Retrofit White lightning

[frogwalking]

After going through the whole gamut of the kit positioning the lock  too far back to allow clearance for the white ligntning flash hole liner, installing an outside taper flash hole; modifying it twice, and finally deciding it was just too slow.  I have installed a white lightning liner.  I have learned to grind the teeth off the hacksaw blade on the barrel side when I cut off the handle after installation, but the barrel finish is getting scratched up anyway.  I guess I will take the opportunity to file down the sight bases flush with the barrel, now that it is sighted in, and refinish the entire barrel.  (It is rust blued.)  The question is:  What do I use to strip the existing rust blue?   Naval Jelly? 

Oh, I filed a divot in the breech plug, but it turned out to be only two threads deep, so I don't think any proof testing should be required.  I did notice that the liner is quite soft material during installation, and I am tempted to test some heavy loads to ensure it does not blow out. 

[Artificer]

I would strongly advise against using Naval Jelly as it will roughly etch the surface of the steel too much.  That would then require a LOT of time for mechanically smoothing the surface by sandpaper or even files after you do it. 

The thing that will least damage the metal surface is distilled white vinegar.   However, you would have to get a long container to soak the barrel in and make SURE you plug the barrel (both ends) and vent hole VERY well before you immerse the barrel in the vinegar.  You should degrease the barrel first with something like alchohol, carburetor cleaner or even acetone.  This process can take as little as 30 minutes to lift off the blue or it make take a couple three hours of lifting the barrel out every 20 minutes or so and wiping off the red rust and re-immersion until the bluing is gone.  You also have to make sure you flush the barrel WELL with water then thoroughly dry it afterwards.

The next step up would be a solution made from pouring 50% muriatic acid (masonry acid) into 50% water. IOW, equal amounts by volume and do it in a glass container or non reactive container.  REMEMBER to pour acid into water and NOT the other way around.  HOWEVER, for this you NEED good chemical resistant gloves and it is best to have a clear face shield on.  Degrease the barrel and plug it up well.  Have a bucket of water handy with a sponge in it. Wipe the BOTTOM rear of the barrel with the solution and wait about 15 seconds, then wash the area with water.  (If you wait longer than 15 seconds, this also will etch the metal surface.)  You do the bottom of the barrel first to get the hang of it and see how to best do it on your barrel.  JUST remember to wash with water after 15 seconds to neutralize the acid. and perhaps wipe it dry with paper towel in between coats of the solution.  When done, flush well with water and dry thoroughly. 

Gus

[kutter]

You don't even have to strip every bit of the blue off. Just touch up the bbl as needed and go over the entire thing with 220 to 320 and re-blue it. It'll blend right back in.
Scratching back through the old finish with an over all but light polishing is the key though. If you don't, it can leave you with noticable old and new blue in many but not all cases.  Saves a lot of time and labor.

If you want to strip it,,I've used Naval Jelly alot in the past to strip rust and hot salt blue w/no problems. Hot salt blue disappears in a few seconds,,rust blue takes longer but it gets through it. You just have to keep dabbing the N/Jelly onto the surfaces w/a brush. Even then when you're done a light polish is good to even up the look of the metal.

I use muriatic much more on small parts as I can dunk them in a small plastic container. But I don't use any more than a couple tablespoons /per gallon of water. Room temp only,,no heat to enhance the process!.
Takes a little longer but no worrys about etching.

 It's a good heat scale remover too, takes  longer. But no etching and the heat scale just turns to a black coating that swipes off with a light touch of the finger or a brush. I don't even plug the bore with the use of either of these methods. I wouldn't have even thrown customers Parker & Fox frames, Colt SAA frames and bbls and all other assortment of restoration work into the stuff over the last 40+ yrs if it was to do any harm to them.
Increase the % of acid or deal with a different acid,,everything changes.

NavalJelly is Phosphoric acid. Vinegar is acetic acid. Ketchup will work as well as it has vinegar in it. Cola drinks have Phosphoric acid in them so they take the blue off of steel too.
There's no real trick to it,,you just have to think about what you're doing and don't try to short cut it.

[necchi]

(It is rust blued.)  The question is:  What do I use to strip the existing rust blue? 

Why are folks talking about all these chemicals when it's rust blue?

A sanding block and 220 grit will do fine.

[volatpluvia]

Necchi,
And it won't take much rubbing either.
volatpluvia

[Mark Elliott]

I would try to touch it up first before going to all the trouble of sanding off the old finish.  The area around the touch hole is shaded by the cock and frizzen, and I don't think a slight color mismatch would be all that noticeable.   If it doesn't work,  you can still redo the whole barrel.   If it does,  you have saved yourself a lot of work. 

[frogwalking]

Thanks folks.  Yes, it is rust blue.  I used Pinkerton Classic American Rust Blue when finishing the barrel, and will use the same for the repair.  I like the idea of repairing the spots, and giving the whole barrel one or two new coats after rubbing down the entire thing.  By the way, the white lightning flash hole liner has greatly improved ignition speed.  I only had to notch into two threads of the breechplug to make the install, so it was much ado about nothing.

[kutter]

(It is rust blued.)  The question is:  What do I use to strip the existing rust blue? 

Why are folks talking about all these chemicals when it's rust blue?

A sanding block and 220 grit will do fine.

Yes polishing it off works just fine.
220 will cut it off quickly. If the original polish was 320 or 400 as I usually do on rust blue,,that'd leave me with a lot of extra polishing.

Starting right in w/320 isn't too bad but the paper loads up quickly. 400 is near a waste of time over existing rust blue of any density.
 Even striking it off with a file (draw file) can load the file up quickly. The beauty of a rust blued finish,,it's tough.
The need to take it all off to bright metal isn't always there however. As long as you can score through the dense rust blued surface and blend the new 'in the white' polished areas to it,,everything will re-rustblue satisfactorily and match up more often than not.

If you do want to take all the old finish off and start new,,,Chemical stripping of the bluing no matter if it's rust blue, hot salt blue or nitre or charcoal blue is also done.
It can save time and labor and an awful lot of black dust floating around. 
One simple oct bbl may not be worth it,,pretty easy polishing.
Sets of SxS tubes, raised rib single bbls with attachments to polish around,,definate labor savings especially when you're looking at a bunch of work to do.
Having the 1930's coal miner face look after a day of polishing out bbl's in preparation for a run of rust bluing is not a favorite (anymore). Anything that'll get me there safer and w/less labor but keeping the same bluing results is a plus,,both for me and the customer. None of us are getting any younger!

They'll still need some hand finish polishing afterwards no matter how nice condition the base metal is. But it's a few minutes work at that point. 

It's just another way to do things,,Nothing more than that.