The recommendation to heat the parts is good, I use a 1600watt Blowdryer, it does help the cold-blue penetrate better. Remember to clean off the parts after the blue dries with running water,dry well then buff with the 0000 Steelwool before oiling. Also, it'll hold better if you soak the parts in oil and let them sit for 24 hours.

Here's my DW M44-6HV after I did it with Oxpho.
 
#8 · (Edited)
#10 ·
For cleaning and to degrease, I was planning on using 100% Acetone, I know they make special cleaners and so forth but after reading and watching You Tube a lot of people use Isopropyl Alcohol and Ethyl Alcohol, The thing that was mentioned was the Acetone dries faster. Is there a preference for cleaning the metal surface before cold bluing?
Thanks
Here are some photo's of one of the areas that I want to fix on a 1911 frame. It is the worst area. Should I use an abrasive to match the whole area before using the cold blue or just try to work on the one bad spot It would not take much to sanding down from the serial numbers to the end a total of 3 inches. This way the undercoat is going to be the same colors. I do not think that the Oxpho-Blue is going to even out the color where it is worn down to the fresh factory blue. That is why I am thinking to not take it to bare metal but make it look the same using a light abrasive. I am open to suggestions. I am going to mimic the same situation on a old bird barrel for my Ithica by trying to duplicate what I have on the 1911 frame on the barrel and see what happens trying both ways. I am open for suggestions.
Here is the worst area


Then there are places that have scratches just in the finish not in the metal. They look like this, They are mostly from brass bouncing off the cubical onto the frame. I never carry this pistol. It goes from the range to the cleaning bench and then the safe.

 
#11 ·
Here are some pics of the gun when I first bought it, I think it had been dropped on concrete. Had to smooth out scratches first.




What doesn't show well in these are the scratches on the Cylinder and barrel.
 
#12 ·
Just thought about this, here's some pics of a Fox 12ga. SXS I restored. Stripped the barrels down completely and reblued with the Oxpho-blue.



This last photo shows the bluing better, the other two had sunlight reflection making them look lighter.
 
#15 ·
Here's an often-overlooked fact about cold-bluing; you must degrease anything you plan to apply it with. Wash steel wool, any kind of cloth or toothbrush in hot water with dish soap. You can use the soap and water to clean the parts, too.

xinnix; no, you would not use sandpaper on the slide to remove more finish from the rubbed area before using the cold blue. For such an area, try applying it with a toothbrush. Don't be afraid to get it on the 'good' finish. You can't avoid it anyway. Keep applying it until the bare spot is darker than the original blue, then use your moist steel wool (usually #0000) to blend it. Always work with the existing 'grain' of the part.
 
#16 ·
Thanks to all of you. I got the Les Baer done and it came out great. I am looking forward to doing more. It was very easy to do and blend with the 0000 steel wool.
Acetone worked great.
before and after

after

thanks for all the advise the cream was very easy to work with.
 
#17 ·
Good job. I forgot to mention the matte areas, where you would never use steel wool. Just blot the blue on with a wood toothpick or Q-Tip depending on the size of the scratch. You can also use a toothbrush for large bare areas. A trick to restore a matte finished small area that has been rubbed smooth is to place a piece of aluminum-grit sandpaper on the bare area and use a mallet to beat a texture into the surface before bluing it. This is a pretty advanced technique and I'm sure you can see that it would have the potential for trouble. Just saying it has been done.
 
#19 ·
The top of the Baer slide is mat finished and I used 0000 wool on it and it did not seem to hurt the finish, I used large Q-tips to apply the cream and wait for it to soak in and then took a clean town and polished it in. I heated it up and applied another coat without steel wool and then it looked great so I cleaned it again with a cloth and then oiled it and worked in a good coat of oil all over the gun when I was finished. I did notice that areas that were blued in a gloss finish and I did blue over them it got a little of the plum color, It gives it a nice look. It is balanced and does not look blotchy. It also worked on internal parts that I needed to fit like safeties. I cleaned them and put a few coats of the blue cream on it them oil and it looked like parts that were made that way not fitted. I have one idiot scratch that is not deep on one other Les Baer and I want to use 00 wool and the 0000 wool to get to the metal and then blue the area. The scratch will not show because I can not feel it with your finger nail. It is just a surface scratch. The cream is easy to work with and 4 ounces will last a long time.
 
