Stripping!

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Last night I was able to begin stripping the rust and original bluing from the old 870.  The original bluing had faded and was showing wear, and I wanted to repair some of the nicks and scratches that had developed over time as well, so I stripped the receiver and barrel down to the bare metal using a Rust and Blue Removal chemical that I ordered from Brownells.

I took caution and wore a pair of gloves while working with the chemical.  I first started by spraying some degreaser all over the metal, then wiping down with some 0000# steel wool to remove the surface rust and "break" the outer layer of bluing.  I then used a clean cloth with a little of the chemical agent, and began applying to the metal in small areas, and using a bit of elbow grease to work it onto the metal.  After about an hour of applying, then rubbing, then wiping clean, I was left with bare metal that had a very matte finish to it and allowed me to easily see some scratches and dings that needed sanding.



I sprayed on some more degreaser- not sure if it was needed but I wanted to do it anyway to remove any leftover chemical residue.  I wiped it down with some more steel wool, and then broke out the 220 grit sandpaper to sand out some of the scratches and dings.  After another 30-45 minutes of more elbow grease, the metal was bright and shiny, and I had removed all that I'd be able to for the purposes of this project.  I added a thin coat of gun oil to keep it in good shape over night until I'm ready to work with it again.



As this is an old shotgun, there are simply some signs of aging that I am not going to be able to remove, as I'm not a gunsmith.  I don't want them gone, really- they add character.  The major dings and scratches are gone though, and anything that remains will be covered by the new layers of bluing in the next step and will need a close examination to see.  That should be satisfactory for me.

My next step is to take some 600 grit paper and give a final smoothing out to the metal- currently you can see the strokes I made with the 220 in some areas.  I'm not looking for a mirror finish, so I'll give it a once over with the 600, being careful not to remove any more metal from any of the areas with engraving, and then give it a final buff with some of the 0000# steel wool.  I plan to do this tonight, as well as do all of the stripping and smoothing to the forend tube assembly, which I forgot to do last night when I had all of the chemicals and materials out and open.  My trigger housing, as well as the rest of the shotgun's internals, is in pretty good shape so I'll leave that as is for now...I can always change my mind later!

I have tomorrow set aside to work from home, so I'll actually have time to do the rust bluing process...hopefully.  I'll post pictures of the final metal preparations I make tonight as well as the beginning stages of the rust blue process once I get that going either tonight or early tomorrow morning.  It's a lengthy process, but the temperature and humidity should both be pretty high tomorrow so I'm hoping to get it all wrapped up then.

Thanks for reading along!