Blueing and engraving

[Ade]

Rejuvenating a 100 plus year old side lock shotty I have. I am wondering about the engraving. Currently the engraving is filled with black. I need to polish the sidelocks and other metal parts of the gun for rust stains. I was thinking of blueing the side plates and other metal parts then rubbing off the blue to leave the metal shiny but have blue still in the engraving to highlight it. What do you think?

[Baldrick314]

It would look interesting. You'd have to be on top of the metal you rubbed back to prevent it from getting surface rust. You could do it pretty cheap with a product like Super Blue. There a few on the market but that's the one I've used before and it gave good results.

If you want to remove the rust spots and old bluing I'd recommend Birchwood Casey Blue & Rust Remover. I've been using it on a really badly rusted rifle and it's made the process a lot easier
(topic here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3224)

Show us the results with whatever you decide to do with it

[Gregg]

Yeah, interesting.

How detailed is the engraving?

Depending on the level of detail, it might be challenging to remove the surrounding blue without creeping into the engraving.

Done well with a shape edge could look great. If you got caught in the above could just look worn.

Pictures of engraving possible?

[Ade]

I'll take some pics in the next few days. Not intricate more just outlines. It's the old Hollis I have

[Mich]

I've done exactly this.

Had a steel lever action that was gifted to a family member.

In this case it was really for a collectable and display so doesn't get many fingers prints or much dirt on it so protecting is easy. Wipe down with oil before it goes on the rack.

Had an engraver do her initials in a fancy script on the side of the action and filled in with blue.

She lives out of state so can't grab a picture for you sorry

Turned out good though. Reasonably wide engravings which easily showed the blue, and wasn't too hard rubbing around it without going into the channels with the large curves of the engraving.

[Wes]

It'll be a unique look. Can't think of seeing something similar off the top of my head?

I like it.