Thought a 10% vinegar soak was fine for cleaning old rust, but it ate the bluing on a 1920s shotgun barrel.

Left it for an hour like I read online, and it took the finish right off, not just the rust. Now I'm looking at a full reblue job. What's a better way to get rust off old guns without hurting the original finish?

3 comments

3 Comments

leoprice24d ago

Man, that's rough. So you basically stripped it down to bare metal? @norag38 is right, vinegar is way too aggressive for old bluing. For light rust on a finish, I use a brass brush and some gun oil, scrubbing real gentle. If it's a bit worse, 0000 steel wool soaked in oil can work, but you have to be patient and check constantly. The goal is to break up the rust without cutting into the good bluing around it. Anything acidic is going to win that fight every time.

norag3824d ago

Vinegar on a 1920s barrel, that's a bold move. You basically gave it a chemical peel. Next time you read a tip online, maybe check if it's for a garden tool or a piece of history. Now you get to learn all about bluing, which is fun, I guess, if you wanted a new hobby. At least the rust is gone, right? Silver lining.

jason_stone13d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my cousin who tried to clean an old coin with cola. Totally ate through the detail, left it looking like a weird, smooth slug. He thought it was a genius hack because it worked on a penny.