A little daunted BUT..

[philpot 5,166]

As the first coating of Tung oil has not completely dried in, I have just taken a couple of photos hopefully showing the colour change. I hope to put a second coat of oil on tomorrow as the weather looks pretty dire so I doubt that I will be going sea fishing although the sea is only 5 mins away so I might just go for the hell of it. I can always coat it later in the day.

I have also been addressing the metalwork today with assorted wire wool grades which has removed the rust but there seems to be a lack of 'gun blue' products out there which have good reviews. My buddy brought a bottle of Phillip's gun blue but looking at the instructions, it states the method of use is to thin it down (by how much, it does not say) with water in a tray and then dip the metalwork into the solution until blue, well that is the condensed version but whatever, I am not going even attempt to strip the gun down because I am likely to get a rupture and never get it back together, I am sure you lot realise I am a complete coward with that sort of thing and I would like to be able to shoot this gun when it is done but if I strip it down, it will never fire again....................

A few texts to our Jimmy for advice.......................why can't you live down here Jimmy, it would be so much easier and think of all the shooting perms you could go on...................got you thinking now. 

Phil

[philpot 5,166]

Totally exasperated ! ! ! ! 

So far I am really enjoying working on the stock, perhaps because I am loving how it is progressing and the colour / tiger stripes which are developing...........BUT..................the feckin metalwork has me spitting out every swear word I can think of plus a few which I made up. I am using the Phillips Professional Cold Blue which belongs to my buddy. Now as already said before, you are supposed to dip the item in a tray or tank after taking apart all the pieces but as that is above my head, I have been applying the 'blue' on a well soddened cotton wool mop to get good coverage but to be honest even though I have worked the wool very evenly many times over the metal, I have had very very very little success. If I were able to remove the muzzle brace from the barrel, I would put shrink tube on both the barrel and the cocking lever but I doubt that I could buy any to get over the front sight and reduce down to the diameter of the barrel. The cocking lever is easy so I will go that route.

To be very honest, after messing with the blue, I just coated the all metalwork with gun oil to see how it looks, it aint bad so I might just say feck it and do that. My patience is somewhat frayed, I really don't bloody like this aspect of the job. 

Phil

[philpot 5,166]

Just been doing some research on youtube for cold bluing and found a Perma Blue by Birtchwood Casey from the USA which looks really good and is available from Ramsbottoms and come in a complete kit for £21 so I think I am going to order one unless you guys tell me it is not so good. 

Just a moment...

WWW.JSRAMSBOTTOM.COM

 

Please do let me know if any of you have tried this also I want some of the maroon coloured 3M Scotch pads if anyone knows where to get them. The American guys seem to use this stuff to polish the barrels right down to bare metal without using any chemical so again that is on my list.

Phil

[mitre 514]

Just take your time don't rush it takes time for a masterpiece 

[bigmac 97kt 13,858]

Right it sounds like ur starting to rush it so put it away for a day or two 

Or all ur hard work Will be in vain 

And u Will mess it all up 

Time to sit back and chill Phil 

Leave it be for now 

[bigmac 97kt 13,858]

On 11/01/2026 at 16:38, philpot said:

As the first coating of Tung oil has not completely dried in, I have just taken a couple of photos hopefully showing the colour change. I hope to put a second coat of oil on tomorrow as the weather looks pretty dire so I doubt that I will be going sea fishing although the sea is only 5 mins away so I might just go for the hell of it. I can always coat it later in the day.

I have also been addressing the metalwork today with assorted wire wool grades which has removed the rust but there seems to be a lack of 'gun blue' products out there which have good reviews. My buddy brought a bottle of Phillip's gun blue but looking at the instructions, it states the method of use is to thin it down (by how much, it does not say) with water in a tray and then dip the metalwork into the solution until blue, well that is the condensed version but whatever, I am not going even attempt to strip the gun down because I am likely to get a rupture and never get it back together, I am sure you lot realise I am a complete coward with that sort of thing and I would like to be able to shoot this gun when it is done but if I strip it down, it will never fire again....................

