EXPRESS BLUE #1 Reviews & Ratings

Fantastic product! As good as any slow rust finishes I have done. Imagine start to finish times of 3 hours for a great rust finish. Love it!

Followed directions with a couple of exceptions. I let the first application work for about a hour before boiling. I also extended my boiling times to between 10 and 15 minutes,I'd boil one piece while carding,heating and coating the other.(barrel and receiver with magizine tube) 6 cycles did a beautiful job,much better then hot blue on a vintage gun,very dark blue instead of black I did all carding with 0000 steel wool.I also did all final prep with 400 grit paper. The only drawback is from prep to finish it took about 8 hours .

I have been using this since 2012. I have rust blued four 1911's over the past five years, and the finish on all of them has held up very well. It is simple and straight forward to use, and the finish is extremely durable. It's very satisfying to me when I see the finished product. The more rusting cycles you do, the better it works. I'm still using solution from the original bottle I bought five years ago, so the solution has a very good shelf life too. It amazes me that I can get the results I do working in my kitchen. It's an amazing product that produces amazing results. If I can do it, anyone can!

I have blues 3 shotguns and plan to do 3 more Great product, I use a 3" pcv pipe with cap to fill with the boiling water and then drop the barrels in, for the receivers I took a short 4" pvc pipe and heated it up in the oven and scwished it into an oval, I sealed the bottom with plastic and duck tape. I card off with steel wool.

use as instructions,distilled water is very impornant,gets a dark blue color

I love this stuff. Depending on the time you put into metal prep, you can achieve different results, and although the recommended grit finish is 400, I have successfully used everything from a high polish to draw filed only. The solution takes quicker the coarser the finish, and when I quit after draw filing, (cruddy single-shot shotguns, etc.) the process goes much quicker than with a high polish. Every carding sequence actually burnishes the finish a little more, resulting in a good "sheen". For a high polish finish, it is a little more difficult, and the soft wire wheel can sometimes rub through, but even though it takes more applications, it eventually comes out bright. After metal prep, I like to keep applying it until it reaches a rich milk chocolate brown color. Heat gun works nicely. At that point, it can be boiled in water. If there are lighter areas that need more, the entire part needs another application, otherwise it may become lighter in the boiling water, or even begin to rust. As a final procedure, Johnson's Wax will help prevent rust, and it goes on good with the heat gun also. When it melts on, the moisture goes out of it. Then when cool, buff with a soft rag. For the most part, I don't even use the hot oxide bluing solution anymore.

I did the frame of my Star 9mm last month. Prep'd with 320 sandpaper. I attached a steel piece to the magazine well so I could handle with a few vice grips. cleaned with acetone and heated in a convection oven. I just repeated the proscribed cycle until I used up the entire 4 oz's., ( 9 cycles) I used many cotton balls and wasted quite a bit of the product. I didn't care because this was more of a test than anything. SUSPENDED the frame in boiling water. and carded with 0000 steel wool and the dandy little carding brush from Brownells. I'm delighted with the results. The completely even finish is more of a satin compared to what you would get from Oxpho Blue using the same prep. The color is not a coal black but it's because of the alloy. (noticed a totally black spot and it turned out to be the pin for the extractor that I didn't know was even there. DUH) The entire inside of the frame got blued as well because I'm sloppy. No problem with dimensions. I will continue to use Oxpo Blue for small parts. I can say that at last I have a finish, on the frame, that seems to wear just like a factory finish. Yay

When the instructions are followed to the tee, this stuff will give excellent results. Degrease parts THOROUGHLY to avoid any bare spots. Avoid oversaturating the cottonball used to apply the solution, and also apply in even strokes in one direction to avoid streaking. The solution should never be applied heavily enough to run, but rather a thin coating that evaporates within a few seconds each pass. Also, degrease your steel wool thoroughly before starting - new steel wool has quite a bit of oil in it, believe it or not. Use distilled water when boiling parts.

I've never refinished a gun ever before. I was recommended Express Blue and it is a great way to refinish your firearm. I blued a 1933 Colt Government 1911 that I had received in a very bad state. In two days I have a gun that looks like a professional did it, but at a quarter of the cost. I would recommend Express Blue to anyone without hesitation. All you have to do is follow the instructions step by step and you will have amazing results. Just make sure your gun is properly degreased, that's as important as anything. Great product that really works!!!

used this to re-blue an oldie....worked great, but when they say to heat it first - that's important. I tried to heat a bunch of smaller pieces all at once, but the last few cooled down too much by the time I got to them...doesn't get too dark when it's not hot. But everything looked beautiful, once I did it again with all the pieces hot.