Case color and cold blue?

[Singleshot22]

I've got a Stevens 311 sxs 410 that I've been working on...it was not well kept. There is some pitting (not real bad) on the receiver that I would like to etch and then cold blue. There is some decent case coloring on the receiver and I am wondering if the cold blue will "take" on the case coloring and effectively cover it up or will the case coloring be resistant to the cold blue and remain after I neutralize it...leaving the case coloring mostly intact (which is what I want). May be a stupid question, but if you don't ask.........

Thx in advance for any suggestions / input.

RA

[Flintlock28]

Originally Posted by Singleshot22

I've got a Stevens 311 sxs 410 that I've been working on...it was not well kept. There is some pitting (not real bad) on the receiver that I would like to etch and then cold blue. There is some decent case coloring on the receiver and I am wondering if the cold blue will "take" on the case coloring and effectively cover it up or will the case coloring be resistant to the cold blue and remain after I neutralize it...leaving the case coloring mostly intact (which is what I want). May be a stupid question, but if you don't ask.........

Thx in advance for any suggestions / input.

RA

From what one of my friends told me; the cold blue will cover the case-hardening, covering it.

Don't quote me on that though.

[GladesGuy]

Flintlock28 is right, the cold blue will cover the case hardened finish. What you can do is scrub any surface rust off with a Frontier Big 45 pad and then use a q-tip to apply cold bluing to any spots of bare metal. Not a perfect solution, but will look good as long as there is not any extensive damage to the original finish.

[kiki]

I recently re-blued a mini-1885. I used a slow rust process, and the result was a blotchy blue - although it looked different, it did not look good.
We de-blued it, polished it, then reblued.

In hindsight, i would have done the minor repair like mentioned above.