Touching up/rebluing scratches on carbon steel K9? Heard Birchwood Casey was good

[rms2324]

Looking to touch up some scratches on a carbon steel K9. I’ve heard Birchwood Casey is good but I’m not sure which one to use and which color? The all black pen? The super blue liquid? New to blueing and need help. Thanks guys

[Bawanna]

Unless you intend to do much cold bluing I would try the pen first. There's one that is black and there's one that is a bluing.
I frequently reblue old rifles, 22's and such and find I use them all. Super Blue, Oxpho, the cream and the liquid. They all act differently. Some will leave a nice dark blue, some make a nice blue but blotchy. I throw them all at it until I get what the best I can get out of cold blue.

For scratch touch up, the pen should work fine. I'd degrease, maybe heat the area up a bit with a hair dryer, not hot just a bit warm and throw the pen at it.

[rms2324]

Unless you intend to do much cold bluing I would try the pen first. There's one that is black and there's one that is a bluing.
I frequently reblue old rifles, 22's and such and find I use them all. Super Blue, Oxpho, the cream and the liquid. They all act differently. Some will leave a nice dark blue, some make a nice blue but blotchy. I throw them all at it until I get what the best I can get out of cold blue.

For scratch touch up, the pen should work fine. I'd degrease, maybe heat the area up a bit with a hair dryer, not hot just a bit warm and throw the pen at it.

Great, thank you for the advice. So because the K9 is black, I should obviously go with the black pen, correct?

[gb6491]

Unless you intend to do much cold bluing I would try the pen first. There's one that is black and there's one that is a bluing.
I frequently reblue old rifles, 22's and such and find I use them all. Super Blue, Oxpho, the cream and the liquid. They all act differently. Some will leave a nice dark blue, some make a nice blue but blotchy. I throw them all at it until I get what the best I can get out of cold blue.

For scratch touch up, the pen should work fine. I'd degrease, maybe heat the area up a bit with a hair dryer, not hot just a bit warm and throw the pen at it.

My experience with cold blue pretty much matches Bawanna's. They all react differently.

The pens are convenient and, generally, fine for scratches, but I find they don't last as long as the bottled stuff. You can also get more blue on the surface quickly with the bottled stuff.

I like Oxpho-blue the best as I find it to be the most durable.

I think all benefit from not being touched overnight after application. Lately, I've been using a nano-ceramic, paint protectant over touched up spots (both gun blue and aluminum black) and it seems to increase the durability of the finish.

Regards,
Greg

[rms2324]

My experience with cold blue pretty much matches Bawanna's. They all react differently.

The pens are convenient and, generally, fine for scratches, but I find they don't last as long as the bottled stuff. You can also get more blue on the surface quickly with the bottled stuff.

I like Oxpho-blue the best as I find it to be the most durable.

I think all benefit from not being touched overnight after application. Lately, I've been using a nano-ceramic, paint protectant over touched up spots (both gun blue and aluminum black) and it seems to increase the durability of the finish.

Regards,
Greg

Greg, thank you for the reply. Excuse my ignorance but I guess a better question to ask would be: do I need the blue or black pen/liquid for the carbon steel K9? I apologize, IÂ’m completely new to blueing so have no idea whether to get blue or black for the black K9. If I’m reading correctly, the Super Blue will turn the steel black, hence my confusion

[Bawanna]

I agree the pen usually isn't as durable as the bottle stuff. It's also important like any bluing to watch it for a few days and make sure the bluing action stops. On a scratch outside shouldn't be an issue but bluing is rust so once you get what you want you need to rinse it and oil it good. If it starts to turn white usually in corners and nooks and crannies it's still working and needs to be rinsed more and oiled. I've even seen it on brand new rifles with little white areas.

Also the word bluing is kind of a misconception. Myself if I didn't have 12 bottles of bluing liquid would go with the bluing pen. I have a bluing and a black pen. Usually not as happy with the black.

[rms2324]

I agree the pen usually isn't as durable as the bottle stuff. It's also important like any bluing to watch it for a few days and make sure the bluing action stops. On a scratch outside shouldn't be an issue but bluing is rust so once you get what you want you need to rinse it and oil it good. If it starts to turn white usually in corners and nooks and crannies it's still working and needs to be rinsed more and oiled. I've even seen it on brand new rifles with little white areas.

Also the word bluing is kind of a misconception. Myself if I didn't have 12 bottles of bluing liquid would go with the bluing pen. I have a bluing and a black pen. Usually not as happy with the black.

So with the Birchwood super blue liquid, will any prep need to be done before applying the blueing product? Or can I just Google the process? Thank you again for all of the help.

If it is a process where I need to grind and whatnot, I’ll probably just use the pen as I don’t want to ruin anything. I’m on YouTube and the pen doesn’t seem too bad.

update: went ahead and ordered the pen. $7 so if I don’t like it, nbd

[Bawanna]

You can use the Super Blue just like the pen. Just use a Q tip or something similar. Use some alcohol to clean the area and apply the Super Blue. I push it around with the Q tip a bit as it starts to dry I rinse it off with hot water. You can then hit it again although you don't need to do the alcohol thing as long as you don't touch it. I'd just do the scratch and not a large area as you never know how it will react. Kind of like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get.
You might try a little spot someplace that don't show first. Usually even if it isn't a perfect match it's still better than the scratch.

[gb6491]

You can use the Super Blue just like the pen. Just use a Q tip or something similar. Use some alcohol to clean the area and apply the Super Blue. I push it around with the Q tip a bit as it starts to dry I rinse it off with hot water. You can then hit it again although you don't need to do the alcohol thing as long as you don't touch it. I'd just do the scratch and not a large area as you never know how it will react. Kind of like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get.
You might try a little spot someplace that don't show first. Usually even if it isn't a perfect match it's still better than the scratch.

Bawanna is spot on with this. A little oil on the surface does a lot to blend different shades.
I find you do not need to be as careful on a matte finish as on a gloss finish. The blue can come out a little blotchy on the latter. I usually wipe the first coat off rather quickly when working on a polished surface and repeat until i have the coverage I want. Matte, I try to get a good heavy coat on quickly and let it sit a moment or two before wiping it off, then go from there.

BTW; the Birchwood Casey pens (with the exception of Presto, aluminum black and MLP lubricant) are more likely paints or suspended dyes. The bottled solutions are some sort of phosphate/sulfate/acid solution.
https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/safety-data-sheets/

Regards,
Greg

[Bawanna]

I'm almost certain the black pen is some sort of paint. The bluing pens I've had (admittedly very old but still work) I think are more like the bottle stuff. It doesn't darken instantly and kind of goes through color phases. Perhaps the newer pens no longer work that way. The black pen had never impressed me, seldom use it.