#18 ·
Also, it looks like the slide had an original 'plum' color which the cold blue did not change. I think that's pretty cool, as I like that color. It develops on blued steel because of the hardness and alloy. Sometimes it is undesirable and comes from overheated bluing salts, but on an original gun it looks good. I had a Colt Gold Cup National match with a 'plum' thumb safety - you might be able to see it in this picture.

 
#21 ·
I finished the bluing work on a few pistols,It came out a lot better than I thought it would.. I applied it with steel steel wool #0000. It almost went on like a soap. I kept working it in to match the color and shine. Then when I got the color I wanted I used A CLP oil FP-10 It seemed to work well with it . I even used it on the inside of parts that I had to fit and take off a lot of metal like the safety on a beaver tail The pin shaft diameter was quite a bit off and I had to sand quite a bit off of the shaft, I cleaned it was Acetone and and then used the bluing cream and it looked like a machined part from the factory. The parts I looked at today were done a week ago. I took some oil on a clean patch and and put it on the worst area and I rubbed it pretty hard with the oil and patch and the patch was clean with no rust or any bluing
I am really happy. This was one of the best guns in my collection I paid new $1960 for it shipped I was embarrassed to take it out and shoot it because a lot of people socialize and come over to see what you are shooting. In all rights you would be proud to show this one but because of the lack blue I did not shoot it a lot. I shot it Saturday. I ran about 400 rounds through it. I had Master-cast 122 grains, Penn 120 grain, 125 grain FMJ and Mat Dardas 122 LRNBB. It was fun shooting a full size 1911 9mm.
Thanks to all for the great advice, this gave me the confidence to go for and I learned another great thing that will save me money and make a gun more presentable if I am looking to sell it. This last 3 months has been a great learning curve for me. I bought the Ed Brown Sear Jig and learned how to stone my own sear and hammer. I learned how little you have to bend the sear leaf spring to adjust trigger pull and how dangerous this is!!!!!! Made a new friend on the forum that has his own business working on 1911 and was a great help with my purchase of the Springfield Range Officer and changing out the ignition system to get it down from a 5 pound pull to crisp nice 3.5 pound trigger pull. I have learned more about the 1911 in the last 3 months than I did when I bought my first one about 3 years ago. It is the only real guns I have on my collection except for a nice 686 revolver. It is all I carry now except when I am in the mood and will carry a snob nose 38 special.
Thank you to all and for anyone that is thinking of doing a cold bluing job on a pistol do not be afraid. Buy a cheap hair dryer Acetone and 000 and 0000 steel wool. And the most important thing ask questions!!!!!
 
#23 ·
I bought a 1800 watt hair drier from family dollar store. It made a huge difference. I would worry about contaminating the bottle of Oxpho putting the parts in the mix. I forget where I read about making sure you do not contaminate it. They were down to the point of not using the same cotton ball, Q tip every thing you dip into the bottle you do not dip again. NO DOUBLE DIPPING as Jerry Seinfeld would say!!!! LOL
Go for the heat its cheap. Harbor Freight had heat guns 1500 watts for about the same price
HAVE FUN!!!
 
#25 · (Edited)
That is what my new Springfield Armory Range Officer finish is and I got some surface scratches on it in the trigger guard and the front strap. I put traction tape on the front strap. All of my 1911 have the checkered front straps. Any way the cream really did a great job on the parkerize finish. It also worked really well cleaning the fitted parts where I filed the arm on the new beaver tail and the and the shaft/pin on the thumb safety It looks liked the parts were made to go into the gun without any fitting work. After it will be a nice touch to put the finish on your fitted parts. If you were doing it as a side job I would insist on doing it to all fitted parts that would take the bluing.

Oxpho-blue® creme is a good product. It gets high ratings and I have heard problems with other manufactures cold bluing products.
Thanks for the compliment, I am happy with my first time trying it. It made the Les Baer look happy again. The one thing I noticed is that anyplace the gun was engraved like where it says Baer Customs it makes it pop.
Here is a good before and after set of photo's that show how bad it was and what a little bit of time and hardly any work can change a gun and its value. The white spots are just lint or other marks. It is not the finish. This camera picks up everything in Macro mode.
Before

After: I have the slide on this one and you can see the Baer Customs and how it pops a little
 
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