Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken | How-To Series Part 7: How to Blue Your Barrel

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Next on our list here is bluing the barrel, barrel rib, tang, and any other “white” iron pieces like screwheads. First though we are going to soak a cotton ball in some rubbing alcohol and wipe down all the pieces we want to blue. This is going to clean off any dust or dirt from the shop, but also remove any skin oils or other oils that may be on the parts to give us our best shot at an even blued finish.
I recommend using at least 70% alcohol rubbing alcohol for this, it can be hard to find 90% right now, so don’t sweat it if you only have 70%.
After I’ve wiped the parts down with the alcohol, I take a clean paper towel or shop rag to the pieces and dry them off. You can wait a few minutes for the alcohol to evaporate, but I was getting anxious.
We’re going to be using Brownell’s Oxpho Blue for this project. This was something I had already in the shop, it’s a liquid cold bluing solution and will work fine for this project. Because I’m not sure how much of this I’m going to need, I pour out a small amount of the bluing solution into a clean plastic container.
This is my first time doing this, so I’m going to test the bluing on the tang of our kit. Using a clean cotton ball, pick up some bluing with the cotton and begin applying it to your tang. Do your best to cover the entire piece before it can dry. You should start seeing a reaction immediately after you begin applying the bluing. While applying the solution, you may notice little spots that still appear bright. Continue to wipe/scrub the bluing solution into those spots until you see them change color. Odds are you missed some oils in cleaning, nothing to worry about.
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[@southronjr1570]

If you can't get ahold of alcohol, you can always use acetone or Windex. Those are what I have been using for years. Also, if you get a dowel a little smaller than the bore, cut off about a 6 inch section then put electrical tape at one end and at the middle, you can place it in the bore at the muzzle up to the middle tape and use it as a handle and with the electrical tape it seals the bore keeping you from getting any blueing down the bore. If you are not blueing with the breech plug in, just use 2 dowels, one at each end. Btw, good job and am greatly enjoying the series.

[@adrianbenson2521]

I've enjoyed this series. Been shooting a flintlock for a few years and just pulled the trigger on a Traditions Mountain rifle kit thanks to this series. My handicraft skills are nil, so we shall see.

[@MegaJ2e]

i would like to see you guys do the traditions flint lock Kentucky rifle for a build

[@leadshark9461]

Great video series! I am happy to see more and more content about traditional black powder firearms on youtube. Personally I would have browned the barrel since browning on these types of firearms looks simply awesome.

[@rodofiron5957]

Hugely enjoying these videos, am building a mountain rifle soon. Greatly appreciate the discovery aspect of these videos.

[@terrysmiff8469]

great job. looks real nice.

[@JeffandLeslie]

Carb Cleaner or Acetone work very well to degrease before bluing. I like it better than alcohol

[@josephgioielli]

Try using some of that bluing on some scarp brass. I was surprised.

[@brucebrutsman4939]

thanks for showing us how to put a kit together and finished. I bought a rough "put together rifle " that was put together and sprayed with clear,what a mess. So im

[@alanparadis5061]

I think I may use that on my Kibler colonial kit

[@beebob1279]

That turned out very nice. How about using acetone instead of rubbing alcohol? That stuff will remove any oils on the barrel.

[@blacksquirrelbushcraft2643]

acetone...it's cheap too.

[@homemadehistory7537]

Thats a nice result... and easy to handle... did you ever try to rust blue.. The process is much slower but with outstanding result and a lot of controll for the color. More of that please 👍👍😁

[@homemadehistory7537]

@@nationalmuzzleloadingrifle8871 It is much more easy than you might think... Just make it wet with some soldering flux... let it corode untill it is red covered, than cook it in water. and carding or brushing the surface. Thou more runns you take thou darker it gets. From grey to nearly black. For getting some experiance try a test peace of pipe maybe. You can take a look here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apOtgZ-tjd-Unqs

[@BillRaby]

@@nationalmuzzleloadingrifle8871 You don't need a professional for rust blue. It really is very simple to do. Just takes a long time.

[@donfullbright8468]

Thanks

[@germansahidbeltranardila2985]

Huuuyyyyyyyyiiii me agrada sus conocimientos

[@Andrew-13579]

I'm curious about browning the barrel. You can ridicule me if you want, I'm very new to this, but I've seen a video on browning a Traditions Kentucky Flintlock and it just didn't look very good to me. However, I'm not sure that pure bluing looks authentic. "Not sure", I said. The bluing here looked pretty nice. But is that how it should look? Maybe so. What is the proper way to brown the barrel, using a process like this bluing...which looks so easy. Can browning come out to a dark, rich brown, instead of looking rusty brown? Can bluing and browning be combined? (Don't laugh too hard if I'm nuts.) Maybe to achieve an aged, antique look? And, lastly, what "should" this barrel really look like, finished, to be authentic looking?

[@daleturner3507]

Like to see a flintlock Kentucky rifle.

[@deanpeterson2272]

Lyman great plains rifle

[@Nick-wn1xw]

Winchester Model 70.

[@mossranchoutdoors7249]

I thought using the oxpho blue you had to quench the part In water within 60 seconds of application?

[@swamprat9018]

you need to do a Track or pecatonica river kit.

[@adrianbenson2521]

Agreed, I'd love to see similar videos on more advanced kits. I just bought a Traditions kit based on this series but eventually would like to step up a bit.

[@swamprat9018]

@@adrianbenson2521 check out Deulist1954 channel his TOW buckscounty rifle build got me into building. I got a praire hawken kit that I'm thinning down and reshaping now. Got 5 blanks sitting across the room from me waiting for some attention also.

[@christophercombs5977]

So do you let the blowing dry or do you take it off? At least before you use scotch bright

[@Steve-cq2cj]

All the glove we had kept putting marks on the barrel so I had to do it bare handed (I do not recommend doing it without glove)

[@marktaylor8659]

The build is coming along nicely and the application of the blueing is great. Did you have any thoughts on traditional browning the barrel instead of blueing? The videos I've seen on browning seem much more involved than this. I hope once the rifle build is completed you will do a video of shooting it and perhaps some basics on its accuracy. Thanks once again for a great video tutorial.

[@edbennett7574]

Looks good ! As far as browning versus blueing the browning is a very durable finish I have done a couple it is involved and a bit time consuming it will also cover the darn safety stamping a little better but either looks good.

[@strangleholdoutdoors]

Should I do a cold or hot application?

[@donfullbright8468]

Plum barrel finish

[@Man_Cave]

Bad choice. Cold blue has no durability. You would have been better off to plum brown the barrel.

[@donfullbright8468]

Plum the barrel

[@ieatsmallkids1872]

Mine had bits of orange on it I think I screwed up. Is there a way to fix it