A few texts to our Jimmy for advice.......................why can't you live down here Jimmy, it would be so much easier and think of all the shooting perms you could go on...................got you thinking now. 

Phil

Naaa Phil id just end up doing it 

And as its ur rifle you have to do it ur self 

But it is looking good mind

[philpot 5,166]

I am going to get the Birchwood casey Perma Blue kit and start again Jimmy but I will leave it for a few days mate, just work on the stock for now.

[bigmac 97kt 13,858]

21 hours ago, philpot said:

I am going to get the Birchwood casey Perma Blue kit and start again Jimmy but I will leave it for a few days mate, just work on the stock for now.

U got me wanting to do the bairns stock on his 97 

But I think it is time to let him have a go with me by his side keeping him right 

It has a cs700 walnut stock on it 

So it only needs a bit of sanding 

Atvb Jimmy  

[bigmac 97kt 13,858]

2 minutes ago, bigmac 97kt said:

U got me wanting to do the bairns stock on his 97 

But I think it is time to let him have a go with me by his side keeping him right 

It has a cs700 walnut stock on it 

So it only needs a bit of sanding 

Atvb Jimmy  

 

[philpot 5,166]

I love that stock Jimmy, it would certainly be a cracker if you put your renovation skills into force.

Good to talk to you today mate.

Phil

[molehill 26]

Hi philpot im looking forwards to see how you get on with the bluing.

Iv used the birchwood kit on a fn19 air tube. It went ok but was not as black as I hoped. There was quite a contrast between it and the barrel.

My brother did the barrels of an old english hammergun. He polished it up with a angle grinder polishing disk, I thaught what the hell are you doing 🫣! He used paint sprayers degreaser (thinners?) and made a bath for the barrels from guttering. Wow they came up good. He polished them afterwards with oil. Im pretty sure it was gearbox oil if I remember right. This is the stuff he used  ....

Phillips Professional Cold Blue 250ml - Airgun Shotgun Rifle Metal Blue | eBay UK

EBAY.US

---

Ideal for touching up scratches or wear marks. Pick up procedure is as follows Redington Behemoth Fly...

I think some metals take cold bluing great and others not so much. I was told by a gunsmith old guns take it better? He said especially BSA.

Would be great to see how you get on and learn from you at the same time!

ATVB.

 

Edited Friday at 02:44 by molehill
Typos

[philpot 5,166]

On 15/01/2026 at 13:33, molehill said:

Hi philpot im looking forwards to see how you get on with the bluing.

Iv used the birchwood kit on a fn19 air tube. It went ok but was not as black as I hoped. There was quite a contrast between it and the barrel.

My brother did the barrels of an old english hammergun. He polished it up with a angle grinder polishing disk, I thaught what the hell are you doing 🫣! He used paint sprayers degreaser (thinners?) and made a bath for the barrels from guttering. Wow they came up good. He polished them afterwards with oil. Im pretty sure it was gearbox oil if I remember right. This is the stuff he used  ....

Phillips Professional Cold Blue 250ml - Airgun Shotgun Rifle Metal Blue | eBay UK

EBAY.US

---

Ideal for touching up scratches or wear marks. Pick up procedure is as follows Redington Behemoth Fly...

I think some metals take cold bluing great and others not so much. I was told by a gunsmith old guns take it better? He said especially BSA.

Would be great to see how you get on and learn from you at the same time!

ATVB.

 

I did try to patch up the metalwork with the Phillips but it is designed for dipping and the results were useless however I have now stripped all the colour off, although still needing a little more cleaning the surface with wire wool then during the weekend I will attempt to re-apply the Phillips manually and if I am not happy with that, I will be either buying a Birchwood Casey Perma Blue full kit or the metalwork will be spray painted.  I will put up some photos when I start the process.

Phil

[Borr 8,829]

Temperature can play a part also.

[philpot 5,166]

4 hours ago, Borr said:

Temperature can play a part also.

Yes fair point but the gun and materials are inside the cottage so no effect from the cold or damp outside or in the garage. 

I am putting one more coat of Tung oil on the stock Sunday or Monday and leaving it for the week to soak in before I polish the stock and that will be the stock finished all being well.

Phil