Importance of Heat in Cold Bluing

A lot of us have guns that are Blued, and like any gun/object, they wear or get scratched.

For quick touchups, and some even go as far to re-blue entire barrels and receivers of guns, Cold blue has it’s place. The best cold blue on the market bar-none is Oxpho-Blue, made by Brownell’s.

While the instructions on the bottle do not mention it, and some people don’t know, heating the part opens the pores up in the metal and will help the bluing adhere and penetrate MUCH better.

A simple jet torch lighter or propane bottle with torch adapter will work perfectly.

Heat the part until it is slightly too hot to touch, and follow the remaining directions. Don’t overheat the part till it’s like cherry hot – all you need is to get the part to about 90-120F, like I said enough to where it’s slightly too hot to touch.

Hope this helps!