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Vinager as a Bluing Remover?!?!
hermiem
Member Posts: 261 ✭✭✭
I just wanted to ask if any of you restorers out there have ever heard of removing bluing with regular white vinegar? I'm aware that vinegar is some type of weak acid. I was on another forum reading some threads on the blue removing and came across this one. There was a mixed reaction from respondents on the post. Any constructive feedback would be appreciated as always!
You are my final "go to guys" - I'm pestering some other forums with my questions. But the ones I really want a definitive answer on I come to GunBroker.
You are my final "go to guys" - I'm pestering some other forums with my questions. But the ones I really want a definitive answer on I come to GunBroker.
Comments
I buffed 100's of rifles, pistols and shotguns over the years. It's a real skill not to drag out a hole or radius a square edge. Draw filing an octagon barrel can be fun.
I have used vinegar (acetic acid) with table salt to clean really corroded brass cases. They can turn pink if you leave them in to long (I think the zinc is selectively leached leaving the red copper).
Common food-grade white vinegar is roughly 3-9% acetic acid by volume, & may remove some inferior blue finishes well (such as the cheap "dip" blue that is frequently found upon some Russian-captured/reworked WW2 German weapons), but believe it's no match for a traditional/proper hot rust bluing process.
Its a relatively weak acid. I've never tried it, but I'm sure this would remove ordinary gun bluing, albeit pretty slowly. Maybe that's OK. . .depends what you're trying to do.
I think you'd have to be pretty careful with a "kerplunk" into vinegar, because it might etch the metal where NOT blued, too. IE, you might want to block off any areas NOT blued, and/or check it frequently. But if its some non-critical part, or something really beat up that you're going to polish anyway, shouldn't be an issue.
This guy seemed to do an OK job with vinegar:
http://m1-garand-rifle.com/debluing/
In any case, a more practical blue removing solution is available pretty cheaply. EG:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/557409/blue-wonder-gun-blue-remover-kit
Ordinary naval jelly/rust remover will take bluing off pretty fast, if you wanted to use that.
There are several good options for removing bluing. Warm vinegar works much faster than cold.
If you can find a store that deals in auto painting supplies, ask them for a bottle of rust remover. That applied with "0000" steel wool
will do a very good job of removing bluing. (called "metal-prep")
That's one I recommend to the home DIY'ers.
Doesn't work as fast as the solutions that are caustic/toxic, but it doesn't have the storage and disposal requirements/hazards.